Serving Bills Fans Since 1998 Home BILLS DAILY GAMEDAY PREVIEW GAMEDAY HOMEPAGE Week 6: Bills vs. Texans Preview The Bills defense is reeling on the heels of a 49-31 loss to the Raiders. The offense stayed with the last undefeated team but turnovers and a porous defense was the demise of the Bills. They can get real healthy this week against the lowest ranked offense in the league as the Bills visit the expansion Texans. Houston is coming off a bye week and will be well rested. They are a little better than most previous expansion teams as they bring a solid defense to the table. Facts and Figures Matchup: Buffalo (2-3) at Houston (1-3) Date: Sunday October 13, 2002 Place: Reliant Stadium Time: 1:00pm Television: CBS Announcers: Don Criqui and Steve Tasker Spread: Bills by 7 1/2 Series: Tied 0-0 Last Meeting: None Texans Offense: Rush (20th); Pass (31st); overall (32nd) Texans Defense: Rush (22nd); Pass (8th); overall (11th) Bills Offense: Rush (27th); Pass (1st); overall (4th) Bills Defense: Rush (24th); Pass (21st); overall (25th) Injury Update The Bills suffered their first major injury last week as Dave Moore suffered a broken left hand. He will be unable to do his long snapping duties, Jay Riemersma will take over those duties. Moore has become a bigger part of the passing game the past two weeks. If he does end up playing, look for his involvement to decrease because of the injury. Chidi Ahanotu has a sprained ankle but should be able to play. The Texans had a week off to rest their numerous injuries especially along the offensive line. Among those out or doubtful against Philadelphia two weeks ago included Guard Ryan Schau, OT Ryan Young, and Tony Boselli. Jermaine Lewis has also been banged up giving former Bill Avion Black more time in the return game. For complete injury news throughout the week and the Official NFL Injury Report go to our Injury Page. Key Matchups LB London Fletcher vs. RB Jonathan Wells: The Texans know they must do the job on the ground to keep the Bills offense off the field. Wells will need to have a good game and Fletcher will have to come up and shutdown the running game with the help of DTs Pat Williams and Ron Edwards. RB Travis Henry vs. LB Jamie Sharper and Jay Foreman: The Bills desperately need a running attack, and Henry looks to have a good game against an expansion team that has struggled against the run. Sharper is a veteran who will be counted on to stop Henry's runs between the tackles. Foreman is out for revenge after the Bills traded him and will be counted on to shutdown the running game in the Texans 3-4 defense. WRs Eric Moulds and Peerless Price vs. CBs Aaron Glenn and Marcus Coleman: The two former Jets know a thing or two about the Bills dynamic duo of Moulds and Price. This is a different Bills passing game however and it is doubtful that they are up to the task of shutting down this passing game. LT Jonas Jennings vs. OLB Jeff Posey: Posey leads the team in sacks with 3 1/2. In the Texans defense the linebackers rush the passer more, so Jennings and LG Ruben Brown will have to look out for Posey on every passing play. RT Mike Williams vs. LE Gary Walker: Walker is a good pressure guy as he has 11 QB pressures on the year. Williams needs to keep him away from Bledsoe so the QB doesn't have too move out of the pocket where he gets in trouble with some inaccurate throws. Game Plan When The Bills Have The Ball: The Texans have a solid pass defense but it will be no match for the Bills vaunted passing attack. It is about time though that the Bills give their defense a hand offensively. They need to run the ball as much as possible to keep the defense off of the field. That would also play into the Texans' defensive weakness which is against the run. When The Texans Have The Ball: The Texans offensive strategy should be the same as the Bills. They have more success running the football so they will try to run to keep Drew Bledsoe and the Bills vaunted passing attack off the field. Bills Daily Prediction This game may have a final score that more resembles an NFL game and not a track meet. The two teams will try to run the ball more keeping the final score down. The Bills could have a tendency of looking past the Texans to next week's battle in Miami. The team isn't good enough, nor the Texans bad enough to let that happen. Look for the Bills to continue their lose one-win one ways: Bills 27, Texans 17 Season Prediction Record: (5-0) Season Record Against The Spread: (5-0) Complete Statistical Matchup Game Analysis and Review - Coming Sunday Night! Positional Breakdown and Grades - Coming Sunday Night! Gameday Homepage 2001 Gameday Homepage 2000 Gameday Homepage Back to Bills Daily homepage Articles Index