By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Columnist
Oh how things have changed in the American Football Conference playoff race.
The Bills (7-3) are fifth in the standings and would play the Steelers in Pittsburgh if the season ended today.
And though Buffalo’s odds (93%) are higher of making the playoffs than the Steelers (39%), the difference is position in the standings where Pittsburgh leads its division.
The Bills, meanwhile, trail New England (9-2) by a game-and-a-half and have lost to the Patriots head-to-head. They have seven games to do something about it.
So while Buffalo still seems a lock as an AFC wild-card qualifier, it’s unlikely it will win a sixth straight division title.
THAT SAID, coach Sean McDermott’s team faces a test Thursday night (8:15 p.m. CBS-TV, Prime-TV, Bills Radio Network) when it travels to Houston to face the Texans (5-5), desperately bidding for a wild-card bid in the AFC South but currently suits third behind Indianapolis (8-2) and Jacksonville (6-4).
Buffalo is fresh from a 44-32 victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday but now faces a 1,500-mile trip to Texas four days after its last game.
However, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans won’t get caught up in the four-day week.
“Don’t talk about how much of a short week (it is),” Ryans said, “it’s like this for everybody else … a short week. I get it, let’s wrap it up and let’s go … everybody has the same amount of time.”
And McDermott emphasized, “I know our guys are up for the challenge. We love to compete within four days and the fans have something to look forward to.”
Both teams have injury issues, the Bills had 11 players on their injury report earlier in the week and the Texans have several critical losses, starting with quarterback C.J. Stroud who will likely be replaced by Davis Mills, and place-kicker Kai’imi Fairbairn questionable and could be replaced by Matthew Wright..
FOR THE BILLS, according to McDermott, “The question is, who can practice and who can’t. “There are 11 guys out every (practice). You have to do your due diligence and make sure you’ve got the right people out there … who can practice and who can’t. The game speaks to you … should we be doing more … doing less?”
But Ryans knows his team will be tested.
“The Bills are a really, really good team,” he said. “Coach McDermott has done a great job since he’s been there … they’re always a contender.”
He’s also wary of Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen who accounted for six touchdowns (three rushing, three passing) in Sunday’s win over the Buccaneers.
“Josh can move around and he can make those plays that make you cover him twice,” Ryans said. “With his scramble ability we have to do a much better job of controlling that because we’ve let a few plays get away from us when we’ve allowed the quarterback to scramble.
We have to do a good job of trying to sustain drives … winning on third down will be key for us.”
INJURIES: The Bills had five players on Wednesday’s injury list with both tight end Dalton Kincaid (hamstring) and wide receivers Mecole Hardman (calf) and Curtis Samuel (elbow/neck) all out. In addition, defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis (shoulder) is questionable.
The Texans injury report revealed that linebacker Jamal Hill (concussion) is out. Questionable and likely out are quarterback C.J. Stroud and defensive back Jalen Pitre (both with concussions), kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn (quad), offensive tackle Trent Brown (knee), linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair (knee) and defensive end Denico Autry (knee).
POLLOCK’S PICK: Bills 23, Texans 17
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
