The Bills had 26 first down plays vs Houston and ran on 20 of them. They are consistently not gaining a lot on the ground on 1st down runs. This is leading to more 3rd and longs which is why they aren’t converting at nearly the pace they used to. In past seasons, the Bills used to pass on first down as much as anyone in the league. They have become more conservative over the past two seasons, running way more than previous years which is leading to a lot more first down runs and not being very successful at it which in turn leads to the 3rd and longs that are statistically much harder to convert.