‘ROAD WARRIOR’ TEXANS TOP BILLS

The conventional wisdom in NFL football is that teams are supposed to play better at home than on the road.  The Houston Texans apparently didn’t get the memo.  On Sunday, Houston improved to 3-1 away from home with a 31-10 pasting of the Buffalo Bills.  Buffalo led 10-6 at halftime but fell victim to a Houston onslaught of 23 unanswered points in the second half.  The Texans improved to 4-3 overall, while the struggling Bills dropped to 3-5.

Houston easily covered the pointspread as -3 point road favorites.  The Texans improved to 4-3-1 against the number with a 3-1 ATS mark away from home.  Buffalo dropped to  4-4 against the NFL pointspread.  The 41 combined points scored just managed to stay UNDER the posted total of 42.  The Texans and Bills have gone UNDER in five of their eight games this season with Buffalo going UNDER in four straight.  

Things didn’t start off on a good note for Houston.  They lost tight end Owen Daniels to what is feared to be a serious knee injury, and running back Steve Slaton was benched after losing his fifth fumble of the season.  His backup, Ryan Moats, responded with the best game of his career rushing for 126 yards and becoming the first player in franchise history to score three touchdowns in one game.  In his postgame comments to the media, he insisted that his personal success was secondary to helping the team win:

"I wasn't thinking about that. I was thinking about the time that I would get and try to do the best that I could."

Houston coach Gary Kubiak wouldn’t comment on his starting running back situation for next week, though he was pleased at the way his team responded to a rough start:

"Through adversity, teams get stronger or they can go the other way. his tells you about the character of the group. They didn't make excuses.”

Houston was helped immeasurably by the continued struggles of the Buffalo offense.  The Bills amassed only 204 yards and 9 first downs for the game.  Wide receiver Terrell Owens said that its time for his team to do a little self reflection:

"I think we have to take it personal. We're just not getting it done offensively. That's pretty much the key thing. ... Everyone's not pleased with the way we played."

Bills’ running back Fred Jackson added:

"We have to take advantage of every opportunity that we get, and we're not doing that. Something has to change because as an offensive unit, we've got to do better."

Buffalo will have a bye week to try and get their offense in gear before returning to action on November 15 in Nashville, Tennessee against the Tennessee Titans.  They’ll head to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars the following Sunday before returning home on November 29 to host the Miami Dolphins.  Houston will face a tough road test on Sunday, traveling to Indianapolis to take on the Colts—the first of two meetings with Indianapolis in their next three games.  The Texans are a +9 road underdog in that game, with the total set at 48.  After a bye week, Houston will play the Tennessee Titans at home on Monday, November 23 before hosting the Indianapolis Colts the following Sunday.