The Texans were 29th in red zone efficiency last season, converting only 45.9 percent of their opportunities into touchdowns. They are 1-for-1 to start 2026.
Houston has taken a 7-3 lead on the Bills on David Montgomery’s 1-yard touchdown run.
It did take the former Lions running back three times to get in from the 2 after C.J. Stroud hit Nico Collins for a 25-yard gain on third-and-8.
Stroud lost a fumble on the Texans’ first drive on a Greg Rousseau strip-sack that Ed Oliver recovered at the Houston 32. The Bills, though, converted with only a field goal after having 12 players in the huddle on fourth-and-1 at the Houston 23.
The Texans stopped the Bills on fourth-and-1 at the Houston 34 on Buffalo’s first drive.
Bills Clips
A report on Sunday morning indicated cornerback Joey Porter Jr. was unlikely to be in the Steelers’ lineup for their season-opening game against the Falcons and official word on his status came 90 minutes before kickoff in Pittsburgh.
Porter is officially inactive for the game. Porter was listed as questionable with a back injury after spending all of training camp on the physically unable to perform list.
Porter’s inactivity this summer was also thought to be connected to his desire for a contract extension that never came together. That has reportedly opened the door to a trade as the Steelers have a team policy against negotiating contracts during the regular season.
Updates on where things stand with Porter for Week 2’s game against the Patriots and beyond will likely come this week. For Sunday, though, he’ll just be a spectator.
Falcons at Steelers
Falcons: QB Tua Tagovailoa, QB Michael Penix, DB Billy Bowman, DB Malcom DeWalt, LB Christian Harris, OL Ethan Onianwa
Steelers: CB Joey Porter Jr., QB Drew Allar, G Gennings Dunker, DL Kevin Jobity, DL Gabe Rubio, QB Will Howard
Bears at Panthers
Bears: QB Tyson Bagent, S Xavier Woods, OT Ozzy Trapilo, OL Jordan McFadden, DL Jayden Loving, DL Jamree Kromah, QB Miller Moss.
Panthers: TE Ja’Tavion Sanders, WR John Metchie, QB Haynes King, S Zakee Wheatley, OT Albert Reese, LB Patrick Jones, DT Cam Jackson
Buccaneers at Bengals
Buccaneers: DL DeMonte Capehart, CB Ayden Garnes, WR Jalen McMillan, G Billy Schrauth, DL Elijah Simmons, OT Justin Skule, RB Sean Tucker
Bengals: WR Ke’Shawn Williams, CB Josh Newton, OT Myles Hinton, C Connor Lew, TE Jack Endries, DT Landon Robinson, DE Shemar Stewart
Saints at Lions
Saints: TE Oscar Delp, RB Alvin Kamara, OT Mason Murphy, DE Cam Jordan, DT John Ridgeway, DT Khristian Boyd, QB Zach Wilson
Lions: CB Christian Izien, LB Jimmy Rolder, DE Ahmed Hassanein, CB Ennis Rakestraw, DL Mekhi Wingo
Bills at Texans
Bills: RB Ty Johnson, WR Skyler Bell, OT Jude Bowry, G Ar’maj Reed-Adams, DL T.J. Sanders, LB Mike Danna, S Jalon Kilgore
Texans: OL Febechi Nwaiwu, CB Collin Wright, LB Aiden Fisher, OL Nate Thomas, DL Jaden Crumedy, TE Brevin Jordan
Ravens at Colts
Ravens: QB Joe Fagnano, WR Devontez Walker, WR Elijah Sarratt, G Emery Jones, CB Chandler Rivers, DT Nnamdi Madubuike, LB Teddye Buchanan
Colts: LB Austin Ajiake, CB Jonathan Edwards, RB DJ Giddens, DE George Gumbs, QB Riley Leonard, G Dalton Tucker
Browns at Jaguars
Browns: QB Taylen Green, LB Justin Jefferson, CB Noah Igbinoghene, S Daniel Thomas, CB Toriano Pride, C Parker Brailsford, G Teven Jenkins
Jaguars: QB Quinn Ewers, S Jalen Huskey, DE Bryan Thomas, OL Daniel Faalele, TE Tanner Koziol, DE Wesley Williams
Jets at Titans
Jets: CB D’Angelo Ponds, RB Kene Nwangwu, K Blake Grupe, LB Trevin Wallace, LB Joseph Ossai
Titans: CB Jaylon Jones, OL Atonio Mafi, RB Nick Singleton, LB Cedric Gray, DT Jackie Marshall, OT Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, LB Owen Pappoe
The dream team has had an unexpected detour.
