Your Bills-Texans Open Thread: Grasping At Maybes

A few hours before kickoff, Buffalo at Houston looks like an early-afternoon nightmare.

Last Sunday, the Texans destroyed another member of what passes for the AFC's elite, the Baltimore Ravens, 43-13.

In their last game, the Bills bumbled away a seemingly certain win over Tennessee, allowing the Titans' previously struggling star running back and 37-year-old quarterback to turn back the clock several years in the process.

On the way to a 6-1 start, Houston has scored the second-most points and only two teams have permitted fewer yards.

Buffalo, meanwhile, is 12th in points scored, but is 3-4 mainly because no team has given up more.

The Texans pound away at opposing defenses with Arian Foster, setting up Matt Schaub's short tosses to tight end Owen Daniels and longer throws to Andre Johnson.

The Bills have established no offensive identity beyond a knack for turning the ball over at the least opportune times, with Ryan Fitzpatrick's inaccuracy and lapses in judgment offsetting the short stretches in which he resembles a decent NFL quarterback.

Houston's defense swarms in the style orchestrated by Wade Phillips, the former Bills head coach and quite possibly the league's best defensive coordinator over the past quarter-century.

Buffalo, meanwhile, just sort of sits there in the passive scheme preferred by Dave Wannstedt, who early returns suggest might be the worst at his job in the NFL.

Phillips has put defensive end J.J. Watt, a first-year starter, in position to lead the league in sacks.

Wannstedt has relied heavily on the man Watt replaced in Houston, Mario Williams, with far less impressive results.

Add it up, and it looks like a Houston blowout, one that would push any talk about Buffalo making a playoff run close to the realm of fantasy.

All of which makes the NFL the entertainment giant that it is.

If a Texans runaway were, in fact, inevitable, the point spread would be 30, instead of the 10 it stayed near through the week.

Williams says his aching left wrist feels better after undergoing a procedure during Buffalo's bye week. So maybe he can finally provide the anchor that Wannstedt's 4-3, blitz-free strategy has so clearly lacked through seven games. You would think going back to Houston would fire him up. If, in fact, he is capable of such passion.

Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller both appear to be fully recovered from the injuries that hampered them and disrupted Chan Gailey's offensive plans. Perhaps Gailey has figured a way to get them the 35-40 touches he talked about this week, taking pressure off of Fitzpatrick.

Factor in a break or two, and maybe the Bills can make a game of it. Pulling off an upset would put them at 4-4 heading into New England. Even a loss there would leave them at 4-5, needing to go 5-2 against a schedule that does not include a single team that made the playoffs last year in order to have a shot at this year's postseason.

OK. That is a whole lot of maybes. But those possibilities are what keep us watching. Even when we should probably be doing something more productive. And less frustrating.

Either way, feel free to vent your joy and pain in the comments below.