Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Texans vs Bills Week 12 Thursday Night Football – Result and Key Takeaways As Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter Stifle Josh Allen and the Bills!

A dominant Texans' defense come up with 8 sacks in win over the Bills on TNF!

Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Week 12 of the NFL season got off to an entertaining start as the Buffalo Bills visited the Houston Texans for a Thursday Night Football (TNF) prime-time matchup. Prior to the game, the Texans held a 5-5 record, while the Bills came in with a 7-3 record ahead of the Week 12 matchup.

The first half concluded with a rather entertaining scoreline of 20-16 in favor of the Texans, but as both teams made key adjustments at halftime, the second half produced only a field goal by each team. Eventually, the Texans held on for a 23-19 win.

Texans Show Why They are the Number One defense

Coming into the game against the Bills, the Houston Texans’ defense was the number one defense in the league, including the top scoring defense, holding the opposition to less than 17 points per game.

Tonight, the Texans’ defense once again showed why it is held in such high regard. Josh Allen was tormented with relentless pressure, making it difficult for the Bills to get into any rhythm offensively. As a matter of fact, Allen was sacked a total of 8 times, with the pair of Hunter and Anderson Jr. leading the team with 2 sacks each.

The Texans’ secondary also put in a strong performance, coming up with two interceptions and a fumble recovery as Houston won the turnover battle 3-0. The last interception came with the game winding down, but with Buffalo in excellent position to score a game-winning touchdown.

FINAL: The @HoustonTexans defense puts up EIGHT sacks to help secure the win on TNF! pic.twitter.com/5IDLJhx4MU
— NFL (@NFL) November 21, 2025

Josh Allen’s Threat Completely Nullified

Josh Allen had a career game last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The reigning MVP not only scored 6 touchdowns (3 passing and 3 rushing), but he also had a total of 357 yards from scrimmage.

Tonight, however, the Bills’ signal caller looked nothing like that. In fact, Allen was held to 253 passing yards but with no touchdowns and 2 interceptions on a night he was sacked 8 times.

THE BILLS GET TRICKY ON 4TH AND 27!

BUFvsHOU on Prime Video
Also streaming on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/VMchZoIxYZ
— NFL (@NFL) November 21, 2025

Texans Peaking at the Right Time

Houston started its 2025-26 NFL campaign with three consecutive losses to the Rams, Buccaneers, and the Jaguars. However, since Week 4 of the season, the Texans have gone on to win 6 of their past 8 games. Even without starting quarterback C.J. Stroud, Houston has gone 3-0 with backup Davis Mills under center. While the offense still needs to improve, the total dominance on the defensive side of the ball has helped the team fight its way back into playoff contention.

Houston has crucial games coming up as they face the Colts twice and the Chiefs in three of the final 6 games. But if they can get the offense clicking, there is every chance they can make the postseason.

Texans vs Bills Game Stats on Thursday Night Football

Quarterback Davis Mills got off to a slow start, completing just 1 of his first 7 passes. However, he ended up going 16 of 30 for 153 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Woody Marks had 74 rushing yards from 16 carries, while Nico Collins and Christian Kirk added 55 and 54 yards receiving, respectively. Safety Calen Bullock came up with both interceptions and also forced the fumble from Khalil Shakir, which was recovered by teammate Jaylen Reed.

Calen Bullock was a turnover machine tonight with 2 INTs and 1 big forced fumble 💪 @CalenBullock | @HoustonTexans pic.twitter.com/vbxigqi1pH
— NFL (@NFL) November 21, 2025

While Allen struggled for the Bills, running back James Cook finished with 17 carries for 116 yards. Khalil Shakir was the pick of the receivers, catching 8 passes for 110 yards.

Houston Texans	Category	Buffalo Bills
261	Total yards	326
153	Passing yards	183
108	Rushing yards	143
0	Sacks allowed	8
6	Punts	3
5 (40)	Penalties (yards)	6 (54)
0	Fumbles lost	1
0	Interceptions	2

With the win on Thursday Night Football tonight, the Houston Texans now move to 6-5 on the season and are knocking on the door for one of the final playoff spots in the AFC. Up next for the Texans is the season’s first game against divisional opponents, the Indianapolis Colts.

The Buffalo Bills now fall to 7-4, elevating the pressure on the New England Patriots, who are 8-2 at the moment. Meanwhile, the Bills will now take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 13.

Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

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Devavrat Kulkarni

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I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!