ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Last time the Bills played the Texans in 2018, Buffalo's defense slowed down Houston's dynamic offense.
They limited Deshaun Watson's production with seven sacks and two interceptions. The Bills also held Watson to just 177 yards passing and a touchdown (that required a ridiculous play by DeAndre Hopkins who caught it over Tre'Davious White.) They also held the Texans to just 74 yards rushing.
And while some things have changed for both teams since then there are also still many similarities and ways the Bills can use that game to help prepare for them this time around.
"You can kind of get a feel of how they wanted to attack us, you know what they were thinking going into the game or what they saw on tape previously to that game. It's two different teams now but it's a lot of the same personnel and same coaches so just some things of how they attacked us and things we're gonna have to be better at," Bills safety Jordan Poyer said.
"At the end of the day, two totally different rosters you know they're doing some different things but you can kind of look at the personnel. Look at a guy like Watson and how he likes to get outside the pocket and can make every throw on the field, a guy like Hopkins can catch everything you know he had some good plays in that game also so just keying in on the personnel," Bills safety Micah Hyde explained.
The Texans are 13th in the league in yards per game with 362 and 15th in the NFL in passing with 236.4 yards per game.
Watson has weapons all over the place in the passing game with arguably the best receiver in the league with Hopkins. That makes for a great matchup with Tre'Davious White who is also at the top of the list for his position. White was named to his first Pro Bowl and is tied for a league high six interceptions. The first time these two went against each other last year certainly lived up to the hype and this time should be the same.
"Deandre is a tremendous receiver. He's an all-pro player and he’s capable of having one of those explosive gains. We're very fortunate to have a guy like Tre’Davious, who can match up with a lot of receivers, I'm not sure we'll do that this week. But we have a lot of respect for what DeAndre has done in our league and what he's continued to do, even this season. So, we'll try to put together a good plan to contain him and then we'll go from there," Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said on Monday.
The Bills passing defense has been a huge strength the past few years. They only allow 195.2 passing yards per game, that's fourth in the NFL.
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But who will start opposite of White is still up in the air as Levi Wallace is dealing with an ankle injury he suffered in Sunday's game against the Jets. Wallace did not practice on Tuesday but a good sign is he did return on Wednesday where he was limited. Wallace's right ankle was heavily taped.
If Wallace can't go, Kevin Johnson will have to step up and play his biggest role with the Bills yet and start in his place.
"Kevin, he's a good corner, he's played well for us and he's going to continue to grow and get better and better and I think there's good continuity there with the players that are on the field. Kevin's been out there enough to know exactly what we're trying to get done," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said on Monday.
This is also the first time Johnson will face his former team after spending the first four years of his career with the Texans. Houston drafted him in the first-round back in 2015 but because of various injuries, Johnson only played 18 games during his time with Houston.
