Texans Clips
The Bills’ 36-31 win over the Texans could have gone the other way if some fumbled footballs had bounced a little differently.
Both teams fumbled twice in the game, and the Bills recovered all four fumbles. In a one-possession game that was decided when the Bills recovered C.J. Stroud’s second fumble with nine seconds left, any one of those fumbles landing in a Texan’s hands could have altered the outcome. All four fumbles going the other way almost certainly would have given the Texans the win.
Another crucial fumble recovery came when Bills running back James Cook put the ball on the ground with three minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Bills trailing 31-30. If the Texans had recovered that, they might have been able to run out the clock and win the game. Instead, Bills offensive lineman O’Cyrus Torrence recovered the fumble and the Bills scored the game-winning touchdown later in that drive.
Bills head coach Joe Brady noted that the hustle of Torrence, whom the team calls Cyborg or Cybo, was crucial to the win.
“We put the ball on the ground there,” Brady said. “If our offensive line isn’t doing the little things we ask and run to the football, and Cybo doesn’t recover that football, and we end up losing that game, a lot of people will point to the fact that we fumbled. And we did fumble. It can’t be just because we won the football game that, ‘Oh, that didn’t happen, we had no turnovers.’”
Brady said Cook was mad at himself for fumbling and that the Bills aren’t overlooking how fortunate they were on fumble recoveries.
“He was pissed. I talked to him on the plane. He knows how important he is to our football team,” Brady said of Cook. “He understands that when he has the ball he has all of our jobs on the line. He was not happy after that. Even through the win, we’ve got to clean that up.”
Brady knows the Bills can’t count on recovering 100 percent of fumbles every week.
Linebacker Kenneth Murray has found a job.
The former first-round draft pick is joining the Texans’ practice squad, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
The Texans needed help at the position after they placed Henry To’oTo’o on injured reserve.
Murray, a Houston native, visited the Texans on Tuesday before agreeing to terms.
He worked out for the Giants and Dolphins this offseason, but had remained a free agent since March.
Murray started at middle linebacker for the Cowboys last season, finishing with 81 tackles, four tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and two pass breakups.
The Chargers made Murray the 23rd overall pick in 2020, and he spent his four seasons with the team. He played one season with the Titans before the Cowboys acquired him in a trade with Tennessee.
Leading up to the 2026 season, there was plenty of talk about how good the Texans defense could be — that the unit could help lead Houston to a deep postseason run.
But then Week 1 happened, with the Texans letting up 409 yards and 36 points in the loss to the Bills.
Buffalo does have one of the league’s best quarterbacks in Josh Allen and continuity on offense with former coordinator Joe Brady getting promoted to head coach. So the Bills have the potential to do that to many teams.
Still, it was a disappointing opening for a team that finished No. 1 in yards allowed and No. 2 in points allowed last year.
So did the Texans buy into the offseason hype too much? Did they consume the proverbial rat poison?
“I don’t know,” head coach DeMeco Ryans said in his Monday press conference, via transcript from the team. “You have to ask those guys about the hype. I don’t believe in hype. You’ve heard me stand here many times and talk about people talking about how great the defense was. Yeah, that was 2025. You don’t just line up, and it’s 2026, and just because you were good last year, you got to go out and make the plays. We made plays.
“The difference in this game on Sunday, versus the time we played the guys last year, we took the ball away three times. We go into this game, we don’t take the ball away at all. We turn the ball over two times and we don’t play smart defensively. We’re not where we’re supposed to be. We know the quarterback is going to scramble out to our left — if we don’t stay out to our left and the quarterback runs for a touchdown, they’re going to make plays.”
Ryans added that whatever Houston does this year, it’s not about how good the unit has been in the past.
“You have to put your stamp each and every year on who you’re going to be,” Ryans said. “This is a new team. This isn’t 2025. You have to go earn it. That’s every year in the league, you have to go prove yourself. You can talk about it all you want to, how good you want to be, what are you going to do. You have to go out and make plays.
“That’s always been my message. My message never changes. Talk never matters. When the ball is snapped, what are you doing?”
The Texans will be challenged defensively once again in Week 2, as the Bengals will be in town to face the club at 1 p.m. ET.
The Texans lost the game on Sunday and they also lost a key defensive player for some time.
Via Jonathan Alexander of the Houston Chronicle, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans told reporters in his Monday press conference that linebacker Henry To’oTo’o has a shoulder injury and “will be out for some time.”
Ryans added that the club hasn’t decided whether or not the linebacker will be placed on injured reserve.
Reporters after the game noted To’oTo’o was in a sling on Sunday.
To’oTo’o appeared in all 17 games with 14 starts last season, recording 95 total tackles, nine tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks. He registered a pair of tackles in the Week 1 loss to the Bills before exiting the contest.
Houston will be at home in Week 2 to play the Bengals.
Rams defensive end Myles Garrett entered the season as the clear favorite to win the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award. That didn’t last long.
Garrett did nothing in Week 1, and is now out through at least Week 5 with a knee injury, and his odds to win Defensive Player of the Year have dropped to +2500. And now there’s a new favorite.
Texans defensive end Will Anderson is now favored to win the award, with +320 odds. Anderson and the Texans’ defense did not have a great game in Sunday’s 36-31 loss to the Bills, but Anderson is one of the best pass rushers in the league, and Defensive Player of the Year usually goes to a great pass rusher.
Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who had two sacks in a Week 1 win over the Saints, is second in Defensive Player of the Year odds at +500. He’s followed by Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt (+650), who had a tremendous pick-six in Sunday’s win over the Falcons, and Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (+900), who had 1.5 sacks in a Week 1 win over the Dolphins.
It’s hard to come up with too many examples of how thin the line between winning and losing can be than back-to-back plays that the Bills ran late in the fourth quarter in Houston on Sunday.
