Buffalo Bills At Houston Texans Gameday Preview

 Coming off a bye-week the Houston Texans (6-1) are hosting the 3-4 Buffalo Bills. Houston is a fairly heavy favourite in their home encounter. The Bills have been a disappointment this year. Their record actually flatters a team that has been absolutely destroyed in three out of four losses and only had one win, over the even more lowly Kansas City Chiefs, which could be considered dominating.
 The Texans’ defence will face its biggest aerial challenge from the passing tandem of quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick and wide receiver, Stevie Johnson. Johnson leads the team in receptions, yards and is tied for most receiving touchdowns. In the red zone, also look for the Bills’ tight end, Scott Chandler, who is quietly on track to have his best season by a long margin. Chandler is emerging as one of the Bills’ better players, he is third in receptions and yards, and it will be up to the Texans’ linebacking core to stop him.
Also up to the linebackers is cutting down Buffalo running back, C J Spiller before he gets into open ground. Spiller has emerged as the dominant back in Buffalo after a disappointing start to his career that saw him being overshadowed by fellow running back, Fred Jackson.
Spiller and Jackson are both dual threat backs, capable of breaking runs and catching passes out of the backfield. But it is Spiller that has made the most of his opportunities, averaging 7.3 yards per rushing attempt and 9.1 yards per catch.
On offense, the Texans will be looking to prove that letting go of hybrid linebacker – defensive end, Mario Williams in the offseason was the correct decision. Thus far, Williams has been disappointing for the Bills since joining as a free agent. He is the biggest star on a defence that has underperformed significantly across the board. It has allowed an average of 424 combined yards each week to teams with significantly less offensive potency than the Texans. Look for running back, Arian Foster and quarterback, Matt Schaub to light up the field.
This game should not be close. The Texans have had two weeks to prepare for Buffalo and the Bills have not been able to put together a total performance for most of the season. Look for Houston to win and probably cover the 10-11 point spread.
The game is being shown at 1 PM EST on CBS. Only Texas and New York will automatically be able to view it however, as the marquee CBS matchup of the Denver Broncos versus the Cincinnati Bengals will take precedence across most of the USA. Texans 38 - Bills 14