Who would’ve lined up Davis Mills as the potential owner of a three-game winning streak? Football has a way of drifting into these odd little pockets, and with the right combination of events at NRG tonight, here we are.
Houston hasn’t been hard to figure out. When the Texans see playoff teams, the results have followed the script with losses to the Rams, Buccaneers, Seahawks, Broncos. All of them reminders of the gap that still exists. Josh Allen arrives tonight after a six-touchdown performance that looked almost casual. The great ones tend to do that. They make complicated things feel simple.
Sal Capaccio will be on the Buffalo sideline, taking in a setting he remembers well. The Bills were here last fall. They didn’t leave happy. Whether No. 17 changes that is the central question.
“Last week Josh Allen put on the cape and when he does that there’s nobody better in the game,” Capaccio told AllSportsPeople as kickoff crept closer. “A year ago was his worst performance of the season, so I expect him to be very aware of what the Texans defense did against him so he can counter that.”
He singled out one matchup that tends to reveal the truth: Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown against Houston’s edge rushers. Sometimes football is that simple. Sometimes the game shrinks to a pair of bookends trying to hold back the storm.
This is also the kind of night that explains why the McNair family brought in DeMeco Ryans. Not for slogans or long-term projections, but for evenings like this, a crowded stadium, a restless opponent, and a defense sturdy enough to tilt the field. Houston leads the league in fewest yards allowed per game at 258.1. Nineteen touchdowns surrendered in ten outings. Numbers that tell you the Texans don’t need chaos to win. They just need order.
A win keeps the playoff map in view. Two dates with the Colts still remain. All of it sitting there, steady and reachable, if the Texans can find just enough again tonight.
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