After losing to the 49ers badly in Melbourne, and given Myles Garrett’s candid remarks about the impact of his health on his performance, Garrett will have knee surgery and be placed on injured reserve, per multiple reports.
It’s a stunning development for a Rams team that became the odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl after Garrett’s arrival in June. His presence lured Aaron Donald out of retirement. Now, Donald will be playing for at least four games (if Donald plays in Week 2) without Garrett.
And it won’t be an easy road. The Rams host the Giants next Monday night. The following Sunday night, they face the Broncos in Denver. Then, the Rams head to Philly for a date with the Eagles. After that, the Rams return home for a Monday night showdown with Josh Allen and the Bills.
In six days, the Bills will host the first regular-season game at their new stadium. On the second new field there.
The team decided to replace the grass after only two preseason games.
Via Tim Graham of The Athletic, NFL field expert Nick Pappas explained what went wrong with the first field installed there.
“The aspect of the field that appeared to be an issue was that there were major deformations happening, large divoting outside of what we typically see at many of our NFL grass fields — although not something we haven’t seen before,” Pappas told Graham. “That lent itself to say there was an opportunity to improve that surface, and that’s what the Bills have stepped up to do and made that decision to replace it.”
Pappas explained that, whenever a new stadium is built, “There’s a period before it gets turned over to Bills staff. So, you’re now reliant on the general contractor or the installation company for maintenance over a certain period of time.”
He attributed the situation to a “combination of the sod quality from the start, the challenges, and maybe the management up until the Bills’ grounds crew were able to take over, and then you couple it with a very new growing environment that needs to be worked through.”
Pappas said the new sod “will come in thicker” than the prior version.
The next challenge becomes preparing the field for three home games in three weeks: Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4.
Pappas thinks another replacement will likely happen during the season.
“Recovery needs to outpace usage,” he said. “But if the weather is great and all goes well over that three-game stand, maybe they’re looking at Week 8 to replace it, or they can look at the weather and say, ‘Hey, based on where we are today, we have three weeks to recover. We can bring the grow lights out. We can provide our agronomic program with fertility and grow it back.’”
Given the weather challenges in Buffalo, Pappas said he wouldn’t be surprised if the Bills need three or four fields per year.
That’s one of the reasons why some teams prefer artificial turf. It’s cheaper. It doesn’t require constant evaluation.
But if teams and owners care about giving their players the surface they prefer, it’s worth the money and the effort. Despite the challenges the Bills are facing, they deserve credit for trying to give the players the best possible surface.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen has a 96-46 record as a starter in regular-season and postseason games. That’s a 67.6-percent success rate.
Against Sunday’s opponent, he’s right on the Mendoza line.
Allen holds a sluggish 1-4 career record against the Texans, and 0-4 in Houston.
The Week 1 game happens in Houston.
Most recently, Allen was sacked a career-high eight times in a 23-19 Thursday night loss in Houston. He had two interceptions and no touchdown passes in the game.
Countering his one career win against the Texans are eight playoff victories. Per NBC Sports research, that’s the most for any quarterback who did not play in a Super Bowl.
As he starts the ninth year of his career, the clock is ticking. The pressure is increasing. While the postseason narrative can’t change until January, Allen has a chance to alter his history in Houston by finally getting a win there, in his fifth try.
