Josh Allen connects with Joshua Palmer for a late TD and Bills beat Texans 36-31 in wild opener

HOUSTON (AP) — Josh Allen didn’t wait for the question he knew was coming on Sunday after finally leading the Buffalo Bills to a road win over the Houston Texans in a season-opening thriller.

“We do like Reliant Stadium,” he said with a big smile. “Woo.”

Allen threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Palmer with 1:36 remaining to lift the Bills to a 36-31 victory in a back-and-forth game.

Allen had 334 yards passing with two touchdowns and ran for two more scores after losing his previous four games at Reliant Stadium.

“It feels good to start the season off right,” Allen said.

It was the Bills' first win at Houston since Nov. 19, 2006.

The Texans led 31-30 when Allen split two defenders to find Palmer. The 2-point conversion failed.

One play earlier, Houston's Kamari Lassiter got his hands on a pass from Allen in the end zone but couldn’t grab the interception.

“We got lucky,” Palmer said. “He dropped it. Next play I caught it.”

The Texans had a chance to win in the closing seconds, but Greg Rousseau had his second strip-sack of the day, taking down C.J. Stroud at the Buffalo 28. Terrel Bernard recovered to seal the victory.

It was a disappointing outing for Houston's vaunted defense, which led the NFL in yards allowed and ranked second in points allowed last season.

“We had multiple opportunities to make plays, had chances to make plays on the football and we didn’t make plays,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said.

Houston allowed its most points since a 36-22 loss to Cleveland on Dec. 24, 2023.

“We’ve got to do a better job, especially closing out the game,” defensive end Will Anderson said. “It just wasn’t our standard. That’s not who we are. That’s not who we want to be as a defense. ”

Dalton Kincaid had five receptions for 130 yards and DJ Moore had five catches for 100 yards and a touchdown in his Buffalo debut after a trade from Chicago.

Buffalo's Joe Brady started his head coaching career with a win after he was promoted from offensive coordinator following Sean McDermott’s firing after nine seasons.

“You saw a lot of the conviction, everything we sort of talk about,” Brady said. “We didn’t care how pretty. There’s no such thing as an ugly win.”

David Montgomery, who was traded from Detroit this offseason, had a three-TD day in his Houston debut. He had scoring runs of 1 and 18 yards in the first half and his 7-yard touchdown reception put Houston up 28-27 early in the fourth.

Stroud threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns but lost two fumbles.

Tyler Bass' 33-yard field goal made it 30-28 Buffalo with 10 1/2 minutes to go.

Ka'imi Fairbairn’s 58-yard field goal put Houston back ahead with about seven minutes remaining before Allen’s game-winning drive.

Buffalo went up 10-7 when Allen scrambled for a 21-yard touchdown early in the second quarter.

Montgomery’s second score came when he scampered 18 yards untouched to make it 14-10 with about five minutes left in the first half.

Lassiter was flagged for pass interference on Moore in the end zone to give the Bills the ball on the 1 on their next drive. Allen’s scoring dive two plays later put Buffalo up 17-14.

Moore grabbed a ball in front of a diving Reed Blankenship and dashed 43 yards to the end zone later in the second to push the lead to 24-14.

A 12-yard touchdown reception by Nico Collins cut the lead to three at halftime.

Rousseau sacked Stroud on Houston’s first drive, causing a fumble that Ed Oliver recovered on the Houston 32. That led to Bass' 46-yard field goal.

A 1-yard run by Montgomery put the Texans up 7-3 near the end of the first quarter. The score was set up by a 25-yard reception by Collins three plays earlier.

Moore and Kincaid gave the Bills just the second game in franchise history where a tight end and a receiver both had 100 yards receiving. The first time it happened was when Andre Reed had 144 yards receiving and Pete Metzelaars added 122 in Week 2 of the 1992 season.

Brady raved about what Moore brings to the team.

“He opens it up for everybody,” Brady said. “He opens it up for Dalton Kincaid, for the run game and James Cook. He opens it up for Keon Coleman... and Josh Palmer. And then on big-play opportunities, he made them. We’re so much better with him.”

Houston LB Jake Hummel left in the second half with an abdominal injury.

Bills: Host Detroit on Thursday night in their first game at their new stadium.

