Texans vs Bills: Final Thoughts and Score Prediction

Coaching matters as teams are set to rely on backups

The Houston Texans and the Buffalo Bills will have their depth tested as they square off today. Two teams near the top of the AFC standings will be without numerous players who helped them get to those impressive starts.

Injuries Play a Part But Whichever Next Man Up is Ready Will Decide Who Wins

The injury reports were a proverbial bloodbath. The Texans added Azeez Al-Shaair to their injury report putting his status in doubt. Houston is hurt at linebacker with Jake Hansen unlikely to go for this one due to a back injury.

When there are so many players from the depth chart set to play a key role one thing shines through: coaching.

DeMeco Ryans, Sean McDermott, and their offensive coordinators have their hands full.

Ryans has his full defense, for the most part, but depth is quickly becoming an issue. The Texans are thin at linebacker if Al-Shaair and Hansen are down. They play their secondary as much as anyone, opting to hardly substitute. The defensive end position is about to be interesting to watch.

Two players who haven’t yet played defensive end for the Texans this season will be the backups behind stars Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter. Rashad Weaver has yet to take a defensive snap. Dylan Horton was activated Saturday and will be in the rotation. They will be tasked with replacing Derek Barnett and Jerry Hughes who accounted for 60 snaps over the past two games. The Texans rotate defensive ends to keep them fresh.

Horton is a great story. He’s playing his first game since the middle of last season after beating Hodgkin’s lymphoma. How ready is he after a handful of practices? Ryans deserves benefit of the doubt, and really, there weren’t many other options. Weaver is a former mid-round pick who played with the Tennessee Titans. The Texans picked him up last month.

Bobby Slowik’s offensive coordinator job won’t be easy. Joe Mixon is dearly missed and the offensive line isn’t super healthy. Not an easy task against a depleted but dangerous Buffalo defense. Let’s see what Slowik has left in his bag of tricks to try to jumpstart this recently putrid rushing attack.

The Bills are arguably in a tougher spot. Their two best defensive linemen are missing this one. The driving force of their passing attack is down this week. Their offensive coordinator, Joe Brady, loves to run the ball and Josh Allen has that Superman “S” on his chest sometimes. The Bills will need that to move the ball. Houston has been tough to run on this season.

With injuries such a prevalent story in this one, coaching will matter more than ever. A key backup will make a play in this one. I am sure of it.

Score Prediction

The Texans will win 27-24. The injuries are too much for the Bills to overcome. It won’t be a cakewalk, but the Texans have enough to win this one. Earlier this week I believed the Bills would win, but missing Khalil Shakir, Ed Oliver, and Von Miller is too much for me to stick with them. Stefon Diggs in a revenge game against a team he felt he needed to move on from this offseason is a factor too. Nico Collins let it slip a little bit to the local media, but he out-and-out said to Mad Dog Sports Radio the team wanted to get this one for Diggs. I believe they will be on the back of an excellent C.J. Stroud passing day.

---