How Josh Allen, Bills' offense finally ended Texans' curse in huge Week 1 win

Josh Allen was used to Houston being his ultimate NFL house of horrors. That's not the case anymore as the Bills' quarterback scored his first career road win against the Texans in five starts.

Allen not only had gone 1-4, including playoffs, when playing the Texans anywhere, but including his lone home game, he had a 74.0 regular-season passer rating against them going into the teams' Week 1 matchup.

In the thrilling 36-31 shootout victory over in Houston on Sunday, Allen was exceptional from start to finish, using his arms and legs — and he needed to be. He got it done despite the Texans unleashing an explosive offense of their own with C.J. Stroud's passing and David Montgomery's running.

In the end, Stroud was unable to outduel Allen in the Bills' first game with promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady as head coach. Here's a look at why Buffalo was so dominant moving the ball on Houston like never before in the Allen era

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Josh Allen stats vs. Texans

Allen was accurate (20-of-29, 334 yards, 2 TDs) and hyper-efficient (11.5 yards per attempt, 130.3 passer rating). With running back James Cook limited by the Texans, Allen also added 6 rushes for 23 yards, producing two red-zone TDs.

Allen's game-winning pass late in the fourth quarter was an aggressive 34-yard laser to wide receiver Josh Palmer, one play after Allen was almost intercepted by cornerback Kamari Lassiter in the end zone.

Allen didn't have an interception, was sacked only twice and had his fumble recovered. He was fearlessly floating the ball downfield and also making smart, quick decisions.

Allen has put those kinds of balanced, prolific numbers against overmatched foes in the past. It was shocking how much he solved the Texans' defense, still considered the best in the league. He had a lot of help to get it done.

Josh Allen let loose his new No. 1 wide receiver

The Bills traded for D.J. Moore to take advantage of the Bears having a surplus of wide receivers. A big reason Moore was the target, despite his speedy big-play receiving skills, was familiarity with Brady's offense from their time at Carolina. Moore was a quick study to emerge as a needy, reliable outside threat.

Moore's stats in his Bills' debut were impressive (5 catches for 100 yards), including a 43-yard catch and run for a TD. He also drew an early 46-yard pass-interference penalty vs. Lassiter to set up an easy Allen goal-line finish.

Allen and Moore showed immediate chemistry, which made sense as they both had a full understanding of Brady's passing playbook. Moore also helped open up the field for a long-time Allen favorite target.

Josh Allen got more locked into tight end Dalton Kincaid 

Kincaid was a first-round pick, taken No. 25 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. He made the Pro Bowl last season with some modest receiving numbers, but so far he hasn't lived up to the hype as an athletic receiving mismatch, often hampered by injuries.

Going into Houston, Kincaid had only two career 100-yard receiving games. Including playoffs, he had scored only 12 TDs and averaged only 10.8 yards per catch.

Kincaid threw all that out the window as he was locked into Allen downfield, with a career-high 130 receiving yards, averaging 26 yards per his 5 catches on 6 targets. The Bills had no answers for him in the secondary while needing to worry about Moore. That opened opportunities for supporting big plays from wideouts Khailil Shakir and Palmer.

There has been a complaint that Allen hasn't had top receivers since the best early times with Stefon Diggs. With Moore and Kincaid each hitting a century in the toughest of matchups, it's apparent Allen has two true go-to guys at the same time for the first time.

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Josh Allen made better use of knowing he could play off the running game

The Texans made it a point to slow down Cook, the NFL's reigning leading rusher. He had only 13 carries for 57 yards as Brady made the Bills a 60-40 passing team in the opener. Cook remained a factor in the red zone when Allen took it in himself twice. 

The Bills ran for an NFL-high 2,714 rushing yards at 5 yards per carry last season. When Buffalo can run wild with Allen and Cook, it's unbeatable. Houston's defense picked the right poison, knowing it often has the right pressure and coverage answers for Allen.

Some would have had Allen work more in the short-to-intermediate passing game instead of inviting more pressure from Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. and throwing into coverage vs. Lassiter, Derek Stingley Jr. and a top Texans secondary. Instead, Brady, with great trust in Allen, let Allen find his old-school gunslinger mode. The Bills turned the aggressor, going on the attack, counting on Allen to minimize the dropback risk and reap the big rewards with his athleticism to extend deep shots for his cannon arm.

The whole theme of the offseason was the Bills being much less conservative in the move from Sean McDermott to Brady. That also carried over to the new defense under Jim Leonhard, which responded with a couple of sacks and a forced fumble to shut the door on Stroud and the Texans' final drive.

The Bills' mentality needs to change to stepping on the gas more. Allen responded well early with Brady's offense-based energy permeating through the entire team.