HOUSTON (AP) — Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills travel to Houston to Sunday to open their season against the Texans with the quarterback looking to finally break through in a place that has never been good to him.
It’s a game between two playoff teams from last season. Many expect both to be among the top teams in the AFC again this year.
Allen is 0-4 in games at Houston, including a wild-card playoff loss in 2020 and his most recent performance in the city may have been his worst.
Playing without quarterback C.J. Stroud, Houston got a 23-19 win last November with a suffocating defensive performance. The Texans tied a franchise record by sacking Allen a career-high eight times with 4½ coming from Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter. Calen Bullock forced three turnovers, picking off Allen twice, with the last one sealing the victory with 24 seconds left.
“Those guys are gonna be ready to play,” Allen said. “They got after us last year, there’s no secret about it.”
Allen is 67 of 127 for 722 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and a lost fumble in four games at Houston. His struggles include a career-worst 30% completion rate in a 23-20 loss in 2024.
Despite that history, players and coaches from both teams agree that history doesn’t have any bearing on this week’s game. Sunday will be the head coaching debut for Buffalo's Joe Brady, who was promoted from offensive coordinator after Sean McDermott was fired after nine seasons.
“It’s year one for us and there’s nothing that we’re going into this year with the mindset of, oh man, this is what’s happened in the past year, right,” Brady said. “Like a lot of these guys haven’t even been here, so I don’t think it’s anything.”
It’s a message that Houston coach DeMeco Ryans is also preaching to his team this week.
“We can’t hang our hat on past success,” he said. “Past success is not going to automatically guarantee you future success. We have to go out and we have to earn it. That’s one thing that Josh and his offense is going to make you do.”
As the Texans enter their 25th season as the only team to have never reached a conference championship game, they know that Sunday’s game will be their first test if they hope to end that drought.
“I’m feeling like Sunday is going to be that AFC championship-type feel,” Anderson said.