Forgive me for the lack of groundbreaking analysis here, but as the Houston Texans welcome the Buffalo Bills to NRG Stadium on Thursday night, the league's best defense will have its hands full with arguably the league's best quarterback. Josh Allen is the reigning league MVP and he's currently got the 3rd-best odds, according to DraftKings Sportsbook, to win the Most Valuable Player Award for the 2025 season as well.
Putting together a game plan to slow down Josh Allen has got to at times feel like studying for the SAT's in a different language, leaving you wondering what the hell you're seeing and contemplating whether your answer even makes the slighest bit of sense. Evidently though, the Texans defense is 'multilingual' as it were, because last season when Josh Allen and the Bills came to town, Houston's D disrupted the soon-to-be MVP in a way that no other units seem to be able to.
In a 23-20 win, the Texans defense limited Josh Allen to just 9 completions on 30 pass attempts for 131 yards and a touchdown. Allen also ran for 54 yards on just 4 attempts, but in total, keeping the best quarterback in the NFL to under 200 yards of total offense and just one score can only be viewed as a monumental victory.
So what went into this superb defensive effort? And do the Texans have the goods to be able to do it again?
DeMeco Ryans outlines how to keep Josh Allen and Bills offense in check
Take a look at those numbers from last year again and you'll notice the curiously low completion percentage (30%), but dig a little deeper and you'll find a curiously high pressure rate. According to Next Gen Stats, Allen was pressure on 45.7% of his dropbacks against Houston last year. That was the single highest mark in each of the last two seasons, and on those dropbacks, Allen managed to complete just 1-of-14 pass attempts.
But is it really that simple? Likely not. Now sure, if Houston is able to generate pressure on nearly half of Josh Allen's dropbacks on Thursday night, that obviously bodes well for the Texans defense. But even if they did, it would still be stunning if Allen completed just 7% of those passes once again. He's just too talented.
"We understand Josh is one of the most dynamic quarterbacks when it comes to buying time and being able to escape the rush," Ryans told reporters Tuesday when asked about slowing Allen. "He's a big, physical guy. He can ward off defenders and he can throw the ball as far as he needs to throw it. He has such an awesome arm talent, smart player, knows how to buy time."
It's not a secret that Josh Allen is a magician getting out of a mess of traffic and still finding a way to deliver one or two Holy Hell how did he complete that? passes each game. Obviously, the Bills offense operates much better if things are on time, but having a receiving corps that knows how to adapt in those situations, which Buffalo does, helps matters when Allen needs to go into backyard football mode.
What the Texans have that combats that, however, is one of the league's stickiest secondaries, in addition to a pass rush that just doesn't quit. The combination of Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter closing in on Allen from opposite edges, along with Derek Stingley Jr., Kamari Lassiter, Calen Bullock and co. staying attached to receivers, is a nightmare for any opposing offense. Still, that doesn't mean that the Texans don't realize what a dangerous game it is to have to defend for that long.
"Defensively, for our guys, you have to keep rushing, you have to keep covering. However long it takes, you got to keep going," Ryans added. "We know it's going to be extended plays, he's going to buy time no matter what you do. You just have to be able to close it out by the defensive line. If not, then if he puts the ball up, we expect our secondary guys to close it out and go up and make a play."
In addition to Allen, another factor that helps to make Buffalo's offense so consistent and explosive is running back James Cook, who is on pace to rush for 1,645 yards this season, which would smash his own personal single-season best and surpass every other single-season output by a Bills running back except for a pair of OJ Simpson seasons in 1973 and 1975.
"James does a really good job of when they're running an outside zone, he presses his blocks really well. So, when he cuts it back, he cuts it back with speed. Just has a really good feel for the zone scheme that they run, and he has a really good feel for just finding that open area," Ryans said. "He's a tough tackle. It's gonna take—how we play anyway—everybody getting to the ball, storming the football. Just multiple hats trying to surround him as best we can to get him down."
In their meeting with Buffalo last season, Houston limited Cook to 82 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.