Bills’ Josh Allen make revelation about game-winning TD vs. Texans

The Bills didn’t take long to pull off the biggest plays of Joe Brady’s head coaching tenure.

They got right to it in their season opener, and the result was the first time head coach’s first win.

Josh Allen carved up the Houston Texans defense, the top unit in the NFL last season, for 334 yards and four total touchdowns in Sunday’s 36-31 win. And his final throw was the one that gave Buffalo a lead they wouldn’t lose.

Facing 3rd-and-11 from the Houston 34 with the Bills trailing 31-30, Allen stood in the pocket and threaded a rocket to Joshua Palmer between a safety and a cornerback. The touchdown put Buffalo ahead for good with 1:36 left to play, as their defense took the field and closed out the game.

Allen shared after the victory that the play wasn’t drawn up the way it played out.

“You want the absolute truth? We call this a horseshoe,” Allen told CBS sideline reporter Evan Washburn. “This is not where the ball is supposed to go. We have never once repped the ball going there.”

Allen explained that the safeties started leaning toward DJ Moore, leaving Palmer one-on-one on a route the two had never run together in practice. Palmer made it work anyway.

“I just felt that those safeties started cheating to DJ a little bit,” Allen said. “Josh ran a great route; put it on the line for him. He goes, and he does the rest.”

The former MVP had a big game, going 20 for 29 and 334 yards with two touchdowns in the air, and 24 yards and two additional scores on the ground. That included the big lead-getting drive while down 31-30 with 3:24 to play, when he led a 96-yard offensive possession, capping it off with the 34-yard touchdown to Palmer.

“I just had a post route, I knew based off leverage, corner, that I had a good chance to get the ball.” Palmer said postgame to reporters in the locker room.

He also may have had the vision to make the play.

“I felt like I knew I was going to get the ball. I told myself when we were down one that I was going to get the game-winning touchdown.”

Allen did note that he doesn’t want to rely on improvisation every week.

“We’ll take those when we get them, but we don’t want to make a living out of throwing it to those,” he added.

It was Palmer’s only catch of the game. In his second-year as a Bills receiver, he’s facing an important season. He signed a three-year pact with Buffalo as a free agent during the 2025 offseason, but has yet to justify to his cap hit. With his money on the books, he has the opportunity to prove his contract to be justified as well as to play a meaningful roll in the passing game and receiver rotation.

Allen’s willingness to trust a receiver on a route they had never practiced says plenty about where the offense already is under Joe Brady, but also where Palmer is with the offense. The Bills won’t count on horseshoes every Sunday, but the confidence to throw one in a moment where the game was on the line, and Palmer’s reliability to haul it in and take it into the end zone in the first game of the season are promising early returns.

Next up, the Bills bring that momentum home for a Thursday night meeting with the Detroit Lions in the new Highmark Stadium’s regular-season opener.

This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: Bills’ Josh Allen make revelation about game-winning TD vs. Texans

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