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There were plenty of curious coaching decisions Sunday, but the one that stood out to me was Jim Caldwell calling for a failed onside kick with 2:57 to go that doomed the Lions in Houston. The Lions had just kicked a field goal to pull within a 7 points and had the chance to back up the low-scoring, pop-gun Texans offense deep with a kickoff.

With all three timeouts and the two-minute warning, and with Matthew Stafford having his best NFL season, Caldwell still tried the onside kick. The Texans recovered and set up shop basically already in field goal range. They picked up a first down on the ground and that was pretty much the game. Odd. Brock Osweiler couldn't top 200 yards again and was shaky, but you don't make him have to drive the field there?

More news and notes from around the NFL:

Buffalo Bills

The Bills are streaky and I feel like this current slide last a while. They were embarrassed in their first two games, fired their offensive coordinator and changed their defensive play caller and won four in a row against lesser teams, and now have lost two in a row. The injuries are mounting, the offense is lost without Shady McCoy and a long trip to Seattle looms. And they have a difficult stretch waiting for them after a Week 10 bye, going to Cincy, getting to host the Jags (a brief reprieve) and then going to Oakland before hosting the Steelers.

Houston Texans

It looked like Bill O'Brien's head was going to explode about five times on the sideline during that game. Good thing the Texans won.

New England Patriots

You knew the Patriots would show no mercy to longtime adversary Rex Ryan and that Buffalo defense and would hang a 50-burger on them if they could -- and they came kinda close. And you knew ex-Bills receiver Chris Hogan would see plenty of targets around the red zone to get him a score or two against his former team, and he did. Tom Brady is on his way to another MVP despite missing a quarter of the season and the Pats still have not thrown an interception, even in games Brady didn't play.

New York Jets

Yeah, they managed to come back and beat the Browns after falling way behind, but I doubt we hear too much more whining or crowing from Ryan Fitzpatrick. Maybe ever. Dude went 3 for 14 for 30 yards in the first half against that woeful defense, and was hardly a world beater in the second half as Matt Forte again carried the load. I suspect we see Bryce Petty by next month.

Washington Redskins

Chalk up another big game for Kirk Cousins -- and another game where a kicker cost a team a win. Cousins is going to give owner Dan Snyder a lot to ponder, again, as he's now a half-season away from potential unrestricted free agency.

Consider this: Entering Week 8 and over his previous 16 starts, Cousins had the following ranks among NFL quarterbacks -- third in passer rating (105.2), first in completion percentage (68.9), fifth in yards (4,425) and second in yards per attempt (8.19). And that was before he tore into the Bengals on Sunday, going 38 for 56 for 458 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Not too shabby.