H-Town Buzzer Beater | Vanderblog

This was another unforgettable moment. The H-Town uniform rocked the house as the Texans won in their first appearance in it. I was in the first Battle Red game in 2003, also a win. A new tradition emerges.

Most importantly, it was a win over an AFC contender. It’s still early and there’s a lot of cleaning to do. But there’s plenty to smile about as your Texans are off to their best start in 12 years and will try to keep it up next week in New England.

On an afternoon where momentum was lost and time was running out, the Texans dug hard and found a way to pull out a last-second win over an AFC power.

Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 59-yard field goal as time expired defeated Buffalo 23-20, giving the H-Town Heart-Stoppers another dramatic victory.

Houston built a 20-3 lead on the first drive of the third quarter when Fairbairn hit a “routine” 47-yard kick. This came after he ended the first half with a 50-yard triple.

Some of the scoring fun in the first half came courtesy of a 67-yard bomb from Nico Collins and a 15-yard TD run from Cam Akers, his first rushing touchdown for Houston.

The defense was on the ball early and held the Bills to three points in the first half by limiting Josh Allen to 56 passing yards and just 103 total yards.

But the Bills scored a streak of 17 unanswered points and tied the game at 20 with 3:18 remaining in the final frame.

A six-play, 55-yard touchdown drive that cut the lead to 10 felt like an inconvenience. But after a three-and-out by the Texans, the Bills struck again with a five-play drive. We celebrated in the locker room after a huge third-and-5 stop at the Texans’ 49-yard line.

Then Buffalo boldly went up 4^Th and difficult as Allen found Keon Coleman, who took the ball for a lateral sprint on his way to his second straight TD and a three-point deficit.

That’s when the voltage meter really started to rise.

After the teams traded punts, the Texans had a nice drive until CJ Stroud scored his third pick of the year at the opposing 20.

Buffalo was finally forced to punt after Allen threw the ball away on third-and-long while firing a shot. He went under the tent to get checked.

On the next possession, Stroud fumbled the ball trying to escape pressure. But the Texans’ defense stayed strong in the red zone and held the Bills to a game-winning field goal. After a turnover, the Texans still had a chance in regular time with seven seconds left.

Stroud found Dare Ogunbowale for a clever six-yard pickup to put the ball in position for Fairbairn’s heroics.

There were so many key plays and so many players who contributed – too many to list here. Let’s highlight Ogunbowale, who is certainly having his best year and needs to do it while Joe Mixon and Dameon Pierce are still out.

He only had 30 yards on 15 carries, but they felt and were significant. And his 57 yards on six receptions was huge.

Stefon Diggs had the best day of any receiver against Buffalo this year with six grabs for 82 yards. And let’s never forget that despite two turnovers, Stroud is one of the best quarterbacks in the world. He passed for over 300 yards again and surgically made the big plays when the Texans needed them most.

The defense held Allen in the game just nine times and didn’t give an inch when she was put on the short field in the late sudden change situation. They also held the Bills to their three-yard line after Houston made a hesitant punt on the Texans’ second-to-last possession that followed an intentional no-choice call.

Azeez Al-Shair had eight stops, one TFL and two QB hits to lead the way. And all while he was playing sick, apparently with the “Jordan flu.”

This was another unforgettable moment. The H-Town uniform rocked the house as the Texans won in their first appearance in it. I was in the first Battle Red game in 2003, also a win. A new tradition emerges.

Most importantly, it was a win over an AFC contender. It’s still early and there’s a lot of cleaning to do. But there’s plenty to smile about as your Texans are off to their best start in 12 years and will try to keep it up next week in New England.