By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Buffalo Bills’ visit to the playoffs ended the same way as their last time two seasons ago, defeat.
Both games were close, but this one, an overtime loss, came in heartbreaking fashion for the Bills after Buffalo held a 16-0 lead over the Houston Texans after the first half of play.
With that, here are five takeaways from the Bills’ 22-19 loss to the Texans:
An ugly end
Bills quarterback Josh Allen had some good moments in this one. He completed deep passes, and made players miss with his legs while picking up chunks of yards. What ensued at the end of the Bills’ loss was nothing short of embarrassing and should’ve put him into perspective of what he is: a young quarterback.
Allen and the Bills’ offense drove into field goal range down three, took terrible penalties via intentional grounding and sacks to take the Bills out of field goal range. To the offense’s credit, the Bills got back into it and tied the game with an excellent rally and kick from Stephen Hauschka. In overtime, the Bills did little right.
To the defense’s credit, the Bills stopped the Texans’ opening drive. The Bills offense then couldn’t get things going much at all, and when they did, Cody Ford took a questionable penalty, but it was a rookie play on a block that didn’t need to happen. On defense, Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson broke a sack from Matt Milano and Siran Neal and dumped it off for a deep gain, setting up a chip-shot game-winning kick for the Texans. The Bills looked like a team in a playoff pinch for the first time.
Bills open scoring with trick
A big key for the Bills heading into this one was opening the scoring. The Bills did that for the first time in awhile. Week 9 against the Washington Redskins was the last time the Bills scored an opening touchdown in the first quarter. Since then, the often scripted plays called by Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll have been… less than stellar.
The opposite was the case against the Texans. The Bills and quarterback Josh Allen, specfically, got creative. Allen made big moves with his legs, as he scampered 42 yards down the right side of the field, putting his team in scoring position. From there, things got tricky. Three plays later, Allen handed the ball off to wide receiver John Brown on an end around. Allen then ran out for a pass himself and scored. Allen was tackled low and held on for an impressive play. That put the pressure on the Texans early.
Tre White dud in the second half
This game was truly a tale of two halves for the Bills’ No. 1 cornerback in Tre’Davious White. White had an excellent first half against the Texans’ No. 1 wideout in DeAndre Hopkins. The two were not exclusively matched up, but White ended up on Hopkins plenty. At the mid point of the game, Hopkins didn’t have a single catch. Then White punched the ball out of Hopkins’ hands on his first catch of the game.
It went downhill from there.
Hopkins finished the game with four catches for 70 yards on six targets. He beat White beat with a late juke on a 41-yard bomb from Deshaun Watson. White was also covering Hopkins when the Texans converted on a two-point attempt. White did not play at an All-Pro level in the second half when the Bills needed him.
Welcome to the spotlight, Devin Singletary
Devin Singletary is going to be drafted pretty high in your fantasy football league next year. On the national spotlight, Singletary stood out both on the ground and in the air.
It wasn’t John Brown or Cole Beasley who led the Bills in receiving. it was Singletary with six catches for 76 yards on seven targets. On the ground, Frank Gore saw more touches than he had in recent weeks, but he led running backs with 13 carries for 58 yards. Singletary impressively made players miss and carried the load for the Bills. His 38-yard reception kept the game alive late and the rookie will only grow from here and continue to gain national attention. The rookie, in no way, looked like a rookie in this one and the Bills could be set behind Josh Allen.
Sack-fest
The Bills’ defensive front-seven turned things on in the second half of the season and carried that momentum into the postseason. First and foremost, defensive end Trent Murphy proved his worth. Against the Jets last week, Murphy finished the season with two sacks. He followed that up with another two sacks against the Texans and a tackle for loss.
Meanwhile, Jerry Hughes, who had a quiet 2019 season and streak of one sack in the Bills’ final six games, notched two sacks himself. In total, the Bills have five sacks on the day, but unfortunately, things went completely silent for the Bills’ pass rush in the second half and gave Houston’s Deshaun Watson way too much time to throw and plenty of space to run the ball.