On a second down from the Texans’ 34-yard-line with just under two minutes to play and the Bills down one, quarterback Josh Allen chucked a pass into the end zone and Texans cornerback Kamari Lassiter was the only player in position to catch it. Lassiter was unable to make the interception while stumbling backward, however, and Allen got another chance. He made good on it with a perfect strike to Josh Palmer for the game-winning touchdown.
“Hey, it’s football. What can I say? Sometimes the ball bounces your way,” Allen said in his postgame press conference.
Allen was 0-4 in previous trips to Houston and the Bills had not won there since 2006. That stretch included Allen taking eight sacks in a loss last season, but the Bills only allowed two this time and Allen had enough time to average 11.5 yards per attempt. That and a little good fortune made all the difference for the Bills on this trip to Texas.
C.J. Stroud threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns. He had a 106.7 passer rating.
The Texans quarterback also lost two fumbles on strip sacks by Greg Rousseau, and the Bills won 36-31 as Stroud couldn’t get them in the end zone despite a first-and-goal at the 9.
Coach DeMeco Ryans thought Stroud played well enough to win, pointing to the 409 yards his vaunted defense gave up. That included 334 passing yards by Josh Allen.
“C.J. was very much in control the entire game,” Ryans said, via texanscommenter. “Took what the defense gave him. Made great decisions with the football. Proud of the way he played today. He showed what he’s been showing all camp, that confidence, that growth. Was very calm, great demeanor, putting us in a great position to win the game.
“Unfortunately, we lost the football there two times. Don’t want those plays at all, but not going to let that overshadow the game that he had. Offense put up way more points than needed for us to win this game. Could’ve definitely played much better defensively.”
The Texans had first-and-goal at the Buffalo 9 with 25 seconds left, but Deone Walker sacked Stroud for a 9-yard loss. After an incompletion, Rousseau had a strip-sack of Stroud that Terrell Bernard recovered with 9 ticks left to end it.
“Got down there,” Stroud said. “Can’t get stalemated like that. That sack kind of made it tougher, but even then, we still had a chance. I’m trying my best to protect the ball but also to make plays. We needed seven right there, so I can’t be super conservative. I’ve got to be able to take shots. Sometimes it doesn’t roll your way. We’ll try to fix that and go forward.”
The Bills and Texans put on a show on Sunday afternoon. There may not be many games this season that are better than the season opener in Houston.
Josh Allen, who was 0-4 in Houston, threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Josh Palmer with 1:36 remaining for a 36-31 lead and then had to watch from the bench as the Bills held on.
The Texans had first-and-goal at the Buffalo 9 with 25 seconds left, but Deone Walker sacked C.J. Stroud for a 9-yard loss. After an incompletion, Greg Rousseau had a strip-sack of Stroud that Terrell Bernard recovered with 9 ticks left to end it.
The back-and-forth game had nine lead changes.
Allen ripped apart the Texans’ vaunted defense, throwing for 334 yards and two touchdowns as the Bills had 409 total yards. He nearly threw his only interception on the play before the game-winner, but Kamari Lassiter, who had a rough day, dropped the pick in the end zone.
Tight end Dalton Kincaid caught five passes for 130 yards and DJ Moore had five catches for 100 yards and a touchdown in his Buffalo debut.
James Cook ran for 57 yards on 13 carries.
The Texans gained 381 yards, but Stroud had the only two turnovers. He also lost a fumble on a strip-sack by Rousseau in the first half. Stroud finished 26-of-38 for 274 yards and two touchdowns.
The Texans showcased their free agent acquisition, David Montgomery, as he had 20 carries for 60 yards and two touchdowns and three catches for 19 yards and a touchdown. The Texans had 32 rushes and 38 passes, held the ball for 36:17 and went 2-for-2 on fourth down.
C.J. Stroud threw his second touchdown pass of the day, an easy 7-yard flip to David Montgomery. It was the running back’s third touchdown in his Houston debut.
The sixth lead change of the game has given the Texans a 28-27 lead with 13:34 remaining.
The Texans converted two fourth downs in the 13-play, 72-yard drive. Montgomery had a 2-yard run on fourth-and-1 at the Houston 37 and backup running back Woody Marks ran for 3 yards on fourth-and-1 at the Buffalo 22.
Montgomery now has 18 carries for 59 yards and two touchdowns and three catches for 19 yards and a score.
Stroud is 18-of-26 for 190 yards. He lost a fumble early in the game, which led to a Bills field goal.
The Texans and Bills are playing what could end up being one of the best games of the regular season.
The back-and-forth has led to five lead changes.
The Bills lead 24-21 at halftime, gaining 224 yards against one of the NFL’s best defenses.
Josh Allen, who is 0-4 in Houston in his career, is 8-of-11 for 163 yards and a touchdown, a 43-yarder to DJ Moore. He has run for touchdowns of 21 yards and 1 yard and has 24 yards on four carries.
Moore, an offseason acquisition, has three catches for 76 yards and has drawn a 46-yard pass interference penalty on Kamari Lassiter in the end zone that set up Allen’s 1-yard score.
James Cook has six carries for 37 yards.
The Bills have not punted, but Allen was stopped for a 2-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at the Houston 34 on the Bills’ first drive. Buffalo had to settle for a field goal after it had 12 players in the huddle on fourth-and-1 from the Houston 23 on its second drive.
The Texans have 215 yards, having punted once and have one turnover, which was a C.J. Stroud fumble on a strip-sack by Greg Rousseau that Ed Oliver recovered.
Stroud is 12-of-16 for 123 yards and a touchdown, a 12-yard pass to Nico Collins with 26 seconds left in the half. Collins has three catches for 46 yards. David Montgomery has 13 carries for 52 yards and two touchdowns.
