Houston Texans vs Buffalo Bills Game Preview

Houston Texans defensive end, Whitney Mercilus rushes Buffalo Bills quarterback,  Josh Allen in the AFC Wild card game in their last meeting in which Houston won 22-19 in overtime. Image by Angel Rick Leal

By Angel Rick Leal

Game Info
Houston Texans vs Buffalo Bills
Sunday – October 3 – 12:00 p.m.
TV: CBS
Highmark Stadium – Orchard Park, NY

Records Before Game
Houston Texans (1-2, 0-1 Away)
Buffalo Bills (2-1, 1-1 Home)

This week Houston Texans rookie quarterback Davis Mills makes his first road start. Texans coach David Culley expects even more of Mills in his second start and plans to open the playbook even more with the rookie at the helm. Davis Mills has been sacked five times in two games, and the hits are likely to keep coming today as they play in Buffalo’s stadium. The Bills rank second in the NFL with a pressure to the QB. Mills definitely needs to be comfortable in his capabilities and stay calm when adversity happens. The Texans are going to be without the teams leading tackler,  linebacker Zack Cunningham who was placed on the Covid/Reserve list on Friday. Someone will need to step up if they want this game to be close.

Houston Texans
The Texans plan on evening up their record against the Buffalo Bills following a Thursday Night Football loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 3. The team will look to WR Brandin Cooks and RB Mark Ingram for production as they’ve been successful with this duo thus far. Cooks has been phenomenal with his catching abilities hardly dropping anything. Our rushing game has been the best I’ve seen in years with Ingram getting most of the carries. As for QB Davis Mills, as I mentioned earlier, he’s going to have to put on his big boy pants and give 100%. Hopefully he won’t come close to David Carr’s sack record.  

Buffalo Bills
So far Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen has had a rough start to the season, only throwing 3 touchdowns through 2 games but bounced back and went for 4 touchdowns and 358 yards last week against Washington. Without much of a run game, Allen will again be called on to make plays for Buffalo. With WRs Cole Beasley, Emmanuel Sanders and Stefon Diggs, this shouldn’t be a problem for them to get the steam roller going. The Texans defense better be ready. 

Prediction
It’s going to all boil down to how bad Houston’s QB, Davis Mills wants this win. The odds are stacked against him though. First start away and he’s still learning the system. If he can stay calm and not make typical rookie mistakes and if the Houston defense can keep pressure on Allen, then this game might be close. If not, this game will be over by halftime.

Final Score
Buffalo – 23
Houston – 21