Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Josh Allen Assigns Blame After Upset Loss To Texans

Originally posted on The Spun | By Tzvi Machlin | Last updated Nov 21, 2025 9:46 AM ET

Despite being five-point favorites on the road, the Buffalo Bills were stunned on Thursday Night Football by the surging Houston Texans.

The heroes of the day were the Houston pass rushers, who sacked Allen eight times - the most in his career - while landing around four more big hits on him. Texans DE Will Anderson Jr. was like a man possessed, logging 2.5 of those sacks on his own and even defending a pass.

Texans QB Davis Mills did just enough to win, completing 16 of 30 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns. RB Woody Marks led the team with 74 rushing yards on 16 carries.

On the other side, Bills MVP QB Josh Allen had a rare game without a single touchdown either through the air or on the ground. Despite having more completions and 100 more yards than Mills, he threw two interceptions and could muster just 14 yards on the ground.

The end result was a 23-19 Texans win where the Texans never even trailed in the fourth quarter.

Josh Allen is 1 yard from a 1st down and runs backwards 5 yards to hand it to Cook who promptly loses 2 yards pic.twitter.com/FHRX1EgDic
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) November 21, 2025

Josh Allen Speaks

After the game, Allen admitted that the Texans seemed to have simply wanted to win more. But he did feel that the Bills still had a chance to win.

"They wanted it today," Allen said, via ESPN. "We had a chance to win there at the end and got to find a way."

The big play Allen laments is the Bills' decision to run the ball with James Cook on a fourth-and-1 from the Texans' 23-yard line. Allen handed it off but the defense got penetration and took down Cook for a loss, causing a turnover on downs. After the play, Allen was visibly frustrated and admitted to being so in his postgame press conference.

"Just frustration on my part," Allen said. "In a situation like that, probably should have just banged a timeout. Just getting... we got the play in late. Didn't give ourselves a chance there."

Josh Allen against the Dolphins.© Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The loss drops the Bills to 7-4 on the season, putting them two games back from the rival New England Patriots in the AFC East title race with just six games to go and only two divisional games left on their schedule.

Suffice it to say, the Bills' five-year streak of AFC East title wins is in serious jeopardy right now.

As for the Texans, they're now 6-5. While just below the playoff threshold, they're getting hot at exactly the right time and can put themselves in a position to make a serious run if they can beat the AFC South-leading Indianapolis Colts at the end of the month.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: