HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans’ defense was supposed to be the strength of the team and one of the NFL’s best entering the season.
That certainly wasn't the case on Sunday.
The Texans gave up big play after big play in a 36-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills in their opener.
“We’ve got to do a better job, especially closing out the game,” star 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.”
Josh Allen threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Palmer with 1:36 remaining to lift the Bills to victory.
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.
Lassiter, a third-year safety, had a tough day. Along with that drop, he was one of the players defending Palmer on the go-ahead score. He also had a pass-interference penalty for 46 yards in the first half that gave the Bills the ball on the 1-yard line, leading to a touchdown.
Visibly upset, Lassiter took accountability for the loss.
“I feel like this team is in a really good spot,” he said. “I feel like everyone played great, everyone but me. So, I’ve just got to be better.”
Coach DeMeco Ryans was disappointed that the poor defensive performance spoiled a big day by the offense. C.J. Stroud threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns and David Montgomery added two rushing scores and had a TD catch in his Houston debut after a trade from the Lions.
“We played together, but we could have definitely played much better defensively,” he said.
The Texans entered the season returning all their starters from a defense that led the NFL in yards allowed and ranked second in points allowed last year. Many observers predicted they'd be even better this year.
Lassiter said the Texans can’t rely on what they've done previously and must be better if they hope to avoid a repeat of last season, when they lost their first three games.
“It’s a whole new season ... and the stuff that we did last year doesn’t count anymore,” he said. “Obviously what we put on the field today counts and what I put on the field today wasn’t good enough.”
The Bills piled up 409 yards of offense and the Texans allowed their most points since a 36-22 loss to Cleveland on Dec. 24, 2023.
The Texans yielded a 21-yard touchdown run by Allen, a 43-yard scoring grab by DJ Moore and several other chunk plays in the first half.
“We gave up way too many explosives,” Ryans said. “When you give up the explosives and you have the opportunity to take the football away, you don’t do those things and you’re going against a top offense in the NFL, that’s what’s going to happen.”
Last season, Houston sacked Allen a career-high eight times in a 23-19 win.
The Texans had two sacks Sunday while Allen finished with 334 yards passing and two touchdowns and ran for two more scores.
“We have to be tighter in our coverage,” Ryans said. “The rush and coverage works together. We have to give the defensive line a little more time. Of course, they had more max protection, shot plays, where they were throwing the ball up. We had opportunities to make those plays and they came down with them.”
Anderson said the Texans would use the disappointing result as motivation.
“We’re going to stick together and that’s what the message was after this one,” he said. “Stick together, hold your head up high, this is just the first one and let’s just get back to work and play our brand of ball.”
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