Ka’imi Fairbairn connected on a 59-yard field goal as time expired Sunday, lifting the Houston Texans to a 23-20 win over the visiting Buffalo Bills.
Houston (4-1) got the ball on the Buffalo 45-yard line with seven seconds left after Robert Woods’ 13-yard punt return. CJ Stroud completed a 5-yard pass to Dare Ogunbowale with two seconds remaining and the Texans used a timeout to tee up Fairbairn’s eighth career game-winner.
Stroud hit on 28 of 38 passes for 331 yards with a touchdown and an interception as Houston tied its second-best start through five games in franchise history. The Texans outgained the Bills 425-276.
Josh Allen endured a poor showing for Buffalo (3-2), connecting on just 9 of 30 passes for 131 yards with a touchdown. Allen started 1 of 9 and then misfired on his last eight attempts, the last three coming on the Bills’ final possession that started and ended at their 3 to set up Houston’s winning points.
Buffalo trailed 20-3 in the third quarter but rallied with two touchdowns, including Allen’s 49-yard strike to Keon Coleman. Tyler Bass boosted it into a 20-20 tie on a 33-yard field goal with 3:18 left, four plays after one of Stroud’s two fourth-quarter turnovers — a fumble.
The obvious pregame storyline was Houston wide receiver Stefon Diggs playing his first game against the Buffalo team that he starred for from 2020-23, catching at least 103 passes in every season.
Diggs enjoyed a solid game with six catches for 82 yards and the Texans controlled the first half, allowing just a Bass field goal with 6:27 left of the first quarter. It was all Houston after that until the third quarter.
Cam Akers scored the game’s first touchdown on a 15-yard run with 2:55 left in the period. Less than two minutes later, it was 14-3 as Stroud connected with Nico Collins for a 67-yard strike down the middle behind three defenders.
Fairbairn bombed a 50-yard field goal as time expired to send Houston to the locker room with a 17-3 lead.
–Field Level Media
