NFL game of the week: Bills vs. Texans

For a matchup between two 3-1 teams, the Buffalo Bills are headed to NRG Stadium to take on the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon.

While both teams sit atop their division and have been playing good football overall this season, they’re both coming off disappointing performances last week.

The Bills were handed their first loss of the season last Sunday, losing to the Baltimore Ravens 35-10 in primetime. Quarterback Josh Allen struggled mightily, completing 16 of his 29 pass attempts for only 180 yards.

Another big problem for the Bills was their run defense. During their first three games of the season, the most rushing yards they allowed in a game was 139 against the Miami Dolphins.

However, Ravens’ running back Derrick Henry had 199 rushing yards himself last week, and the Ravens had 271 as a team.

The Bills defense will look to revert to the way they were stopping the run in Weeks 1-3, and they have a great opportunity to do so. Texans’ starting running back Joe Mixon will miss his third straight game Sunday due to an ankle injury, and second-stringer Dameon Pierce is also expected to be out with a hamstring injury.

This leaves Cam Akers as the lead back for the Texans, whose season-high is a mere 53 rushing yards.

The Bills will be dealing with key injuries of their own though, as their leading wide receiver Khalil Shakir will miss the game with an ankle injury, and edge rushers Ed Oliver (hamstring) and Von Miller (suspension) will also miss the contest.

The Texans are coming off a 24-20 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, but it was anything but pretty.

Houston’s offense looked good on paper, as quarterback C.J. Stroud threw for 345 yards and two touchdowns and Nico Collins caught 12 balls for 151 yards and a touchdown, but the Texans trailed the entire fourth quarter.

Nonetheless, Stroud hit running back Dare Ogunbowale for a one-yard, game-winning touchdown with 18 seconds left in the game.

Even though the performance resulted in a win, the Texans can’t be happy it went down to the wire with a winless Jaguars team that has been disastrous all season. Houston had a bad performance the previous week as well, falling to the Minnesota Vikings 34-7.

With both teams looking to get back on track, this should be a great game. Both the Bills and Texans are viewed by many as Super Bowl contenders, and both Allen and Stroud are firmly in the MVP race.

However, I like the Texans to win this time due to the plethora of players the Bills will be without.

Jonathan Hartley is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jdh6293@psu.edu.