Here is who national experts are predicting will win Texans-Bills playoff game
The Houston Texans are hoping this is the year the franchise finally wins its first Divisional round playoff game.
To have that opportunity, they’ll first have to beat the Buffalo Bills in Saturday’s Wild Card game at NRG Stadium in Houston. The Bills haven’t won a playoff game since 1995.
Forty-five experts from around the nation made predictions for Saturday’s game. Here are the picks and what they’re saying about the game, which kicks off at 3:35 p.m. and will be broadcast on ABC (Ch. 9) and ESPN:
A 28-24 Texans victory is the prediction from Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com. Here is an excerpt of what he wrote: “Trust offense over defense in the year 2020. As the 49ers, Patriots and even Steelers showed this season, even the best defenses only slow down the opposition so much. The Bills know this well. They would be AFC East champions if their money side of the ball hadn’t allowed a sluggish Patriots offense to control their biggest game of the year in Foxborough. With that in mind, can they be trusted to stop Deshaun Watson?”
Seven of the eight CBS Sports experts predicted the Bills: Ryan Wilson, Jason La Canfora, John Breech, Dave Richard, Pete Prisco, Jared Dubin and Will Brinson. The only pick for Houston came from Jamey Eisenberg. Prisco predicted a 20-17 Bills win. Here is part of what wrote: “Josh Allen will be playing his first playoff game, but the Texans defense has major issues lately — even if J.J. Watt is back. Look for Allen to play well and the Bills to move on behind the defense. Upset special.”
A 24-17 Bills win is the call from Tadd Haislop of the Sporting News. This is a snippet of what he wrote: “Despite the often brilliant play of Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins, Houston is an average offensive team, which is bad news against the league’s second best scoring defense and third best unit in terms of yards allowed. Without much of a threat from the Texans’ running game, the Bills’ stingy pass defense can focus on taking Hopkins out of the game.”
Six of the 10 experts at ESPN see the Texans winning: Matt Bowen, Mike Clay, Dan Graziano, Jason Reid, Trey Wingo and Seth Wickersham. Picking the Bills: Louis Riddick, Mike Golic, Mina Kimes and Kevin Seifert.
Houston was the pick for both Mike Florio and Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. Smith predicted a 27-20 score. This is part of what he wrote: “Deshaun Watson will be the difference in this game. The Bills have a good defense and an offense that can control the ball, and because of that I see them keeping it close for most of the day.” Florio sees a 20-17 score and wrote: “Although the Bills arguably have the more talented team, Watson will use last year’s loss to help him understand what he needs to do to avoid falling to 0-2 at in the postseason, with both losses at home.”
Five of the six Sports Illustrated Monday Morning Quarterback writers picked the Texans: Kayln Kahler, Mitch Goldich, Andrew Brandt, Connor Orr and Jenny Vrentas. The lone person to pick the Bills: Bette Marston.
Terrell Davis and Joe Thomas of the NFL Network were split:
Six of the eight SB Nation writers are picking the Texans: Christian D’Andrea, Sarah Hardy, Morgan Moriarty, Stephen White, James Brady and Lester Wilfong. Choosing the Bills: Geoff Schwartz and Adam Stites. This is part of what Stites wrote: “Buffalo’s last postseason victory was in December 1995, but the Bills finished a season with double-digit wins for the first time in 20 years. The Texans don’t have a great postseason history either, with just one playoff win in the last seven years and zero AFC Championship Game appearances. Still, the experts are mostly siding with the Texans, who also posted a 10-6 record in 2019.”
Four of seven writers at USA Today picked the Texans: Jarrett Bell (24-20 final score), Mike Jones (28-24), Mike Middlehurst-Schwartz (24-13) and Lorenzo Reyes (27-22). The three who think Buffalo will win: Nate Davis (27-20), Jori Epstein (31-27) and Tom Schad (23-20).
This story was originally published January 4, 2020 at 8:30 AM.
