Buffalo vs Houston Betting
Headline: Post Bye-Week Battle – Buffalo Travels to Houston in Week 9
The top team in the AFC the Houston Texans return to action this week after an uber-impressive beat down of the Baltimore Ravens and a bye week to take on a thus far underwhelming Buffalo team also coming off a much needed bye. The oddsmakers aren’t giving the Bills a whole lot of love in this one – a double digit spread will likely be a reality ahead of this game.
Buffalo Bills (3-4) vs. Houston Texans (6-1)
Date/Time: Sunday, November 4, 1:00 PM ET
Venue: Reliant Stadium
Broadcast: CBS
Bills vs. Texans Betting Lines from Bovada
Spread: Texans -10 (-110)
Moneyline: Bills +415: Texans -510
Over/Under: 47 points
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The Buffalo Bills came into this season with lofty goals – the signing of Mario Williams was supposed to shore up the one perceived weakness on the team – that hasn’t happened. Mario Williams has been invisible, the defense has been awful and the Bills sit under .500 yet again.
The Bills come into Sunday’s game as the 12th best scoring offense in the game – 24.43 points per game. They have arguably the best one-two punch out of their backfield with Fred Jackson and CJ Spiller – together the Bills rank 4th in rushing in the NFL.
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Where the Bills struggle on offense is in the passing game – 29th and averaging under 200 yards per game. Is Ryan Fitzpatrick solely to blame? Likely not. Is he the answer to the Bills passing woes? Again… likely not.
Let’s not mince word here – the Bills are where they are because of their brutal, ugly, horrendous defense. They allow 32.43 points per game – last in the NFL, they allow 176.86 yards rushing per game – last in the NFL and they surrendered 247.29 yards per game through the air – 22nd in the league. If they can’t stop anyone, it will not matter what the offense does – they will lose more that they win – period!
The Houston Texans are coming off a statement game against Baltimore two weeks ago -they established themselves as the unquestioned leader of the AFC pack with their impressive win. Now the trick is to keep the role going coming out of their bye. Did the bye help? Likely not – the Texans had a tremendous amount of momentum prior to and will have to rebuild some of that momentum in quick fashion this week. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The Texans offense is deep, balanced and scary. They too have an incredible rushing tandem – Arian Foster and Ben Tate have the Texans 6th in the NFL with an average of 140 yards per game. The Texans also have a somewhat under-utilized yet talented passing game at their disposal. Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson and Owen Daniels have Houston as the 18th ranked passing game in the NFL – it would be better if the Texans actually needed their passing game to succeed.
The Houston defense has been amazing this year – a supreme challenge for any of their opposition. JJ Watt and company are 5th against the pass and 4th versus the run. They give up just 18.29 points per game – good for 6th in the NFL.
Betting Prediction:
• The total has gone OVER in 8 of Buffalo’s last 10 games
• The total has gone OVER in 9 of Buffalo’s last 13 games on the road
• Buffalo is 5-11 ATS in its last 16 games
• Buffalo is 3-7-1 ATS in its last 11 games on the road
• Houston is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games
• The total has gone OVER in 5 of Houston’s last 6 games at home
• The total has gone OVER in 4 of Houston’s last 5 games
• Houston is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home
Any time that you have a double-digit spread in a game, you have to take a look at the dog. This is the case here as well! Buffalo has the running game to control the clock, the Texans will likely need a half of so to get clicking on all cylinders once again and Mario Williams absolutely has to be a factor this week – wouldn’t you say? It all adds up to a closer game than the oddsmakers have predicted. I’m not saying the Bills upset the Texans – I’m saying they keep the score respectable!
Pick: Buffalo Bills +10