The Bills have three players on their final injury report ahead of Sunday’s game in Houston.
Head coach Joe Brady announced that defensive lineman T.J. Sanders, running back Ty Johnson, and defensive back Jordan Hancock are all listed as questionable.
Sanders, who is listed as a starter on the team’s depth chart, missed Thursday’s practice with a knee injury, but was back on the field at the open portion of Friday’s workout.
“Something that showed up in practice. It was just a little tweak or something, but all is well,” Brady said, via the team’s website.
Johnson missed a month with a hamstring injury before returning to practice this week. Hancock is dealing with a quad injury.
The Patriots are going to have to bounce back from their season-opening loss to the Seahawks without the help of wide receiver A.J. Brown.
Brown suffered a high-ankle sprain in his Patriots debut on Wednesday night and Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the team is going to place him on their injured reserve list. Brown will miss at least the next four games before he will be eligible to return to action for New England.
The Patriots will host the Steelers in Week 2 and then head on the road for games against the Jaguars and Bills. Week 5 will bring them back home for a game against the Raiders.
Romeo Doubs, who had a crucial drop in Seattle, will now be at the top of the receiver depth chart for the Patriots. Mack Hollins, Pop Douglas, Kyle Williams, and Efton Chism are the other wideouts on the 53-man roster.
Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown’s ankle injury is expected to keep him out for an extended period of time.
According to multiple reports, an MRI on Thursday confirmed that Brown suffered a high-ankle sprain when he was injured during Wednesday night’s 13-10 loss to the Seahawks. Those reports also say that Brown is expected to miss at least four weeks while he recovers from the injury. That time frame would make him a candidate for injured reserve, but there’s no word on the team’s plans at this point.
The Patriots face a run of 2025 playoff teams during the first weeks of Brown’s expected absence. They host the Steelers in Week 2 before traveling to Jacksonville and Buffalo for their next two games.
Navigating that stretch without Brown will be tougher and it’s not an ideal start to the wideout’s tenure with the team. Drake Maye is coming off a three-interception fourth quarter in Seattle on Wednesday that also featured a crucial drop by Romeo Doubs. Doubs was the most prominent addition to the receiving corps for most of the offseason and the team will need him to thrive in a prominent role to get the offense on track without Brown.
A perusal of the many published predictions for the 2026 season finds a lot of support for the Bills and Texans as two of the strongest teams in the AFC.
One of them is likely to exit Week 1 with an 0-1 record, however. The two teams will meet in Houston on Sunday afternoon in a matchup that Texans defensive end Will Anderson believes will be a preview of one of the games that both teams hope to be playing in come January.
“This is an AFC Championship matchup,” Anderson said in a Wednesday press conference. “Two really good teams. We have a ton of respect for them. Josh Allen leading the way, really great offensive line. James Cook, best running back in the league. . . . The type of atmosphere that I’m feeling like it’s gonna be on Sunday is gonna be that AFC Championship-type feel.”
The Texans pass rush got the best of Allen and the Bills last November. Anderson had 2.5 sacks in that game and the Texans will be looking for something similar as they try to get an early leg up in the race for the actual AFC Championship Game.
The Buffalo Bills will be opening their new home with a special welcome to their neighbors from the north.
Yes, near the shores of Lake Ontario, an American football team will play the Canadian national anthem before kickoff of a game.
The Bills have announced that both anthems will be played prior to the start of next Thursday night’s showdown with the Lions. It comes at a time when tensions are high between the respectve governments over trade issues, but when the citizens of the two countries have little or no real animosity between them.
Canada has been our next-door neighbor for a very long time. And most Americans are wired to act neighborly. In this specific instance, the Bills are making a very neighborly gesture.
Still,it’s just a matter of time before someone who once wanted to buy the Bills has something to say about this. In all caps. Perhaps with a dash of AI slop. Before thanking us for our attention to this matter.
