- Immediate chemistry with his new weapon:D.J. Moore snagged four explosives on a 77.2 PFF receiving grade in his Bills debut, helping push the envelope.
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Ahead of the first week of the 2026 NFL season, coaches, players and fans alike were eager to see teams finally step foot onto the field against actual competition. While Week 1 can be zany — and may not forecast the rest of a season — its results do carry some natural weight.
Perhaps no game on opening weekend was more significant than Bills-Texans. Both teams entered Sunday as legitimate Super Bowl contenders, with the winner gaining a tiebreaker that may very well come into play in January.
A number of storylines were worth monitoring in Houston’s Reliant Stadium, especially after these two foes met in Week 12 of last season. However, the most pronounced postgame takeaway was a starkly elite performance from the Bills’ offense — against arguably the sport’s best defense.
Despite facing a Texans unit that led the league in EPA per play, success rate and yards per play last season, Buffalo wasn’t fazed. In head coach Joe Brady’s debut, the team scored 36 points and amassed 409 yards. Those numbers are gaudy in and of themselves, but those under the surface are even more unbelievable.
For instance, the Bills tallied 13 explosive plays against the Texans, with their 25.5% explosive play rate the best of any team to play in Week 1 so far. Likewise, Brady’s bunch sat in the top five in average yards per play (8.0), EPA per play (0.287) and points per drive (2.77).
Scoring was the name of the game in Week 1, with teams like the Bears, Ravens and Jaguars exploding against their respective opponents. But what the Bills accomplished is at an entirely different level considering just how elite, talented, disciplined and well-coached this Houston defense has been for a very long time.
Consider that Josh Allen totaled 10 explosive passes against DeMeco Ryans’ group. Throughout the entire 2025 season, the Texans didn’t give up more than eight such passes in an entire game. In fact, that’s the most 15-plus-yard throws allowed by Houston in almost three full seasons.
Allen wasn’t perfect against the Texans’ vaunted defense, notching two turnover-worthy plays — including a dropped interception that could’ve sealed a Buffalo loss late. However, he still accrued three big-time throws on first impression, and his 80.8% adjusted completion percentage was a robust number.
How did Allen and the Bills find such a rhythm against a defense that’s hardly allowed offenses to breathe in recent seasons? Let’s break it down.
A good starting point is Allen’s 12.8-yard average depth of target. That would actually be his second-highest in a game since the start of 2024 — ironically, also his most elevated mark since Week 5, 2024 at Houston. Upon first review, a whopping 48.1% of Allen’s passes traveled 10 yards or farther in Week 1, and the results were strong. On those tries, Allen went 11-for-14 with 286 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a sharp 89.9 PFF passing grade.
Based on last season’s advanced coverage metrics, that deeper approach makes sense from Allen and Brady. The Texans were the league’s best defense against shorter pass attempts, producing a 93.0 PFF coverage grade on throws either behind the line of scrimmage or within nine yards. By contrast, they ranked only 13th on either deep or intermediate tries.
On top of Allen hitting more home-run shots, another large factor in the Bills’ equation was improved pass protection. The table below illustrates that Allen was under less duress against the Texans in 2026 vs. in 2025.
StatisticWeek 12, 2025 @ HOUWeek 1, 2026 @ HOUPressure Rate43.5%37.5%Pressure-to-Sack Ratio40%16.7%Pressured Dropbacks2012OL Pressures Allowed198OL Sacks Allowed51Josh Allen's pressure numbers vs. Texans, 2025/2026Perhaps unsurprisingly, Allen had more time to pick apart Houston’s zone looks, averaging 3.12 seconds to throw in Week 1 — a significant share longer than his 2.77-second average in Week 12 of last season. The Bills did offer regular chip help to tackles Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown after both struggled in Houston last year, but the tandem was also better itself. Dawkins and Brown combined to allow only three pressures, none of which turned into a sack. On top of that, Allen himself did better to escape sacks, being credited with one sack on first reference
Allen also established excellent timing and rhythm with multiple playmakers, which was an issue for the Bills during the 2025 season. The headliner was tight end Dalton Kincaid, who caught five of six targets for 130 yards on a career-high 91.6 PFF receiving grade. Four of Kincaid’s receptions went for first downs, and he netted three catches of 15-plus yards.
Beyond that, newcomer D.J. Moore immediately shined in his Bills debut. Moore hauled in five of seven receptions for 100 yards, earning a 77.2 PFF receiving grade in the process. The former Bear contributed to four receptions himself, tied for the league lead through Week 1. Further, Moore’s 21.9-yard average depth of target was higher than what he experienced in all but three games last season.
In addition to a deeper passing attack, Brady added new wrinkles to his existing schematic foundation. Against Houston, the Bills ran play action on 40.5% of Allen’s dropbacks, up from a 30.2% clip the year before. Although Allen’s numbers on such looks were more pedestrian — a 51.3 PFF passing grade with no big-time throws and a turnover-worthy play — such fakes did contribute to chunk plays by getting the Texans’ defensive backs out of alignment, including biting on shorter routes.
Likewise, Brady leaned into the growing league-wide trend of 13 personnel. The Bills deployed three tight ends on 21 snaps, which trails only the Rams of the 30 teams to play in Week 1 so far. By comparison, Buffalo utilized 13 personnel just 64 times all of last season. The changeup worked, with the Bills averaging 6.6 yards per play with a 52.4% success rate out of the formation group.
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What makes the Bills’ offensive explosion against such a stout defense that much more interesting is that the team’s elite ground game wasn’t nearly as effective as usual. Buffalo averaged only -0.260 EPA per rush with a 40% success rate against Houston, mustering three explosive carries all day. Those are far cries from the team’s 2025 metrics on the back of James Cook and Allen, as no Bill secured even an initial 60.0 PFF rushing grade.
The Bills entered the 2026 season with questions about whether or not their pass-catching corps was finally sufficient for Allen. The sample size is small, but it’s hard not to be giddy about the results. Pairing an efficient run game with Allen’s premier playmaking ability, explosive weapons and improved pass protection only raises the floor of one of the league’s best offenses.
What Brady accomplished in his head-coaching debut isn’t ordinary; performances like this have almost never happened against the Houston defense over the last three seasons. The question becomes how well the Bills can sustain this level of passing play over a full season, especially against other stingy defenses later on — but the early impression is an eye-catching one.