The Buffalo Bills don’t need a reminder about what Houston did to them last season. They lived it.
When the Texans got the Bills in Houston on Nov. 20 last year, Josh Allen was under siege all night. Houston finished with eight sacks and kept Buffalo’s offensive line scrambling for four quarters in a 23-19 Texans win.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Texans pressured Allen on 33 of his 46 dropbacks, and right tackle Spencer Brown was charged with seven of those pressures. Left tackle Dion Dawkins gave up six.
So as the Bills head back to Houston for Sunday’s season opener, Brown knows exactly what kind of challenge is waiting. Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter headline a Texans pass rush that will demand plenty of attention, and Brown is the man on the edge who will have to deal with it.
“Well, for me personally, it can’t get much worse,” Brown said. “So I’m pretty excited to go back down there and hopefully walk out with both my shoulders intact.”
That line lands with extra bite because Brown was banged up in that matchup. He injured his shoulder badly enough in Week 12 last season against the Texans that he missed Buffalo’s next two games. Dawkins was checked for a concussion during the game, came back to finish, then entered the NFL’s concussion protocol the following day and sat out the next week.
Brown hasn’t forgotten how that game felt from the trenches.
“Dion and I both got banged up, they got a lot of pressure on Josh, and they came out firing,” Brown recalled. “Their defense is easily the top defense in the NFL, in my opinion.
The way they fly around, the way they chase the ball, their secondary, how they cover. And obviously they have $80 million dollars tied up in pass rush guys.”
Buffalo made a move this offseason to bolster that area, signing Bradley Chubb after four seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Brown spent the summer going against him in practice, and his read on Chubb had less to do with technique than energy.
“I told Bradley he’s got more juice since he’s been here,” Brown said. “I don’t know if he’s super excited to be here, but he takes his job very seriously. He’s one of the earliest guys to get here, and I think he’s wanting to put that on tape.”
Brown called Anderson and Hunter two of the best edge rushers in football and said the matchup is exactly the kind of test that tells an offensive lineman where he stands.
“When you’re going against those type of edge guys, I mean those are the best of the best, or at least top five in the NFL right now,” he said. “It’s a good test to see where you’re at, and it’s early, so get out of the way and then roll from there.”
Bills coach Joe Brady isn’t asking Brown or Dawkins to change their game because of what happened last year. Brown said Brady’s message this week has been to keep the matchup from becoming bigger in their heads than it needs to be.
“If you can do your job to the highest possibility and be confident in what you’re doing, then you can go out there and be successful,” Brown said. “Don’t be laying your head on the pillow at night, like, oh, I got to face Will Anderson.
I got to face Danielle Hunter this weekend. Just worry about what you’re doing and ... see how it plays on Sunday.”
Brown is also looking forward to seeing what Buffalo’s defense can do against Houston’s offense. That means getting to watch Chubb, one of the Bills’ 2026 captains, from the sideline.
“I told Bradley, I can’t wait for us to get the ball first,” Brown said. “They’re going to defer.
We go down there and score, and then I’m going to sit on the bench. I’m going to watch our defense play.
I’m super excited to see what they can do. I think (defensive coordinator) Jim Leonhard’s got them in a good spot.”
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