The Texans had a chance to stop the Bills on a fourth down. They couldn’t. They had a chance to stop them three plays later, and again they couldn’t.
James Cook ran for a 45-yard touchdown on third-and-1 to give Buffalo an early lead. Matt Prater missed the extra point wide left, leaving the score at 6-0.
The Bills drove 81 yards in 10 plays against the league’s top defense.
They faced a fourth-and-1 at their own 28, and Josh Allen leaped over the line for a 3-yard gain and a first down.
Allen went 4-of-6 for 29 yards, and Cook had three carries for 49 yards.
Bills wide receiver Keon Coleman will miss his second consecutive game as a healthy scratch.
Coleman is inactive for Thursday Night Football.
After Coleman sat out Sunday’s victory over the Bucs, coach Sean McDermott said Coleman was late to a meeting on Friday. It was Coleman’s second offense of the season, prompting McDermott to bench the 2024 second-round pick.
Coleman has 32 receptions for 330 yards and three touchdowns this season.
The team’s other inactives are tight end Dalton Kincaid (hamstring), wide receiver Curtis Samuel (elbow/neck), defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis (shoulder), offensive lineman Chase Lundt and cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram.
The Texans’ inactives are quarterback C.J. Stroud (concussion), safety Jalen Pitre (concussion), offensive tackle Jarrett Kingston, linebacker Jamal Hill (hamstring), wide receiver Braxton Berrios, linebacker Damone Clark and left guard Laken Tomlinson.
Davis Mills will make his third consecutive start in place of Stroud.
One of the NFL’s biggest mysteries became a little more mysterious on Thursday.
Texans running back Joe Mixon has spent the entire season, from the start of training camp, on the non-football injury list. He has a foot injury. No one knows what the specific injury is, how it happened, or how long it will keep him out of action.
Earlier, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that Mixon is not expected to play at all in 2025.
Tha prompted a tweet from Mixon himself. “Now, I get everyone’s looking for splash news & clickbait… but I’m just curious, Ian how do you know more about me than me?” Mixon said.
Mixon’s agent, Peter Schaffer, chimed in with an attack on the messenger: “The truth and what comes out of his mouth is mere coincidence.”
But Rapoport isn’t the only one who said it. DJ Bien-Aime of ESPN.com has reported the same thing.
While the Texans under G.M. Nick Caserio have generally run a Belichick-style, no-leak operation, someone has clearly been talking about Mixon’s status. Whether they’re saying something that is accurate remains to be seen.
Surely, Mixon is trying to get healthy enough to play. His placement on NFI gives the Texans the prerogative to pay none of his $7 million salary. (It’s unknown whether they’re paying him.) He’s also not earning weekly per-game roster bonuses that total, over the course of the season, $500,000.
Thursday’s reports are the first tangible item of news regarding Mixon, other than periodic (and vague) on-the-record comments made by the team. At this stage of the season, saying Mixon isn’t “expected” to play hardly equates to sliding onto the outer reaches of a thin, crackly branch.
The real questions — what’s the injury and how did it happen? — remain unanswered. If someone who claims to know Mixon’s status is talking, that’s what the reporters should be trying to get them to talk about.
The Bills have placed wide receiver Mecole Hardman Jr. on injured reserve, the team announced on Thursday.
Hardman did not practice this week with a calf injury.
The Bills signed Hardman to the practice squad on Nov. 11 before promoting him to the active roster on Nov. 15.
He had a 61-yard kickoff return in Sunday’s victory over the Buccaneers but also muffed a punt that Tampa Bay recovered.
The Bills also announced they elevated tight end Keleki Latu and wide receiver Gabe Davis for Thursday Night Football. This marks Latu and Davis’ second elevations this season.
Latu had his first-career reception in Week 11’s game against Tampa Bay.
Davis also played against the Buccaneers and caught three passes for 40 yards.
Running back Dameon Pierce won’t be on the field for the Texans on Thursday night.
Pierce was waived as part of a series of roster moves that the Texans announced ahead of their matchup with the Bills. The 2022 fourth-round pick was in his fourth season with the team.
Pierce led the Texans with 939 rushing yards during his rookie season, but wound up behind Devin Singletary the next year and has remained a reserve since that point. He has 10 carries for 26 yards and a touchdown as the third option in a backfield with Woody Marks and Nick Chubb.
The Texans signed cornerback Ajani Carter to the active roster in a corresponding move. They also elevated safety Jalen Mills and linebacker Jackson Woodard from the practice squad on a temporary basis.
