Brian Daboll said it feels like a decade ago.
Micah Hyde had forgotten about it entirely, until sarcastically thanking a reporter for bringing it up.
Dion Dawkins, on the other hand, remembers exactly what it felt like the last time the Buffalo Bills walked off the field after playing the Houston Texans.
“Hecks yeah,” the Bills’ left tackle said Friday. “That feeling of being punched in the chest.”
To Daboll’s point, Houston’s 22-19 overtime victory in an AFC wild-card game on Jan. 4, 2020, does feel a lot longer than 21 months ago. A global pandemic certainly plays into that.
There is another reason, though, why that loss feels like it was so long ago: The two teams have since gone in completely opposite directions. The Bills have 16 starters still on their roster, most of whom will be in the lineup when the Texans visit Highmark Stadium at 1 p.m. Sunday.
“In a season where we had momentum, we thought everything was headed in the right direction and it was pulled right from us because of the Texans,” Dawkins said. “That feeling, it will never disappear. That feeling lives with us. That's what we've been feeding off of and that's where our mind is. You know, we'll never forget. We know what time it is.”
Since walking off the turf at Reliant Stadium, the Bills have won 17 of their next 22 games, including a 13-3 record in the 2020 regular season, an AFC East championship and a trip to the conference championship game, along with a 2-1 start to this year.
The Texans, meanwhile, have cratered, losing 14 of 19 games and watching star quarterback Deshaun Watson request a trade. Watson, who is facing 22 lawsuits filed against him in the spring that accuse him of coercive and lewd sexual behavior, is not suspended by the NFL, but is being paid to stay away from the team, which so far has not been willing to grant his trade request.
“Each year the roster changes obviously, but you can have the same guys and have a totally different outcome of the season because there are so many different things going on – injuries, distractions on the outside, your schedule – there are just so many things that can go into it,” Hyde said. “That's why here in Buffalo, we try to focus on each and every week. Get through the week, have good practices, focus each and every day and come Sunday, let's just go out there and play football. It really does remind you that the NFL, the change is crazy. Each and every game, each and every week, each and every season can be totally different.”
PlayAction is new to The Buffalo News' extensive NFL coverage. Each week, Mark Gaughan, who has covered the league throughout his 38 years at The News, distills X's and O's and strategy relating to how the Bills match up with their next opponent. All in about two minutes.
An opportunity lost
The 2019 playoff game against Houston was the second postseason game in three seasons for the Bills, but if we’re being honest, it had a completely different feel than the game against the Jaguars two years prior.
Getting into the playoffs in 2017 required a miracle win by Cincinnati in Baltimore. While the end of the postseason drought was rightfully celebrated, it came with a roster that was in the very beginning stages of being rebuilt by General Manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott. Let’s call that game against Jacksonville what it was: a pleasant surprise.
Fast forward two years, and the Bills earned their way into the postseason with an 11-5 record. The Texans were favored by 2.5 points at home, but the Bills were a popular pick heading into the game, which couldn’t have started much better for Buffalo.
The offense went on a 75-yard drive in just six plays, capped by receiver John Brown throwing a touchdown pass to quarterback Josh Allen on a trick play. The Bills led 7-0 less than 4 minutes into the game, but the offense had trouble finishing drives from that point on.
Buffalo settled for two more field goals to end the first half with a 13-0 lead, then kicked another one to go up 16-0 early in the third quarter. If even one of those drives reaches the end zone, the Bills likely come out on top.
“That game, we got ahead early and we kind of coasted,” wide receiver Cole Beasley said. “You have to play four quarters, but especially in the playoffs. It was a good learning moment for us. Our defense was playing great, and we leaned on them a little too much. We didn't do our job offensively that game.”
The offense wasn’t alone in its failures. After pitching a first-half shutout, the defense let Houston back in the game by giving up a nine-play, 75-yard drive right after a field goal put the Bills up 16-0. Watson rushed for a touchdown and the ensuing two-point conversion to make it a one-possession game.
Allen lost a fumble when he was sacked on the Bills’ next possession, and Houston cut the Buffalo lead to 16-11 with a field goal. The Texans went ahead with a touchdown on their next drive, and another successful two-point conversion made the score 19-11.
At that point, Allen transformed into the player scouting reports warned about. He attempted to put the Bills on his shoulders, and that led to some ugly moments. He lost 19 yards on a sack after the two-minute warning, leaving the Bills no choice but to punt.
