It was a tale of two halves in Buffalo this afternoon. At the end of the first half the Bills had the 3-0 edge in turnovers, the advantage in rushing yards, and were leading the Texans 10-6. In the second half the Bills turned the ball over two Ryan Fitzpatrick interceptions, were stopped on a fake punt attempt, and became the Bills defense of old allowing three Ryan Moats touchdown runs while failing to gain a first down until 3:27 remaining in the game.
The first quarter started well for Buffalo as Jairus Byrd continued his streak of two interception games. Terrell Owens took the first snap after Byrd's second pick into the end zone on a reverse for his first rushing touchdown since 2002 with San Fransisco.
Once again, Buffalo was statistically dominated by the opposition but managed to build a lead with timely big plays. The two Byrd interceptions stopped Texans drives into Buffalo territory and a Marcus Stroud fumble recovery ended another. Fred Jackson took a kickoff from inside the Bills' end zone back for 71 yards setting up a Rian Lindell field goal in the final moments of the first half.
In the second half the big plays never came and the Bills offense remained stagnant. The Texans scored 25 unanswered points while the Bills offense managed just three third and outs on their first three drives of the half before Fitzpatrick's interceptions on the final two drives. The defense was on the field for almost two-thirds of the game and finally wore down at the end of the game allowing the Moats scores.
In another staggering recurring theme, Buffalo lost three more of today's starters with injuries as Keith Ellison, Jamon Meredith, and Aaron Schobel were all sidelined in the first half. More information on their various injuries will be available after Dick Jauron's press conference tomorrow afternoon. The Bills (3-5) are off on a bye next week where they can hopefully get healthy and regroup for the second half of their year. Look for Brian's recap in the morning.