Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox leaves Houston Texans cornerback Tavierre Thomas (37) on the ground as he barrels toward the end zone for a touchdown during the first quarter at Highmark Stadium.

 Harry Scull Jr. / Buffalo News

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen manipulated the Houston Texans’ defense for a slew of big plays in Sunday’s blowout victory.

Here’s a closer look at the key plays from the game:

1. Pump fake madness.

Allen literally pump-faked three Houston defenders out of position on the first touchdown of the game, a 25-yard pass to tight end Dawson Knox.

Stefon Diggs ran a 5-yard hitch route to the right of the formation, and Allen looked like he was going to throw to him. He pumped hard but somehow didn’t release the ball. Texans safety Eric Reid, who was lined up over Knox, jumped into the slant window toward Diggs. Linebacker Christian Kirksey, in underneath middle coverage, ran toward Diggs. Even the lone safety in deep middle coverage, Lonnie Johnson, took two steps toward Diggs.

That allowed Knox to fly straight across Johnson’s face to break wide open over the middle at the 14-yard line. Knox cruised into the end zone to give the Bills a 7-0 lead.

“It was a great man route,” Knox said. “When the O-line is giving him time, it’s hard to stop this offense.”

Johnson made the big mistake. It would have been a 10-yard gain if he had stayed in his deep-middle position.

2. Houdini to Diggs.

The Bills drove to a field goal on their next possession thanks to a 31-yard pass from Allen to Diggs to the Houston 19.

The Texans blitzed a defensive back off the right edge, and rookie right tackle Spencer Brown picked him up. But the Bills’ interior protection broke down, causing defensive end Charles Omenihu and defensive tackle DeMarcus Walker to run free up the middle at Allen.

The Bills’ QB had his back turned to the rush due to a hard play-action fake, then made a pivot left to barely elude the grasp of Omenihu. Then Allen scrambled to the right sideline and threw a strike 40 yards in the air to Diggs, who came all the way across the field to make the catch.

“Josh has been known to get us out of some sticky situations,” said center Mitch Morse. “He’s saved our butt to say the least a few times.”

Morse credited Allen with rebounding from an overthrow interception on his first pass of the game.

“I thought Josh coming off that first play showed tremendous poise,” Morse said. “I think that’s what you want in the leaders of this team. He came out with tremendous poise understanding what needed to be done after that and took us along with him to some great football. A lot of kudos to Josh. That was one of his tremendous plays and kind of sparked some good drives.”

3. Fake sneak.

The Bills may not have been in position for their first TD if not for Allen’s running ability. On a fourth-and-1 play from the Houston 49, Allen faked a QB sneak up the middle but bounced the play around left end for a 16-yard gain. Left tackle Dion Dawkins sold the fake up the middle by blocking to the inside, drawing the defensive end, Omenihu, who failed to set the edge.

4. Man coverage beater.

The Texans love to play two-deep zone coverage but it seemed whenever they tried to play man to man, Allen burned them.

On a first-down play from the Buffalo 16 in the third quarter, Houston ran one of its rare, six-man blitzes. Allen stood in the pocket in the face of pressure from blitzing linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill and threw a deep strike to Diggs for 37 yards. Diggs beat cornerback Desmond King down the right sideline.

5. RPO on the goal line.

Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll dialed up a hard play to stop on Allen’s 1-yard TD pass to Knox in the fourth quarter.

It was a read-option play, with Allen faking a handoff to Zach Moss up the middle on a third-and-goal situation. Allen then took the ball as if to run off right tackle. The Bills had Knox and Gabriel Davis lined up to the right. Davis ran a slant inside, while Knox broke outside into the end zone.

Normally, it’s a rub-route situation, with Davis getting in the way of the man covering Knox – the safety, Reid. But Reid bit on the threat of Allen running off tackle. That left Knox wide open. Easy TD. Even if Reid had stayed with Knox, it would have been a touchdown. The defensive end on that side, Omenihu, crashed down on Moss. Allen would have run into the end zone untouched if Reid hadn’t tried to defend him.

“You can’t not trust him because he works so hard and he continues to make plays for this team, whether it be passing or run blocking,” Allen said of Knox. “And I think that’s something that people don’t really realize how much better of a run blocker he’s been this year and he’s really put in the time. That’s a focus that tight ends need to be able to do. And we’ve got one of the best in the league to be able to do it.”

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