Houston, Texas (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Bills will look to win their second-straight game and improve to 8-3 on the season when they face the Houston Texans on "Thursday Night Football" at NRG Stadium.
To do that, here are my three keys to the game, plus notes and stats:
1.) Stop Nico Collins
The Texans wideout scored on a 67-yard touchdown against the Bills last year. This season, he’s already up to 642 yards, which is top-20 in the NFL.
Over the last two games, catching passes from quarterback Davis Mills - who will start against the Bills on Thursday - Collins has a whopping 16 catches for 192 yards.
He’s no doubt going to be a focal point for Mills once again, and the Bills can’t let him get going.
2.) Don’t make critical mistakes
This sounds cliché, but in this game, it’s going to be absolutely true.
The Texans boast the league’s top defense in points allowed (16.3) and yards allowed (258.1) per-contest. However, they are also 21st in the NFL in points scored per-game (22.0) offensively. Of their 10 games played, seven have been decided by only once score.
Houston is tied for fifth in the NFL with 16 total takeaways, and sixth with a plus-7 turnover margin. They play close games and take advantage of their opponents’ mistakes.
The Bills can’t make those mistakes and give them those extra chances in what could be another very close game.
3.) Convert those red zone chances
While the Texans defense has pretty impressive numbers across the board, the one area they’ve struggled in this year has been inside their own red zone. Opponents are converting at a 66.22% rate, which is the fifth-highest given up in the league.
The Bills have converted 57.14% of their red zone chances into touchdowns, which is 12th-best in the NFL.
On the flip side, the Texans have also not been good with the ball inside their opponents’ 20-yard line, with just a 43.33% touchdown rate - second-worst in the league. The Bills are tied for the fifth-best scoring offense in the red zone at 66.67%.
If that trend can continue on both sides of the ball, it would go a long way to help Buffalo to get this victory.
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