The Buffalo Bills ran into a buzzsaw in Week 12. The Houston Texans improved to 6-5 on the season with a 23-19 win over Buffalo on Thursday Night Football. The Texans relentlessly pursued Josh Allen, sacking him eight times for 70 yards. One week after the reigning MVP accounted for six touchdowns against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston’s suffocating defense held him out of the end zone.
The Texans announced their presence to a national audience on Thursday night. After the game linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair declared that Houston has “the best defense in the league, top to bottom.” And he’s not wrong. The Texans boast the NFL’s top overall defense as well as the league’s No. 1 scoring defense this season.
Houston appears to have something special on the defensive side of the ball in 2025. The unit is allowing fewer yards per game than the Seattle Seahawks’ famed Legion of Boom in 2013, per ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime. And the Texans are approaching the 2013 Seahawks in points allowed per game.
Texans’ stifling defense takes center stage on TNF
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) throws a pass against Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) in the first quarter at NRG Stadium.
Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
The Seahawks rode their league-best defense to a Super Bowl title in 2013. That season Seattle boasted the NFL’s top overall defense, allowing just 273.6 yards per game. The team also had the stingiest scoring defense, holding opponents to 14.4 points per content.
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The Texans are allowing 264.3 yards per game through Week 12. And Houston’s only allowing 16.5 points per matchup.
By comparison, the Philadelphia Eagles’ elite defense from 2024, which went on to embarrass Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, allowed 278.5 yards and 17.8 points per game during the regular season.
Thursday night’s coming out party came at Buffalo’s expense as the Texans dominated Josh Allen. The veteran QB operated under constant duress with no time to throw.
Beyond the impressive sack total (eight) and quarterback hits (12), Houston’s defenders deserve praise for maintaining their discipline. Allen has routinely punished overaggressive pass rushers by escaping the pocket and piling up rushing yards. But in Week 12, the dual-threat quarterback was shut down.
Allen threw for 253 scoreless yards with two picks. He was limited to just 20 rushing yards.