John Harris Previews Bills-Texans and Finds Wins for the Jets

0:00Man, you talk about a tough out like this dude is, man, he's exceptional. You talk about a quarterback who can really, where he sets himself apart is his ability to run the football, his ability to not only just run it, but man, I'm gonna buy time running to the sideline and still have my eyes down feel and I can still throw the ball 60 yards. So it just makes it difficult, right? He's gonna get out of the pocket. He talk about rush lane integrity and being where he's supposed to, it's gonna take guys just continuing to rush. He's gonna find a lane. So how are you relentlessly pursuing him as a rusher? How are you relentlessly sticking in coverage as a defensive back as a linebacker? Man, you talk about the stamina and the energy you need. It takes a little bit extra playing against jobs just because of how he extends play. Texans head coach, Dmitco Ryan's on Josh Allen, the test for the Texans defense is number

1:0417. The test for number 17 is that Texans defense and a spot they've lost the last two years in some pretty ugly affairs. Jeremy and Joe, Joe's out this week and we're previewing. Bill's Texans and joining us on the Western Hotline is John Harris, Texans sideline reporter, radio and TV analyst at Texans.com as well. John, good morning. Happy football season. It starts tonight. We're gonna be on Sunday. We get started with the bills and the Texans. Man, it's good to be with you, but I'll tell you this, what you call ugly, I call beautiful. It has been beautiful last couple of years. It hasn't been a pretty useful ball, but I think that's kind of like we like it down here. We like it. Grimey a little gritty like our defense to take over. I'm hoping that defense is able to do it one more time against Josh and then we'll come up the Buffalo in 2027 and see how things are once we go in the road. But this is always a matchup, I think. I think Texans fans look forward to it, especially being week one, they look forward to it, but

2:07also they go, yeah, they got 17 and they got four and those guys can really make life difficult for a really good defense regardless of what's happened. There is definitely a lot of respect for the Buffalo bills in that building right now, getting ready for this game on Sunday. Yeah, John, ugly is what I would use for the bills because two years ago, it's Josh with nine completions on 30 attempts. Last year, it's eight sacks and it feels like the Texans the last two years have kind of exposed some weaknesses the bills have had from a roster standpoint on their offense. Let's start with Houston's defense there. Is the expectation it could get even better? Can it be even better than it was last year? Well, you asked me go Ryan's that he'll look at you like you have five different heads, you know, tell you of course we think we can be better. You know, they added red blanket ship from the Eagles at safety, which will give them a, you know, a veteran who could solidify that back in.

3:07You know, that was the one, we had a weakness last year. You know, we played the bills last year, we're playing Jalen Reed. Who ended up getting traded to the Patriots, but Jalen, I thought was a really good player, but he was, you know, a six round draft pick who hadn't played up to that point. That was his first game. And there were some things that not the bills did at times to really kind of expose him. And I thought, man, if they had another quarter, they might try and find him a little bit more. But not that three blanket ship guy with Super Bowl pedigree is really kind of clicked with those guys back in the secondary. So I think that's one spot. I think the other spot is, you know, they've added Kate McDonnell to front from Ohio State. Big run stuffing powerful, you know, might play on first and second downs in the future. Probably will play 10 to 15 plays, but a guy that you can throw in there that if the bills are running the ball, they can do some things with their front and put McDonnell to the game and then it'll help them in the run game. And finally, one that we never saw coming was should definitely not a clown. He coming back to the team. And he's always been one of my favorite players.

4:09He was not Bill O'Brien's favorite player. And that was the reason why he was showing the door, basically. But today, I'm coming back looking, spray, looking very much in shape and ready to roll. He adds a different element because he's not just a quote, unquote, back up defensive end. He's a guy that you could play with Will and Danielle at different times in a different pressure groups and just let those three loose. Now, sudden, your pass rush isn't just 51-55. Now it's those two plus clowny plus of you devoting it. Then it's Sheldon Rankins who's one of the better interior pass rushers in the league. So I don't know if all that comes together. It says better than last year. But I think this group expects to be better for those three reasons, but also just because they've been together now for three years. You know, they've been together since 2023 in certain cases. As these in Danielle got here in 2024, they can complete each other's sentences and blanking ship smoothly integrating into the group.

