HOUSTON (AP) — Josh Allen didn’t wait for the question he knew was coming on Sunday after finally leading the Buffalo Bills to a road win over the Houston Texans in a season-opening thriller.
“We do like Reliant Stadium,” he said with a big smile. “Woo.”
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Allen threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Palmer with 1:36 remaining to lift the Bills to a 36-31 victory in a back-and-forth game.
Allen had 334 yards passing with two touchdowns and ran for two more scores after losing his previous four games at Reliant Stadium.
“It feels good to start the season off right,” Allen said.
It was the Bills' first win at Houston since Nov. 19, 2006.
The Texans led 31-30 when Allen split two defenders to find Palmer. The 2-point conversion failed.
One play earlier, Houston's Kamari Lassiter got his hands on a pass from Allen in the end zone but couldn’t grab the interception.
“We got lucky,” Palmer said. “He dropped it. Next play I caught it.”
The Texans had a chance to win in the closing seconds, but Greg Rousseau had his second strip-sack of the day, taking down C.J. Stroud at the Buffalo 28. Terrel Bernard recovered to seal the victory.
It was a disappointing outing for Houston's vaunted defense, which led the NFL in yards allowed and ranked second in points allowed last season.
“We had multiple opportunities to make plays, had chances to make plays on the football and we didn’t make plays,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said.
Houston allowed its most points since a 36-22 loss to Cleveland on Dec. 24, 2023.
“We’ve got to do a better job, especially closing out the game,” defensive end Will Anderson said. “It just wasn’t our standard. That’s not who we are. That’s not who we want to be as a defense. ”
Dalton Kincaid had five receptions for 130 yards and DJ Moore had five catches for 100 yards and a touchdown in his Buffalo debut after a trade from Chicago.
Buffalo's Joe Brady started his head coaching career with a win after he was promoted from offensive coordinator following Sean McDermott’s firing after nine seasons.
“You saw a lot of the conviction, everything we sort of talk about,” Brady said. “We didn’t care how pretty. There’s no such thing as an ugly win.”
David Montgomery, who was traded from Detroit this offseason, had a three-TD day in his Houston debut. He had scoring runs of 1 and 18 yards in the first half and his 7-yard touchdown reception put Houston up 28-27 early in the fourth.
Stroud threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns but lost two fumbles.
Tyler Bass' 33-yard field goal made it 30-28 Buffalo with 10 1/2 minutes to go.
Ka'imi Fairbairn’s 58-yard field goal put Houston back ahead with about seven minutes remaining before Allen’s game-winning drive.
Buffalo went up 10-7 when Allen scrambled for a 21-yard touchdown early in the second quarter.
Montgomery’s second score came when he scampered 18 yards untouched to make it 14-10 with about five minutes left in the first half.
Lassiter was flagged for pass interference on Moore in the end zone to give the Bills the ball on the 1 on their next drive. Allen’s scoring dive two plays later put Buffalo up 17-14.
Moore grabbed a ball in front of a diving Reed Blankenship and dashed 43 yards to the end zone later in the second to push the lead to 24-14.
A 12-yard touchdown reception by Nico Collins cut the lead to three at halftime.
Rousseau sacked Stroud on Houston’s first drive, causing a fumble that Ed Oliver recovered on the Houston 32. That led to Bass' 46-yard field goal.
A 1-yard run by Montgomery put the Texans up 7-3 near the end of the first quarter. The score was set up by a 25-yard reception by Collins three plays earlier.
Moore and Kincaid gave the Bills just the second game in franchise history where a tight end and a receiver both had 100 yards receiving. The first time it happened was when Andre Reed had 144 yards receiving and Pete Metzelaars added 122 in Week 2 of the 1992 season.
Brady raved about what Moore brings to the team.
“He opens it up for everybody,” Brady said. “He opens it up for Dalton Kincaid, for the run game and James Cook. He opens it up for Keon Coleman... and Josh Palmer. And then on big-play opportunities, he made them. We’re so much better with him.”
Houston LB Jake Hummel left in the second half with an abdominal injury.
Bills: Host Detroit on Thursday night in their first game at their new stadium.
Texans: Host Cincinnati next Sunday.
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