Texans: Host Cincinnati next Sunday.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) calls the play during the second half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Houston Texans cornerback Kamari Lassiter (3) breaks up a pass against the Buffalo Bills during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Joshua Palmer (5) runs the ball into the end zone for a touchdown past Houston Texans cornerback Kamari Lassiter, right, during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Joshua Palmer runs the ball into the end zone for a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Houston Texans, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) throws an incomplete pass forced by Houston Texans defensive end Danielle Hunter, second from left, during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Isaias surged toward the U.S. Gulf Coast on Thursday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, prompting mandatory evacuations and school closures in parts of Florida.

Isaias was forecast to intensify rapidly and bring strong winds and a life-threatening storm surge to the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi when it makes landfall on the northern Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday. Heavy rain with the risk of flooding was possible into the weekend as far inland as the Tennessee Valley.

The hurricane had maximum sustained winds around 80 mph (129 kph) and was moving east-northeast at 9 mph (15 kph) early Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. It was centered about 420 miles (676 kilometers) south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Coastal communities moved quickly to prepare. Some Gulf oil wells paused production, and at least four Florida school districts canceled classes for later in the week while Okaloosa County announced mandatory evacuations for some coastal areas. Governors in Florida and Alabama declared a state of emergency for dozens of counties.

The National Weather Service told communities from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to Gulf County, Florida, to prepare for the possibility of “long-duration power outages.”

Isaias developed more than four months into the Atlantic hurricane season and was short by one day of tying a 121-year-old record for the area’s latest-forming hurricane. According to the weather service, the record dates to 1905, when the year’s first Atlantic hurricane formed on Oct. 8.

The Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet this year because of a strong El Niño, which disrupts storm formation over that ocean. Storm activity has been above average in the Pacific, where Tropical Storm Simon formed Wednesday off Mexico.

Isaias is expected to strike a swath of coastline that’s familiar with major hurricanes.

One of the 20th century’s worst storms, Hurricane Camille, killed more than 250 people after hitting land near Waveland, Mississippi, in 1969. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 razed neighborhoods in Mississippi, flooded New Orleans and killed nearly 1,400 people. And Hurricane Michael leveled homes and buildings near Panama City, Florida, in 2018.

Ahead of the storm, oil and gas producers shut down a significant share of offshore production in the Gulf, which accounts for almost 15% of crude pumped annually in the U.S.

As of Wednesday about 25% of the oil production in the region was temporarily halted, taking about 511,000 barrels a day off the market, according to the Marine Minerals Administration. It said eight of the Gulf's 371 manned oil platforms were evacuated.

With oil prices already high, the production cuts are steep enough to affect markets, though other Gulf hurricanes have caused larger disruptions, said Jim Burkhard, global head of crude oil market research for S&P Global Energy. More concerning, he said, is whether Isaias strikes as a powerful storm near refineries.

As it moves inland, Isaias might also disrupt Saturday’s college football showdown between rivals Georgia and Alabama, a game President Donald Trump has planned to attend.

In Alabama, the cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach issued a statement encouraging people in low-lying areas to voluntarily evacuate.

Gulf Shores resident Maranie Adams gathered water and other supplies as her family moved belongings, including a hot tub motor, to higher ground. Her family planned to ride out the storm at home, roughly a half-mile from shore, sheltering indoors alongside their flock of chickens.

“We’re having to get crates to bring them into the house so they don’t blow away,” Adams said. “It’s going to be noisy.”

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency for 40 counties, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared one for 25 counties in the Panhandle and Big Bend regions. The state also planned to deploy a Miami-based urban search and rescue task force.

In Pensacola, electric utilities were pre-positioning crews to quickly repair any power outages. City officials provided sand for residents to fill sandbags to protect their homes against flooding. And Mayor D.C. Reeves urged people to check on older adult neighbors and others who might need help.

“Obviously no need to panic at this point,” Reeves told a news conference. “This is really about preparation.”

Rico reported from Atlanta, Collins from Hartford, Connecticut, and Golden from Seattle. Associated Press journalists Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.

This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Isaias in the Gulf of Mexico, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via AP)

This GOES-19 GeoColor satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and taken at 4:57 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, shows Tropical Storm Simon, bottom center, in the Pacific Ocean, off the southwestern coast of Mexico, and Tropical Storm Isaias, upper right, east of Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico. (NOAA via AP)

This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Tropical Storm Isaias off the eastern coast of Mexico on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via AP)