Texans at Bills: Your guide to Sunday's game

Brian Daboll said it feels like a decade ago.

Micah Hyde had forgotten about it entirely, until sarcastically thanking a reporter for bringing it up.

Welcome to this week’s Bills Mailbag. Let’s dive right in …

Luigi Mike Speranza asks: Always watching for Tremaine Edmunds on the Bills’ defense. While he got a game ball two weeks ago with one tackle and two assists, do you think he is Brandon Beane's rare draft pick bust or disappointment?

When the Bills run: Buffalo currently ranks tied for seventh in the league in rushing yards per game. That’s encouraging, but even more so when considering it was Devin Singletary who handled much of the first two weeks and Zack Moss who stepped up against Washington. If those two can continue to be a 1-2 punch, it takes pressure off the rest of the offense. Houston’s run defense ranks 18th in the league. EDGE: Bills.

When the Bills pass: Bills quarterback Josh Allen could very well be in for another big day. Houston’s cornerback situation is not great. Houston is allowing 269.3 passing yards per game, which ranks 22nd in the NFL. The Texans play more Cover 2 than every team in the NFL except the Falcons. Despite that, Houston has given up 13 completions of 20-plus yards, which is sixth most in the league. Texans defensive coordinator Lovie Smith has sent blitzes on just 11.9% of the opponent’s offensive snaps, which is the league’s third-lowest rate. EDGE: Bills.

Safety Jordan Poyer (ankle) and left guard Jon Feliciano (concussion) have been ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans. Cornerback Taron Johnson (groin) and defensive end Efe Obada (ankle) are questionable.

Coach Sean McDermott was not ready to name who would start in place of either Poyer or Feliciano.

It’s well documented that Tremaine Edmunds grew up in a football family. His older brothers, Trey and Terrell, both play in the NFL. His dad, Ferrell, was a tight end who made the Pro Bowl twice.

Now in his fourth year with the Bills, Tremaine Edmunds always knew he’d have to carve out his own path. But the linebacker also knew the value of having interests outside the sport.

The plan for a while was to get linebacker Matt Milano to talk more.

Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said the team had been urging him for a bit, while balancing Milano’s personality.

In a way, David Culley wants to turn back time this week.

Now in his first year as head coach of the Houston Texans, Culley was the quarterbacks coach for the Buffalo Bills from 2017 to 2018, working with Josh Allen as a rookie. He saw Allen start to work through some inconsistencies then, and from afar, watched Allen continue to figure things out. After watching Allen and the Bills dismantle the Washington Football Team last Sunday, Culley was reminiscent on an Allen of the past.

A few hours before they took the field against the Washington Football Team, ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown analyst Matt Hasselbeck expressed confidence in the Buffalo Bills, who were 1-1 at the time. He’d seen some of the doomsday takes, but he foresaw the Bills, and quarterback Josh Allen in particular, about to disprove them.

“He’s gonna be fine, this Buffalo Bills team’s gonna be fine. And the overreaction on the first two weeks of this team has been extreme,” Hasselbeck said on Sunday NFL Countdown. “Josh Allen is one of the best players in the NFL. This is one of the best teams in the NFL, maybe one of the best coaching staffs in the NFL.

When is getting fired a blessing in disguise?

When the company is a sinking ship.

Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey thought one of the best throws Josh Allen made in Sunday’s blowout victory actually was not one of the 32 that he completed.

“Honestly, the one that we were talking about was to Stef, the post that was incomplete in the end zone,” Dorsey said of a 43-yard pass for Stefon Diggs in the first quarter. “It was dead into the wind. But he did a nice job driving the ball into the wind and cutting it, putting it in a spot where it gave us a chance to make a play. We were just a hair off on it. I thought that was really an impressive throw dead into a stiff breeze.”

Sunday marks the second Buffalo Bills home game at which all fans entering Highmark Stadium must have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The Bills remain one of only two NFL teams requiring Covid-19 vaccination of all stadiumgoers.

But with tens of thousands of Bills fans trying to enter Highmark Stadium for every home game, how much vaccination vetting occurs?

Jerry LeBuis has loved the Buffalo Bills since he was a boy growing up near Utica in the 1970s. His father was a fan of the Cleveland Browns. His friends were mostly fans of the New York Giants or Jets. So why did LeBuis pick the Bills as his own?

“O.J. Simpson,” he says. “O.J. was my hero.”

Once again, it was the Buffalo Bills' defense that stood out in Sunday’s 22-point home victory against Washington, but quarterback Josh Allen was unstoppable, too. He went 32 of 43 for 358 yards and four passing touchdowns. And as if that wasn't enough, Allen scrambled for a fifth score.

Buffalo News sports writers predict the outcome of Sunday's Buffalo Bills-Houston Texans game at Highmark Stadium. The Bills are a 16.5-point favorite.

Jay Skurski: We’re in rare territory in terms of the point spread. Just once since 1992 have the Bills been favored by at least 17 points, which was the opening line. That shows a big-time belief in the Bills after consecutive dominant performances, along with a pretty low opinion of the Texans. Whether either team is truly as good or bad as this spread suggests, there is little reason to think that the Texans are ready to pull a historic upset. A rookie quarterback making his first career road start in Orchard Park is no easy task. If the Bills' defense can win early downs and force Houston into obvious passing situations, it could be a recipe for more takeaways. Defensively, Houston is allowing nearly 270 passing yards per game, which is bad news considering Bills quarterback Josh Allen looked to be in his 2020 form last week against Washington. Bills, 42-17.

The worst name in all of sports, the Washington Football Team, should be quickly renamed, the “Washington Football Players” because it was not a team or team effort. A few individual guys made a few isolated plays. If it wasn’t for a fetish for pylons, they might not have scored.

The Buffalo Bills, however, are not a team of rivals as much as a team of besties – and looked it.