New-look Bills open season in familiar fashion, with Josh Allen patching over defensive deficiencies

New-look Bills open season in familiar fashion, with Josh Allen patching over defensive deficiencies JOHN WAWROW ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PUBLISHED 21 MINUTES AGO Open this photo in gallery: Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen calls the play during his team's game against the Houston Texans on Sunday in Houston. ERIC CHRISTIAN SMITH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. As first impressions go, the new-look Buffalo Bills under Joe Brady opened the season looking much like the team previously coached by Sean McDermott. And that’s not an altogether good thing. Josh Allen was a near one-man offensive show in a 36-31 win at Houston that featured eight lead changes, including four in the final quarter. He threw two TD passes and had two rushing for his 25th four-touchdown career outing; improved to 24-8 when topping 300 yards passing; and pulled out the victory with his 26th game-winning drive. Breathtaking as the performance was, it was also reminiscent of the recent past with Allen once again required to patch over the defence’s deficiencies. This was one of the reasons the Bills changed course in January by firing McDermott after Buffalo’s defensive dud in a 33-30 overtime playoff loss to Denver. Though on Sunday the defence came up with a victory-sealing stop on Greg Rousseau’s strip-sack of C.J. Stroud with nine seconds remaining at the Bills 18. It marked one of the few times Buffalo got the Texans off the field. – The Bills allowed 124 yards rushing, a year after allowing 120 or more eight times in a game. – The Bills allowed Houston to convert 7 of 16 third down opportunities, including four of eight yards or longer, and both fourth down attempts. – The Texans scored on four of five drives inside the Buffalo 20. – The 26 first downs surrendered by Buffalo were the most in a game since December 2024. Open this photo in gallery: Buffalo Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard reacts after recovering a fumble against the Houston Texans during their game on Sunday in Houston. ERIC CHRISTIAN SMITH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS If it’s any consolation, first-year coordinator Jim Leonhard acknowledged there’s much room for improvement. “I love the way we started by creating a turnover and then finishing it out with a big turnover. There was a lot of ugly in between,” he said on Monday. “It did feel like Week 1, when things…