1-4. That’s the reigning MVP Josh Allen’s record against the Houston Texans. His latest trip to NRG Stadium was no less disappointing. The Buffalo Bills lost 23-19 with the fourth-best league defense, according to PFF, torturing the visitors from the get-go. Undoubtedly, frustrations were high. In the last quarter, it also got caught on the camera as Allen explained the reason for his sideline outburst.

“Just frustration on my part… should have banged a timeout… We got the play in late. Didn’t give ourselves a chance there,” Allen said to 13WHAM’s Dan Fetes.

The boiling point came in the final period with 12:18 left in the game and the Texans leading 23-16. Opting for the ground game, Allen handed the ball to running back James Cook III, who could only run for three and five yards respectively on the first two downs before Texans’ left guard Sheldon Rankins tackled him.

On 3rd & 2, Cook got the ball again and ran for a yard before being stopped by Tommy Togiai. Taking a chance, Bills head coach Sean McDermott opted to run the ball again. And again, Cook couldn’t turn it into a productive outcome. Rankins stopped the RB for a loss of two yards, leading to a turnover on downs by ending a 10-play drive at Houston 25 that started at Buffalo 35.

With how the whole drive went, Allen couldn’t help but release his anger at the helmet as he threw it on the ground beside the chair he sat on. As his backup, Micthell Trubisky sat down beside him, all the quarterback could seemingly wonder out loud was, “What are we doing here?”

While Allen was clear that he wasn’t directing anger at one player, the entire offensive operation could be held culpable.

The Texans sacked Allen eight times, the most he’s ever taken in one game. The weak pocket protection didn’t go unmentioned by McDermott after the loss.

“When they hit the quarterback 12 times, it’s not a healthy way to play or a healthy way to keep our quarterback healthy through the remainder of the season. So that’s just not a good formula right there,” the head coach said.

Allen finished the evening with 24-of-34 passing for 253 yards and committed two costly turnovers. Five days after putting up six TDs, Thursday was his second game with zero offensive TDs. The Bills are 2-7 in Allen’s career as a starter when he doesn’t record a passing or rushing touchdown.

Specifically against the Texans, he is now winless in four tries inside NRG Stadium, including a postseason defeat in 2020. Across those four meetings, the Bills have never scored more than 20 points, a trend that continued on Thursday night.

Even during Allen’s 2024 MVP campaign, Houston handed Buffalo a 23-20 defeat. The struggles are consistent, and for the Bills, increasingly alarming. To make matters worse, Houston has now won seven of the last nine meetings between the two franchises dating back to 2009.

For Allen, personally, only the Philadelphia Eagles have produced a worse winning percentage against him.

Otherwise, although he has dropped multiple games to AFC rivals such as New England and Kansas City, he also owns several victories in those series. Against Houston, especially in Texas, the story has been the opposite.

The defeat sent Buffalo tumbling further behind in the AFC East race. While technically the Bills remain in second place, the gap to the division leaders, the New England Patriots, has spread noticeably as they stand two games back. With the loss, Buffalo also fell to 7-4 and to the No. 5 spot in the conference. The Texans now hold a potential tiebreaker over the Bills with a 6-5 record and the No. 8 slot. If all the bad news wasn’t enough, McDermott has even bigger problems looming.

Josh Allen’s health update

The Bills also survived a scare when Allen went down to the turf in the second quarter. Allen escaped the pocket but got hit from behind and fell awkwardly to the ground. Initially, his left shoulder felt numb as he fell on it, but he assured everyone he was fine. The QB didn’t miss a snap.

Even so, the hit was another reminder of just how tenuous the season has become: the Bills have all their hopes pinned on Allen remaining upright and healthy, something the relentless pressure on Thursday made tough. Allen didn’t step back in acknowledging and giving credit to his opponent for the challenge.

Houston justified their top-five league defense rankings by collapsing the pocket repeatedly and forcing Josh into uncomfortable, off-schedule plays. On the other hand, decision-making, communication, and pocket-protection all fell apart.

“It’s not fun, I ran into a couple myself,” Allen said, recognizing where he failed. “I got to be better with throwing the ball away and living to see another down.”

The Bills will next fly to Pittsburgh to take on Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers, yet another defense that will test the strength of Allen’s words.