Stocks rise, stocks fall after the Buffalo Bills’ loss to the Houston Texans

The Bills’ offense didn’t shine on Sunday against the Texans, but Cook was the only bright spot as he was effective in the ground game. Cook also did a good job in the passing game when opportunities presented themselves, which helped in Buffalo’s comeback.

Although Allen left that game to be checked for a concussion, he was able to return but didn’t make much of an impact when Buffalo needed it. Completing nine of 30 passes has to be one of Allen’s worst performances of his career, and while the receiving corps isn’t as good as it was last season, Houston was exploited through the air and Allen couldn’t continue that trend.

Bernard returned to the Bills’ lineup after missing the last two games with a pectoral injury, but returned to the Buffalo defense in style. Bernard made five tackles, defended a pass and had a pretty big interception as the Bills attempted a comeback from a 17-point deficit.

Although the Bills’ defense hasn’t been good as a unit, this serves to illustrate how disappointing Epenesa has been this season when Buffalo was looking for someone to lead the pass rush. After this game, Epenesa now has just one sack and is unable to match or surpass the 6.5 sacks he put up over the last two seasons.

Bass has been good for the Bills this season, and the same was true Sunday, when he hit two field goals of 38 yards and 33 yards at critical moments as Buffalo mounted its comeback. Right now, it looks like Bass is locked in, and if the Bills need to rely on his leg, he’s ready to deliver.

The Bills’ pass defense was underutilized and that was one of the main reasons they trailed by 17 points at one point in this contest. Granted, Houston has one of the NFL’s wide receiver teams, but six different Texans had at least 31 yards receiving in a game that came down to the wire.