Fairbairn's 59-yard field goal as time expires gives Texans 23-20 win over Bills

HOUSTON (AP) — All week, Stefon Diggs downplayed how big it would be when he faced the Buffalo Bills for the first time since a blockbuster trade brought him to Houston.

On Sunday, after the Texans used a last-second field goal to eke out a 23-20 victory, the star receiver finally admitted how important this game was to him.

“I’m not going to sit here and act like it was just regular,” he said. “It meant a lot to me and it was reassuring that the guys around me knew that it meant a lot to me, even if I didn’t say it. I just try to just keep it poised and treat every week like it’s the same … but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t mean a lot.”

C.J. Stroud threw for 331 yards and a touchdown and Ka′imi Fairbairn’s tiebreaking 59-yard field goal as time expired lifted Houston to the victory.

Diggs led the Texans with six receptions for 82 yards and said that Sunday was an emotional day for him after spending the past four seasons in Buffalo.

“I was just trying to take advantage and get a win for my team, but obviously, it’s emotional," he said. “I play with a lot of emotions.”

Then he turned to look directly in the camera and whispered in a sing-song voice.

“I’m emotional,” he said.

The Texans (4-1) led 20-3 after a field goal early in third quarter before the Bills scored 17 straight points to tie it with about 3½ minutes to go.

Stroud was called for intentional grounding to bring up fourth-and-15 and take the Texans out of field-goal range with less than a minute left.

A punt backed the Bills up to their 3 and they punted after three straight incomplete passes to give Houston one last chance.

“Overall, that’s on me,” Buffalo coach Sean McDermott said. “We've just got to do a better job. I have to do a better job in that situation.”

Dare Ogunbowale had a 5-yard run to set up Fairbairn’s game winner.

“It wasn’t all pretty,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “But it’s the way you finish at the end and I’m proud of the way our guys finished.”

Already without running back Joe Mixon for a fourth straight game, Houston struggled offensively after losing NFL receiving leader Nico Collins to a hamstring injury after he scored a long touchdown early in the second quarter. Ryans said he would by listed as day to day with the injury.

Josh Allen was 9 of 30 for 131 yards and a touchdown as the Bills (3-2) lost for a second straight week after opening the season with three straight wins. Allen struggled before halftime again Sunday, managing just 56 yards passing a week after throwing for 42 yards in the first half of a rout by the Ravens.

“Overall we’ve been a little bit off our game from what we executed in the first three games,” McDermott said.

Dawuane Smoot’s strip-sack of Stroud gave the Bills the ball at the Houston 15 with 4½ minutes to play.

They had the first play of the ensuing drive with Mitchell Trubisky at QB while Allen was in the medical tent being checked out after banging his head hard on the turf a few plays earlier. He re-entered the game on second down but threw two incompletions.

The Bills tied it on a 33-yard field goal.

The Texans were driving with about eight minutes left when Terrel Bernard intercepted a pass intended for Diggs to give Buffalo the ball at its 20.

The Bills couldn’t move the ball and had to punt, but soon got it back on the strip-sack.

The Bills cut the lead to 10 when James Cook scored on a 5-yard run with about nine minutes left in the third quarter.

Rookie Keon Coleman’s 49-yard reception on fourth-and-5 got the Bills within 20-17 on their next drive. Coleman slipped a tackle and then darted down the sideline before flipping into the end zone for his second TD this season.

The touchdown pass was the 231st in Allen’s career, tying him with Patrick Mahomes for the most by a player in his first seven seasons.

The Texans took a 7-3 lead when Cam Akers ran 15 yards for a touchdown with about three minutes left in the first quarter. Ogunbowale had a 38-yard catch-and-run on third-and-5 to keep that drive going.

Collins got in front of the defense for a 67-yard touchdown reception on the first play of Houston’s next drive to extend the lead to 14-3.

Fairbairn added a 50-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter and his 47-yarder early in the third made it 20-3.

Texans RB British Brooks left with a knee injury in the first quarter. … S Jimmie Ward left in the second with a groin injury.

Bills: Visit the New York Jets on Monday, Oct. 14.

Texans: Visit New England next Sunday.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) throws a pass in front of Houston Texans defensive tackle Mario Edwards Jr., left, during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (3) celebrates after stopping Houston Texans running back Dare Ogunbowale (33) on a fourth down run during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Houston Texans wide receiver Nico Collins (12) runs from Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin (3) during a 67-yard touchdown reception in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Houston Texans wide receiver Nico Collins catches a 67-yard touchdown pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) runs from Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (0) breaks up a pass intended for Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid (86) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair breaks up a pass intended for Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid, left, during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud (7) throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Houston Texans wide receiver Stefon Diggs stands on the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the U.S military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of America targeting Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries. But the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite U.S. and European military coalitions patrolling the area.

The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time, though the U.S. military’s Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was and did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press.

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, Central Command said. On Dec. 15, Central Command acknowledged the Truman had entered the Mideast, but hadn't specified that the carrier and its battle group was in the Red Sea.

“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement.

From the military's description, the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

It wasn't immediately clear how the Gettysburg could mistake an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly as ships in a battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communication.

However, Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Incoming hostile fire from the Houthis has given sailors just seconds to make decisions in the past.

Since the Truman's arrival, the U.S. has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. However, the presence of an American warship group may spark renewed attacks from the rebels, like what the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower saw earlier this year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as its most intense combat since World War II.

On Saturday night and early Sunday, U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Sanaa, the capital of Yemen that the Houthis have held since 2014. Central Command described the strikes as targeting a “missile storage facility” and a “command-and-control facility,” without elaborating.

Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, without offering any casualty or damage information. In Sanaa, strikes appeared particularly targeted at a mountainside known to be home to military installations. The Houthis later acknowledged the aircraft being shot down in the Red Sea.

The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage.

Israel’s grinding offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The tally doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate U.S.- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.

The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.

The Houthis also have increasingly targeted Israel itself with drones and missiles, resulting in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2025. (Kaitlin Young/U.S. Navy via AP)

FILE - Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)

FILE - A fighter jet maneuvers on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)