The Texans travel to face the Bills on Sunday in Orchard Park, NY, one of the most difficult and most fun environments in all of football. I LOVED going up there back in 2015 when the Texans faced the Bills and a QB by the name of Tyrod Taylor. Unfortunately, he won't get a chance to face his former squad due to injury. Regardless, the Texans have to go swing their hammer against one of the best teams in the NFL. As such, here's my "By the Numbers" weekly notes for this matchup with the Bills.
3 - The Texans last faced the Bills in a Wild Card playoff game in NRG Stadium on January 4th, 2020. There are only three Bills that will presumably start on offense that didn't play for the Bills in that game. The Bills traded for WR Stefon Diggs in 2020. They signed OT Daryl Williams in that same 2020 season and they signed WR Emmanuel Sanders in 2021.
1 - The Texans have one starter in the exact same offensive position that he played in that game - LT Laremy Tunsil.
2 - The Texans have just two projected starters for Sunday that started/played significantly in that Wild Card win over Buffalo - Tunsil and RG Max Scharping.
11 - The Texans played three games in eleven days to start the season, so this was the first week for the Texans outside of that window in a relatively routine week.
2 - Texans QB Davis Mills will start for the second time in his career on Sunday in Orchard Park against the Bills. That's just under 20% (2-of-11) of his entire number of starts in his college career while at Stanford. In 2018, in Josh Allen's 2nd start of his career, he led the Bills to an upset win at Minnesota, throwing for 196 yards, recording a 111.2 rating and rushing for two touchdowns. I'd take that right now from Mills on Sunday. You? Of course, you would.
94 - Over the past 13 games, Texans WR Brandin Cooks has registered 94 receptions, an average of over seven catches per game.
53.8 - Over that same time frame, Cooks has registered a touchdown reception per game of 53.8% (seven TDs in 13).
125.8 - Over the past five games, Cooks has been averaging nearly 126 yards per game. Furthermore, over that same four-game stretch, Cooks has either caught 9+ passes, caught a touchdown or had 132+ receiving yards in all five games.
6 - The Bills have recovered three fumbles and intercepted three passes for a total of six takeaways, which is tied for third in the league.
5 - The Texans have recovered one fumble and had four interceptions for a total of five takeaways, which puts them just behind the Bills, Chargers and Colts - all of them have six total.
84 - Bills receiver Stefon Diggs has 146 receptions in just 19 regular-season games for the Bills. In those games, he's caught a ball for a first down 84 times (57.5% of his catches go for either a first down). In 2021, that first down/touchdown percentage has stayed right on track (57.9%).
90.9 - The Bills added Emmanuel Sanders to Diggs in the offseason and he's paying big dividends. He has 11 receptions and ten of those have gone for a first down - 90.9% is a massive number and number two in the NFL heading into Week 4.
1 - Bills RB Devin Singletary and Texans RB Mark Ingram II last ran for 100 yards in a game one day apart. On Sunday, November 24th, 2019, Singletary ran for 106 yards against the Denver Broncos. On the very next night, November 25th, 2019, Ingram ran for 111 against the Los Angeles Rams.
350 - The number of days since any running back on either sideline ran for over 100 yards. That honor goes to Texans RB Phillip Lindsay, who last hit the century mark against the Patriots on October 18, 2020 (while a member of the Broncos).
Alright, that'll do it for this week, as it's time to fly the coop and head to Buffalo. See ya on Sunday, everyone!
The Texans will face the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium in Week 4. Kickoff is set for Sunday at noon CT.
Want to watch the Texans at NRG Stadium? Click here for tickets.