The defense got the ball back with a fourth-and-1 stop, and on the next play Allen scrambled for 20 yards before attempting the infamous lateral to tight end Dawson Knox – the very definition of trying to do too much.
“You learn a lot of lessons from every season, in particular that game where we didn't get the result that we were looking for, that we wanted,” McDermott said. “I think it hit a lot of our younger players in particular when they got a taste of what it was about and how much they wanted to take that next step, and we couldn't, obviously, because Houston won the game. So, we had a lot of guys here then that are still here now that have become our core. I think that had a great impact on those guys.”
Of course, there are a few changes to that core – changes that can be attributed in part to that loss.
The Bills had two chances to win the game in regulation, but Allen wasn’t able to connect with wide receiver Duke Williams twice in the end zone. Is it a huge surprise, then, that Beane swung a trade for Stefon Diggs in the ensuing offseason?
Wide receiver Duke Williams sits on the bench by himself after the Texans beat the Bills at NRG Stadium in Houston on Jan. 4, 2020.
“If taken the right way, you can learn a lot from it, whether you're a player, coach or any capacity,” McDermott said. “You always learn from those first-time experiences and most of the time, you know, you get better because of it.”
After settling for a field goal to send the game to overtime, the Bills missed a chance to win it in overtime. Knox missed a block that could have sprung an Allen run for enough yardage to get into field-goal range. Then-rookie offensive lineman Cody Ford was flagged for a controversial blindside block that pushed the Bills back into their own territory. (Ford was fined and had the amount reduced on appeal, and the play was included in an officiating video last April and deemed to be a legal block.)
After a Buffalo punt, the Bills’ defense missed an opportunity for a huge play when Watson somehow shook off a would-be sack by linebacker Matt Milano and completed a 34-yard pass to running back Taiwan Jones to get into position for the game-winning field goal.
“That day, we knew we didn't play our best and we knew we had more than what we showed. We felt like we should have won that game, but we didn't do the right things to win that game, so that's what happens in the NFL,” Beasley said. “We definitely knew we were better than what we showed. That was the first year I was here and a lot of us really got together, so it was definitely something to build on and it definitely helped us for the next year.”
Lessons learned
In the days that followed, Allen was particularly blunt about the impact the loss had on him.
“I won’t be over this until we start playing again,” Allen said then. “I’m very self-driven and I understand things could've went differently. I’m going to learn from it, I’m going to use it and I’m going to grow from it.”
Grow he did. In fact, Allen turned himself into one of the very best players in the sport.
Since that loss, he’s 475 of 699 in the regular season for 5,351 yards, 44 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 19 regular-season games.
Houston has the least home-grown roster in the NFL, with only 17 of its own draft picks on the team, counting injured reserve. The Buffalo Bills had only 17 of their own drafted players on the roster in 2019, but now have 25, almost back up to the league average (27.9).
“Obviously no one likes losing, no one likes losing in the playoffs,” he said. “Especially with the lead that we had going into that second half, obviously it wasn’t a fun ride home and it was a long offseason. But just the knowledge and experience that I gained from that, things I took away from that game, I think most importantly just doing whatever we can to get home games in the playoffs.
“I think even looking back at this last season, having two playoff games at home and winning those games, and obviously going on the road into a hostile environment, it’s no small task. Focusing on things that I need to do better, I needed to do better, and I still need to do better on some accounts. So each week’s a better possibility for me to learn and grow, but that one, since it was so long in between games, it really, really drove me.”
In many ways, the loss to the Texans is similar to the 2019 regular-season home loss to the Patriots in the way it was a learning experience for Allen, who threw three interceptions and was sacked four times in that game.
“Just the attention to detail that I started putting into offseason work, mechanics, and, like coach says, being a student of the game, and just loving and embracing the process that this game is all about,” he said. “I know it’s not an easy game. If it were easy, everyone would do it. And it’s not easy to score, it’s not easy to win in this league, so, when you do that, you need to enjoy it, embrace it, but continue to find things to work on.”
Heading into the 2020 season, there were legitimate questions about whether Allen would ever get the “hero ball” out of him. His season last year went a long way toward showing that it in fact was possible.
