Photo Courtesy: Chad Cushing/Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills defeated the Houston Texans 36-31 Sunday afternoon, marking Joe Brady’s first career win as an NFL head coach. 

In the victory, Bills quarterback Josh Allen threw for 334 passing yards on 29 passing attempts, good for 11.5 yards per attempt. 

Since Joe Brady took over as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator in Nov. 2023, there has been persistent criticism from Bills fans that the organization lacked a passing game that could vertically stretch the field.

This offseason, the Bills traded for four-time 1,000-yard wide receiver D.J. Moore.

Moore didn’t take long to make an impact. Moore recorded five receptions for 100 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown, and it was the first time he had a 100-yard game since Week 12 of 2024. Moore also drew a 46-yard pass interference penalty, which set up a one-yard Allen rushing touchdown. 

A season ago, Allen averaged 7.1 air yards per passing attempt, while on Sunday he averaged 12.6 air yards per attempt, according to Next Gen Stats. The 12.6 air yards per attempt was his highest in a game since Week 18 of 2022. 

In 29 passing attempts, the 2024 NFL MVP threw 16 passes of at least 10 air yards on Sunday, completing 11, including the game-winning 34-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Palmer. 

Now, it has only been one week; however, Allen leads the NFL in air yards per attempt, deep pass percentage (24.1%), and is third in expected points added per dropback (0.49), according to Next Gen Stats.

One game doesn’t prove the Bills have drastically transformed their passing game; however, Week 1 showed Buffalo can have success while taking shots down the field.