The Buffalo Bills have failed to find much success against the vaunted Houston Texans defense in recent years, but Josh Allen and company flipped the script in a 36-31 win in Week 1. The Houston defense, picked by many to be the best defense in the NFL this season, had no answers for Allen and the Buffalo offense under new head coach Joe Brady.
The numbers behind the Bills' thrashing of the Texans' defense are even more staggering. Buffalo had two touchdown drives of 96 yards or longer on Sunday, something that had only happened five times since 1993, per Ryan Miller of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Buffalo also produced an explosive play on one-third of its passing plays, comfortably the best mark in the league in Week 1 with a game still to come.
Article Continues BelowThe Bills managed a league-best 33.3% explosive pass play rate vs the Texans defense in Week 1. Absurd stuff pic.twitter.com/PhWg5HPi7m
â Jack Brentnall (@Jack_Brentnall) September 14, 2026
Allen has proven that he can torch any defense on any given day, but he has struggled with the Texans in the past. Houston has an elite pass rush that can move him off of his spot and cornerbacks that stick to the Bills' receivers with tight coverage. That didn't matter on Sunday, as the Buffalo QB got whatever he wanted almost all day long.
Houston still had a chance to get the win in the fourth quarter, in large part because of a nice day from CJ Stroud and the offense. However, after Allen found Joshua Palmer for the go-ahead touchdown with less than two minutes to go, a Stroud fumble in the red zone put the Texans' hopes out for good.
A defense with as much talent as Houston's and a great coach in DeMeco Ryans should still be near the top of the league this season, but that only says more about the state of this Bills offense. With a lighter slate of defenses coming up in the near future for Josh Allen and company, watch out for this Buffalo unit as maybe the best in all of football in 2026.

