The Houston Texans are about to open their 2026 season at Reliant Stadium, and the matchup waiting for them comes with a history that leans their way. Less than a week from kickoff, Houston is set to face the Buffalo Bills, a team the Texans have handled well in recent meetings.
That matters because Josh Allen, for all the success he’s had in his career, has rarely found easy answers against Houston. The Texans are one of only two teams Allen has a losing record against, and he’s 1-4 in five games against them. Buffalo’s lone win in that stretch came in 2021, when the Texans were in the middle of a 13-loss season under head coach David Culley.
That 2021 game was also Allen’s best outing against Houston. He went 20 of 30 for 248 yards, threw two touchdowns, and had one interception in a 40-0 Bills win.
The rest of the matchups have looked very different. In Allen’s other four games against the Texans, he’s completed just 52.7% of his passes on more than 100 attempts, with 732 passing yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Houston’s defense has also brought him down 14 times across those four losses.
The most recent meeting came on Thursday Night Football in Week 12 last season, when the Texans’ defense took over in a 23-19 win and sacked Allen eight times. That performance is a big reason this rematch carries so much weight heading into the opener.
Buffalo will arrive with Joe Brady in charge as the new coaching mind, and the Bills will be hoping that fresh direction and offseason roster changes can help them flip the script. But Houston comes in looking awfully familiar from a year ago, with all of its defensive starters back and added help on both sides of the ball, including upgrades up front and in the backfield.
There is one major difference from last season: C.J. Stroud is available this time. The Texans quarterback has faced the Bills only once in his three-year NFL career, and he missed last year’s game because of a mid-season concussion absence.
Stroud is 1-0 against Buffalo so far. If he can make it 2-0 and help Houston keep its recent edge in this series, the Texans would open 2026 with a statement win right out of the gate.
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Texans Practice Squad Shuffle Suddenly Includes A Quarterback Twist
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Gronowski arrives with a college track record that included stops at South Dakota State and Iowa, and he was recently let go from the Dolphins practice squad before landing in Houston. For a Texans team always watching the depth chart closely, the move adds another arm to the mix and raises the question of how the staff plans to use him once the dust settles. [Read more 🡒]