Bills Shock Texans in Final Seconds as Moore’s 44-Yard TD Caps Wild 45–42 Shootout

HOUSTON, TX - If this was a measuring-stick game for AFC contenders, the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans turned it into a full-on track meet. Behind a monster night from Josh Allen and a last-second touchdown to Elijah Moore, the Bills escaped NRG Stadium with a wild 45-42 win, improving to 7-3-1 and handing the Texans a gut-punch loss that drops them to 4-7.

Allen answers Chubb in a shootout

For most of the night, every Bills haymaker was met by a counter from Houston - usually from Nick Chubb. The Texans' workhorse back opened the scoring with a 1-yard plunge, then added touchdown runs of 22 and 2 yards as Houston built leads of 14-7 and 28-21. Chubb finished with 89 rushing yards and three scores on just 16 carries, plus 31 receiving yards and another touchdown, accounting for four of Houston's five offensive trips to the end zone.

"Every time we thought we had control, 24 was in the end zone again," Allen said. "He kept us on our heels all night."

Buffalo's offense, though, was relentless. Allen carved up the Texans' secondary, completing 33 of 44 passes for 460 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Khalil Shakir was his security blanket, catching 9 passes for 115 yards and a pair of scores, while tight end Dalton Kincaid chipped in 7 receptions for 79 yards working the seams.

Cook's breakout keeps Bills within striking distance

Whenever Buffalo needed balance, James Cook delivered it. The second-year back was electric on the ground, turning 14 carries into 102 yards and two touchdowns, including a 20-yard scoring burst early in the fourth quarter that gave the Bills a 35-28 lead. He also caught 6 passes for 66 yards, repeatedly leaking out of the backfield to punish Houston's linebackers in space.

"James was unbelievable," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said. "We ask a lot of him - pass protection, routes, tough carries - and he answered every time."

Houston refused to fold. C.J. Stroud was nearly flawless, completing 23 of 27 attempts for 337 yards and three touchdowns, posting a sparkling 155.7 passer rating and avoiding turnovers entirely. Jayden Higgins (7 catches, 106 yards, one touchdown) and Nico Collins (5 for 132) repeatedly stressed Buffalo downfield, while tight end Cade Stover hauled in a 6-yard score just before the end of the first quarter.

Texans take the lead late - but leave Allen too much time

The fourth quarter played out like a playoff preview. After Cook's long touchdown run, Houston answered with a methodical march capped by a 10-yard touchdown strike from Stroud to Higgins, knotting the game at 35-35. Buffalo nudged back ahead on a 32-yard Tyler Bass field goal with 3:57 remaining, only for Chubb to seemingly win it with his fourth touchdown of the night, a 7-yard run that put Houston up 42-38 with just 51 seconds left.

"All we were thinking on the sideline was, 'That's too much time for 17,'" Shakir said with a grin.

He was right. Starting from his own 35, Allen went into hurry-up mode, hitting Kincaid and Shakir to cross midfield before taking a shot down the right sideline to Moore. The veteran wideout beat single coverage and pulled in a 44-yard bomb for the go-ahead touchdown with just three seconds on the clock, silencing the NRG crowd and completing one of Buffalo's most dramatic wins of the season.

"That's the trust we've built," Moore said. "Josh gave me a chance, and I wasn't coming down without that ball."

By the numbers

The box score looked like something out of a video game. Buffalo piled up 772 yards of offense, including 460 through the air and 130 on the ground, while Houston racked up 462 yards of its own behind Stroud's efficiency and Chubb's four-touchdown night. Neither team committed a turnover, and both offenses were deadly on third down, combining to convert well over 50 percent of their chances.

For the Bills, Shakir (9-115-2), Moore (4-111-1), and Kincaid (7-79) highlighted a deep receiving corps, while Cook posted 168 scrimmage yards and two scores. The Texans countered with Chubb's 120 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns, Higgins' 106-yard outing, and Collins' 132 yards as constant big-play threats.

"This one hurts," Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans admitted. "You score 42 at home, you expect to win. But that's a championship-caliber quarterback on the other sideline, and tonight he made one more play than we did."

Up Next

The Bills carry their 7-3-1 record into a pivotal Week 13 showdown on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium.

The Texans will try to regroup and keep their playoff hopes flickering when they travel to Indiana in Week 13 to face the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.