“Josh took that game to build him and build the Josh Allen he wanted to be,” Dawkins said. “Josh knows what he's capable of doing and he takes a lot of pride when we win, when we lose. And when we lose, Josh puts it all on himself. So anytime it's a loss, whether it's in a championship game, whether it's a regular-season game, Josh treats it all in the same, but because that game was when it was, I guess Josh took it just a little bit more. He got us all on the same page. And for Josh to be able to do his job, we have to do ours around him. And Josh relayed that message that it can't just be him, it has to be all of us. So we're all on the same page and we're all fighting for the same thing every week.”
It’s easy to forget that Allen has still started just 51 games, including the postseason, in his career.
“With Josh, honestly, every game is a learning experience,” Hyde said. “He obviously signed a huge deal and all that type of stuff, but in the grand scheme of things, he's still relatively young in this league. He has a lot of ball to play. I think that with somebody like him, he's still learning from each and every game, each and every season.”
It’s easy to focus on Allen’s growth as the quarterback, but he’s far from the only player who has taken lessons from that game.
“I’ve gotta make that last play of the game,” Milano said. “But after I got those corrections, I put that behind me and moved on from it.”
That’s easier said than done for some.
“That's kind of a milestone game that we've all been a part of here and we all were affected by it because at the end of the day, you know you're supposed to win those games,” Hyde said. “You know how small that window is from win or loss, especially in the playoffs. As a team, back then and even a lot of guys on the team now that experienced that, I think everyone's dialed in and focused on not just regular season, but when it comes to playoffs, you've got to be on your p's and q's, because if you're not, something like that may happen.”
Particularly on defense, the Bills have had a lot of continuity. Seven players who started against the Texans will do so again Sunday, and that total would be eight if safety Jordan Poyer, who is out for the game with an ankle injury, was healthy enough to play.
“I think the good thing about defensively what we do, is we're all pretty close. We're all truthful with one another,” middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds said. “We know each other. We're accountable for mistakes. When it's time for the film room, nobody is pointing fingers. Everybody is taking accountability for what happened out there. I think that's the biggest thing of growing as a football team if you've got a group of guys that cares so much about letting another guy down, I think that speaks for itself.”
Defensive tackle Ed Oliver was a rookie on that 2019 team and is a Houston native who was playing his first NFL game in his hometown.
“Some players go their whole career and never go to the playoffs or don’t really experience it. Me going to the playoffs as a rookie and getting my (butt) sent home, it was like ‘Dang! Man, I thought we were going to the Super Bowl!’ he said. “But if you don’t lock in and play good and execute you go home. It helped me last year in the first round of the playoffs and that was another tight game. I knew what could happen. ‘We don’t finish this game we’re going home,’ so it helped me focus.”
That was a collective lesson for the Bills.
“I think everybody learned from it. Everybody felt it," Oliver said. "Even in the third round of the playoffs, you don’t play good, you go home. We were so close of going to the (Super) Bowl. ... You don’t play good, anybody could lose.”
A reversal of fortune
The week after beating the Bills, the Texans jumped out to an early lead in Kansas City in the divisional round of the playoffs before the Chiefs roared back to a 51-31 comeback victory.
It’s hard to believe how much has changed for them. Coach Bill O’Brien was fired last year, and just three players who were in the Texans’ starting lineup against the Bills are projected to start Sunday (although one of them, linebacker Zach Cunningham, has been ruled out with an injury).
The Texans found the toughest part of building a team – a franchise quarterback – but still couldn’t make things work. That makes what the Bills have done look even more impressive in comparison.
“Here in Buffalo, what we've been preaching all along since we got here is the process,” Hyde said. “We took a step back in 2018, but this process has been going further and further and further. That's not me guaranteeing a Super Bowl this year, but that's me saying we understand what we've been through, all the tough losses that we've been a part of, and all the great accomplishments we've been a part of. At the end of the day, we don't have a Super Bowl ring, so we're trying to just keep this process going, keep getting better and better each day, and hopefully come playoffs, we can keep squeaking them out and possibly get to a Super Bowl and win that.”
If the Bills eventually do reach that goal, it will be worth remembering what happened that January day in Houston.
“Everything is a learning opportunity and, I guess, a learning example,” Dawkins said. “But from that game, it has molded our team to be what it is today. Honestly, feeling what it felt like to lose in that moment and let our dreams, you know, be dictated by somebody else, is something that we're never going to allow to happen again. We're going to keep everything in our hands, and when it's time to punch that ticket, we've got to punch it. That's what the Texans did to us. It's a new year, all that's over with, but we feed off of that.”
