The Buffalo Bills lost a heartbreaker of a game they had no business winning against the Houston Texans in Week 12.

The Bills (7-4) fell 23-19 to the Texans (6-5) on “Thursday Night Football” at NRG Stadium. The contest was all over the place for Buffalo but there was one glaring standout: Houston’s defense.

It could have either been a memorable win or ugly defeat. The latter happened.

With that, here are Bills Wire’s five takeaways from the Bills’ loss to the Texans:

Allen avoids injury scare

In an ugly game, the Bills avoided a mess early. Quarterback Josh Allen was tackled and looked in some serious pain for a moment. Allen was hit from behind and landed on his throwing hand.

In true Allen form, the QB managed to dust himself off and was fine… despite looking in some real pain.

Without Allen, a rough game for Buffalo’s offense would have likely been even worse.

So many injuries

Dodging a bullet on Allen was good news. The Bills were beaten up badly against the Texans. Many players went down with injuries which made a hard-fought contest that much more difficult.

Names to now monitor for Buffalo include:

  • LB Terrel Bernard (elbow)
  • OL Spencer Brown (shoulder)
  • CB Maxwell Hairston (concussion)
  • CB Christian Benford (shoulder)

And then some.

It’s a good time for the Bills to have an extended period off before Week 13.

Ugly day for the offensive line

The Texans have a top defense this season. Houston entered Thursday with the No. 1 ranked unit in the NFL allowing only 258.1 yards per game.

Their defensive line is a force and Buffalo’s offensive line was not up to the task by any means. Texans pass rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson got to know Allen far too well throughout this game.

It was the first time since 2023 that Allen was sacked five times or more. In total, the Texans had eight sacks, the most times Allen has ever been taken down in a game.

Anderson finished with 2.5 sacks while Hunter had two.

The Bills defense was once again filled with miscues. It wasn’t penalties, more so just poor overall play.

Buffalo’s problems with tackling remained for much of the game. The Bills did tighten up in the red zone and in the later stages. Even so, for how good Houston’s defense is, their offense should not make that many plays.

Houston quarterback Davis Mills was 16-for-30 passing for just 153 yards but had two touchdowns. Running back Woody Marks had 74 yards on the ground but averaged a strong 4.6 yards per carry.

Sloppy ‘Buffalo’ loss

The Bills’ miscues were on offense too. Three more turnovers for a team that really never turned the ball over last season. Allen had two interceptions and wide receiver Khalil Shakir fumbled.

Despite all that, the Bills had their chance in the end. A crazy fourth-and-27 conversion had Buffalo looking like they were going to pull this one off despite having no right to win it.

Instead, a loss. It felt like a “Buffalo loss” of yester-year.