Bills might have re-unlocked Josh Allen, and that makes Buffalo's offense all the more dangerous

Allen had five completions of 30-plus yards, his most in a game in his career

Sep 14, 2026 at 8:10 am ET • 5 min read

For years, Reliant Stadium had been a house of horrors for Josh Allen and the Bills. Last year, he took eight sacks and threw two picks in a 23-19 loss in Houston. The year before, he completed 9 of 30 pass attempts. Yes, nine. In the 2020 wild card round, Buffalo blew a 16-0 lead, and in 2018, as a rookie, Allen suffered an elbow injury in his first visit to H-town.

But what did Allen and Buffalo unleash on the Texans on Sunday? Well, that could be scary for the rest of the league.

Allen went 20 for 29 for 334 yards and two touchdowns — and added two touchdowns on the ground — in the Bills' 36-31 Week 1 win over the Texans. His 34-yard dart to Joshua Palmer proved to be the game-winner.

"We do like Reliant Stadium," Allen said as he entered his press conference. "Woohoo!"

He also must have liked how the Bills' offense looked, both in personnel and game plan. Allen found DJ Moore, making his Bills debut, five times for 100 yards and a touchdown (plus a 46-yard gain via pass interference). He found Dalton Kincaid five times for 130 yards.

The numbers are nice, but look under the hood, and you'll see a different approach than any in recent memory. Allen's average pass traveled 13.2 yards downfield — a number higher than any of his games in 2025. Or 2024. Or 2023. He had a career-high five completions of 30-plus yards.

"Hell — heck yeah!" Allen beamed when asked if he liked the return of the big play, so excited he broke his own rule of not cursing.

"Sorry, heck yeah! We love chunk plays. That's how you score 36 points. You give yourself the opportunity to go score in four or five plays on a drive instead of the long, methodical, 13, 14, 15 plays. That's also a way to win football games, so we don't wanna just try to live off the chunk plays. We wanna be smart, and we wanna take our opportunities when they're there, but we just wanna be smart with the football, which we were tonight."

He's exactly right. Last year, the Bills, lacking a true downfield threat, became a conservative passing offense. Allen, largely limited to screens and quick passing, finished 25th (out of 33) in air yards per attempt and 18th in deep throw rate.

Allen won't revert to the early-career, chuck-it-deep youngster he once was — he has become a far better, more well-rounded quarterback — but he reminded everyone Sunday his arm can unlock truly special moments.

Sometimes it's players, and sometimes it's plays. The Bills have both, and that's a statement. That they have both and can do it against one of the NFL's best defenses makes the statement even louder.

Consider late in the first half, with the Bills pinned at their own four-yard line. Play conservatively, pick up a few yards and not try anything too dangerous against Houston's nightmare-fuel defense, right? Forget that. How about this beautiful 38-yarder to Kincaid?

Then, on the other side of the two-minute warning, a 15-yarder to Moore followed by this:

Three plays, 96 yards, 41 seconds.

Allen called the Moore touchdown a "horseshoe throw" — a throw that goes where it's not supposed to based on the play call. He said the same thing about the Palmer touchdown. But Allen has the arm to throw a ball through a tornado and have it come out the other side, spiral intact — basically what he did on the Moore touchdown pass — and the downfield weapons to make the not-supposed-to-happen completions. On the game-winner to Palmer, Allen said he saw the safety cheating Moore's way.

"There's a reason we brought him here — the ability that he can make plays downfield," coach Joe Brady said of Moore. "He opens it up for everybody."

Imagine what a healthy Kincaid can do, too. Ideally for Buffalo, Sunday was just a taste. The tight end has flashed clear talent as a big-play producer, but constant injury woes have prevented him from playing full-time or at full effectiveness. Last season, he led all tight ends in yards per route run. The problem? His 202 routes ranked only 48th among tight ends.

But he was healthy all offseason and added strength, boosting not only his ability but also his availability. Brady explained Kincaid can be used in more looks and more alignments because he's become a more effective blocker.

"When he's on the field, we're a better team, and we're a better offense," Brady said. "So proud of Dalton."

"He's a stud," Allen said, smiling. "Absolute stud."

On a day when the normally excellent run game wasn't as effective as usual — just 86 yards on 4.1 yards per tote — the big-play passing was a game-changing change-up.

Or maybe the big-play passing was the fastball.

Maybe, with Moore, a healthy Kincaid and, of course, Allen (whose howitzer-level arm strength was too rarely on display recently), the Bills can have different fastballs. Want to try to take away the run and tackle on short passes? Allen now has the guys to beat you deep. Want to make sure nothing gets behind you? The run game, led by 2025 NFL rushing yards leader James Cook, can control the game and provide explosiveness on the ground. Plus, Allen has grown leaps and bounds in the quick passing game since his career began.

And even when the defense seems to have the right play, Allen can still beat you.

This is only Week 1, when there's as much foreshadowing as there is fool's gold across the league. Perhaps there's even more of the latter. The Bills had all offseason to develop an excellent plan against an excellent defense, and they did. There were still stops and starts offensively, and the defense has a long way to go, too. September's successes mean nothing in January and February.

But for one week, the Bills' offense not only showed some of its patented efficiency, but its long-overdue return to downfield explosiveness. It's arguably the most impressive performance from a single unit across the sport on the opening weekend