Following disappointing starts to the season, the Buffalo Bills (2-3) and Houston Texans (2-3) can each get to .500 with a win Sunday at Houston’s NRG Stadium.
Both teams eked out wins in Week 5, with Buffalo riding a solid rushing attack and stout defense to escape with a 13-12 win over the Tennessee Titans. The Texans won the battle of Texas with a 19-16 overtime win over the Dallas Cowboys, thanks to Deshaun Watson (375 yards, one passing touchdown) and four field goals from Ka’imi Fairbairn.
As was the case with Buffalo’s home game against the Titans, broadcast coverage of Sunday’s 1 p.m. Eastern clash with the Texans will be limited to the local markets for both Houston and Buffalo.
This game is CBS’ featured 1 p.m. telecast for a majority of New York State (west of Albany), the entire state of Texas, the northernmost portion of Pennsylvania, and portions of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Wyoming, where Bills starting QB Josh Allen went to college.
CBS’ No. 5 broadcasting team of Andrew Catalon (play-by-play) and former Bills receiver James Lofton (analyst) will handle the Bills/Texans clash.
The areas that can see Buffalo are highlighted in yellow.
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The national audience is rather divided this week, with the majority of the country seeing either the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to the Cincinnati Bengals (in red), or the Los Angeles Chargers travel to the Cleveland Browns (green). The other 1 p.m. games features the Indianapolis Colts traveling to the New York Jets (purple).
This will be the ninth meeting all-time, with the teams having split the first eight contests. The last time the Bills traveled to Houston, Buffalo squandered an early 10-0 lead as J.J. Watt picked off E.J. Manuel and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown in a 23-17 win by Houston. Manuel actually tossed a pair of TDs, but also threw two INTs, and the Bills lost despite limiting the Texans to only 37 net rushing yards.