Subscribe
Follow Us
The Buffalo Bills and the Houston Texans square off with one another in the Wild Card round of the 2019-20 NFL playoffs.
Although both teams went 10-6, the Texans get home-field advantage. Houston won their division (the AFC South) while the Bills did not (AFC East). Buffalo snuck into a Wild Card spot, meaning they don't get home-field advantage.
Just because they aren't the home team doesn't mean it's all over, though. This will almost certainly be a hard-fought game that either side can end up pulling out a victory in.
Here are four reasons the Bills will beat the Texans in the Wild Card round.
4. Defense
Buffalo has had one of the best defenses in the entire NFL all year long. They allowed 298.3 total offensive yards per game. That's the third-best in the league, and they were one of just three teams to hold opponents to under 300 yards per game.
Even better, they were excellent both against the run and the pass. So it's not like a team can attack one to win. Buffalo can contain both, and lockdown an offense.
Meanwhile, they allowed 16.2 points per game, second in the NFL only behind the New England Patriots (14.1 points per game).
Buffalo also 23 takeaways and 44 sacks. Both were a lot closer to the top of the league than the bottom.
Houston has a lot of weapons, but the Bills are one of the few teams in the NFL that you could trust to shut down the Texans. If that happens, they'll likely win.
3. Spreading the Love
Buffalo's offense is nothing to gush over. However, that doesn't mean the Bills don't have a lot that you could still look at in a positive light.
One of the biggest things is that they have a lot of players that could hurt you at any given moment.
Josh Allen took a big step forward in year two. While he still has his struggles, that's made a big difference in this offense.
Buffalo now has John Brown and Cole Beasley at receiver; both can gut a defense. Meanwhile, Devin Singletary was awesome at running back in his rookie year, and Frank Gore proved he's still got it in year 1,000 or whatever it is for him.
Allen can kill you with his legs too.
Due to all of that, you never know what this offense is going to do on any given play to try and beat you. So defenses can't get comfortable and settle on any one thing, or even any two or three things.
Article Continues Below
2. Josh Allen's Playmaking
Speaking of Allen, he's a playmaker. Yes, he struggles with completion percentage (under 60%) and he doesn't throw for a lot of yards (just over 3,000). However, he did manage 20 touchdown passes and ran for another 510 yards and nine more touchdowns.
Allen makes plays. Not everything works, but he can make plays. He can extend with his legs, and even turn nothing into a whole lot of something if needed.
There will almost certainly be some plays in this game where you are wondering what exactly he was going for. However, he could turn around and make you say, “wow,” the very next play.
The Bills will need some big plays if they want to win a playoff game. Allen is a great man for that job. He has a cannon for an arm and can run over and around opposing defense almost as good as any quarterback (not counting Lamar Jackson, who is on a whole different planet).
If those big plays come out, Buffalo could be walking away with a win.
1. Deshaun Watson's Struggles
Deshaun Watson has been awesome this year. Truthfully, I like him a lot more than Josh Allen, so, weirdly, I'm insulting Watson and giving Allen all types of props, right?
Well, this is pretty simple. Allen played much better later in the year than he did in the beginning. Meanwhile, Watson struggled mightily towards the end of the season.
Five of his 12 interceptions came in his last three games of the season. In that time, he had just two touchdown passes. Sure, he had two rushing touchdowns as well. However, if we're counting that, he also had two fumbles.
Watson is fantastic. He's one of the better quarterbacks in the entire NFL even. However, he has not been playing his best football over his last couple of games. If that leaks over into the playoffs, it could be a problem. Especially considering the Buffalo defense is going to give him no quarter.
