Buffalo Rumblings
Despite the fact that the Buffalo Bills had a chance to score the game-winning touchdown late in Thursday night’s primetime game, the Bills were thoroughly dominated by the Houston Texans in Week 12.
Houston’s front four, led by Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, bullied Buffalo’s offensive line and finished with eight sacks and countless other hurries. Quarterback Josh Allen was under constant pressure, Houston’s defensive backs bottled up Buffalo’s wide receivers, the Texans’ offensive line gave backup quarterback Davis Mills a clean pocket for much of the night, and Houston’s offense was able to do whatever it wanted in scoring 20 first-half points against a depleted Bills defense.
Add it all up and Buffalo (7-4) dropped another disappointing game to an AFC opponent and now sits two games behind the New England Patriots (9-2) in the AFC East.
With six games remaining in the regular season, today’s edition of Buffalo Rumblinks leads off with observations on the issues that are holding the Bills back and what Buffalo can do to right the ship and fix what has consistently plagued them during their losses this year.
For the third time in their last four road games, the Bills came up short in a game they needed to win if they wanted to keep pace in the AFC East standings. While the defense rebounded and held the Texans to only three second-half points, there’s clearly something wrong with Buffalo’s offense. Josh Allen seemed frustrated at times that he didn’t have time to complete passes downfield, that his offensive line continued to commit back-breaking penalties, and that he couldn’t dial up the passing game and complete the comeback effort in Houston.
What has happened to this Bills team, and what can the Bills do to remedy this situation? From getting better production on first down and having Dion Dawkins eliminate his recent penchant for false starts — he has committed a league-leading seven while the rest of the offensive line combined has one such penalty — to the potential for a reunion with former offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, exploring that topic and more below.
