Allen's struggles sink Bills in 22-19 OT loss to Texans

Josh Allen didn’t look like a playoff rookie in first half on Saturday as he led Buffalo Bills to a double-digit halftime lead. He wasn’t nearly as composed after that and it allowed Houston Texans to get back in game and rally for a 22-19 overtime win in first round of playoffs.

“re were some things we should have hit on,” Allen said. “I put that on my shoulders, especially with how well our defence played. Teams go how ir quarterbacks go and I’ve got to be better for this team.”

Houston’s win extends Buffalo’s postseason losing streak to six games, with ir most recent playoff win coming in 1995. It’s first wild-card overtime game since Broncos beat Steelers 29-23 in 2011 season.

Allen, who is in his second NFL season, threw for 264 yards, ran for 92 yards and caught a touchdown pass on a trick play in first quarter, but often looked rattled late in his playoff debut.

“He was just trying to do too much and getting a little bit extreme with what he felt like we needed at time,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “But overall, we just didn’t make eugh plays.”

Allen scrambled 42 yards for a first down on Buffalo’s first possession for its longest rush of season. Two plays later, Bills used some trickery to take lead when John Brown threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Allen to make it 7-0. Brown’s pass was wobbly, but Allen was wide open despite having to slow down to grab it.

It was early in second quarter when Allen appeared to fumble, and it was recovered by Houston. But play was reviewed and overturned, giving Buffalo ball at Houston 32. Bills were unable to move ball after that and made a 40-yard field goal to make it 10-0.

Bills (10-7) added ar 40-yard field goal at end of second quarter to push lead to 13-0 at halftime.

Bills got a field goal in third quarter to push ir lead to 16 before Allen’s struggles began.

“You can’t let a team like that hang around,” McDermott said. “We had opportunities to go up 20 or so and we didn’t come away with touchdowns. So that let m hang around a little bit, and n y made some plays in second half.”

Houston (11-6) cut lead to 16-8 when Deshaun Watson scored on a 20-yard run and Texans added a 2-point conversion.

Bills were driving early in fourth quarter when Allen was sacked by Whitney Mercilus and fumbled, and it was recovered by Jacob Martin at Buffalo 47. Houston cashed in on miscue with a 41-yard field goal that cut lead to 16-11 with about 11 minutes to go.

Watson connected with Carlos Hyde on a 5-yard touchdown pass and Hopkins on a 2-point conversion with about five minutes left to put Texans on top 19-16.

Bills were in field-goal range on ir next drive when Allen got a 14-yard penalty for intentional grounding and Buffalo lost a down to bring up fourth down. y went for it and Allen was sacked by Martin for a 19-yard loss to give Houston ball back with 1:41 left.

“We didn’t execute how we should have, and we didn’t make as many plays as we should have,” Allen said. “That’s what it really comes down to. y made one more play than us.”

McDermott explained why he went for it on fourth down.

“We wanted to be aggressive,” he said. “It didn’t end up working out for us.”

But Buffalo got ar chance after getting a stop on defence and ended a streak of 19 straight points by Texans with Stephen Hauschka’s 47-yard field goal that tied it with 5 seconds left to force overtime.

Both teams punted on ir first possessions of overtime. On Houston’s next drive, Watson evaded a sack by wriggling away from one defender and bouncing off ar before rolling out to find Taiwan Jones for a 34-yard reception to set up first-and-goal.

Ka'imi Fairbairn n kicked a 28-yard field goal to lift Houston to victory.

Bills lost despite a strong defensive performance led by Jerry Hughes. He had three of Buffalo’s seven sacks and four of team’s 12 quarterback hits to become first player in franchise history with three sacks in a postseason game. He’s first player in NFL to have three sacks in playoffs since Atlanta’s Grady Jarrett also had three in Super Bowl 51.