5:12I think helps that defense become even better. But week one, you still know the team in past years where all you have this group is supposed to be really, really good. And they gave up touchdown at the wrong time last year. We were supposed to be really good. We started off on three and didn't play exceptionally well on either side of the ball. So I expect this defense to be better, but we also expect to see what the best Buffalo has given the health at the beginning of the year. They should be healthy. I think it's going to be another bar fight basically slugging it out and one plank in term of difference. And you mentioned it. 24, Josh went nine for 30 in 2025, you threw 200 exceptions and we stacked them eight times. Buffalo had the ball late in the fourth quarter with an opportunity to go win the game named both cases. So it's not as if that you know, defense played pretty well in both games.

6:12So they've got to be able to get some stuff done off. Basically, which I'm sure we'll talk about. But defensively, I could see them being better for those additions they've made to the personnel staff. John Harris on the Texans. Jen, one thing, a theory of mine here is the bills moved to new coach in Joe Brady's that his opinions of him will be tied to how the offense does. And for Domingo Ryan's his side of the ball's defense. What's his approval rating right now as a as a head coach, he's built this great defense with the GM like the organization has his incredible defense. He calls that side of the ball is he viewed as a good, great defensive mind that can stay there for a while until they write the ship offensively. Do you feel like maybe the clock is ticking on him because they haven't gotten to a Super Bowl or what is the standard for Domingo Ryan's? He's beloved in Houston. He is absolutely beloved. And I think there are a couple reasons for that. Number one, you know, he played here and that helps. But you know, he was doing his cap. He was always the leader of the defense and just a leader of the team.

7:18You know, he's from Alabama. He's got, you know, kind of that southern draw. He just he fits. He fits here in Houston. You know, his wife is from Houston. He came back to Houston at the organization's lowest moment at the end of 2022 head into 2023. And then they started winning what he came back. I'm not going to say I tell you that he has 100% approval rating in the city. You know, nobody, nothing has that probably other than Donnelly Parton. But even that, she's probably at 96%. It's probably where the Mico is. This count loves him. Now there are people that pop up and go, man, I really wish that he could get the offense like the defense. Now there's there's that. But they don't they don't look at it. Fans don't look at it and say, oh, yeah, that's that's the Mico's fault. They don't look at it that way. If anything, they they might say, well, you know, Nick Acerio hasn't gotten these players, you know, Nick coming from the Patriots.

8:18I think there have been people in Houston that have not been as quick to embrace him. I'm not one of those. I love Nick. I think we aren't doing what we're doing without the Mico and we're not doing it without Nick. And I think smart fans here see that. But as it pertains to the Mico, there's going to come a time. It's not yet. So we come a time where fans are like, man, we keep getting this divisional playoff round. We can't get over to hump. Why is that? Well, you know, the offense isn't performing. Okay. Well, you have a defensive mind and head coach that must be what it is. And you know, as well as I did Jeremy, it's, it's a lot more complicated than that. But that's the perception that fans end up having at some point. We have not reached that stage, especially with the Mico Ryan's. They've gone beyond that. I think you guys kind of ran into that a little bit with Sean McDermott, you know, how he was perceived and whether it was, you know, his fault or, you know, Josh not making plays

9:19in Denver, you know, the fumble before the halftime. It was there are a lot of things that go into why a team loses the game, why they lose in the playoffs, et cetera. But I think the perception becomes that some, well, you know, he's a defensive coach. Same for the 49ers. You know, if the 49ers are Kyle Shannon, if they lose the game 3431, well, at the same time, hey, Kyle Shannon doesn't put any effort into the defense. He's all about the offense. I think that's a perception that get it follows guys throughout the league and it's unfortunate that it is that way because there are some, a lot of good coaches that lose a job because they're perceived as not having done enough on the other side of the ball. To me, one thing last year, I think that was genius. After we went over three, as much as he can call a great game, he turned the defense over to Matt Burke and said, Matt, I got to, I got to spend time with the offense. And he turned the defense over to Matt Burke and he made him the play collar, defensive coordinator and said, it's your baby.

10:20I got to let you roll with this. I got to go spend time with the offense. And the offense started getting better, but it also opened up to Miko's eyes to what needed to be done offensively. And I think the changes they've made on offense, personalized in particular, have really been a result of the Miko Ryan spending more time with the offense. And that was music to fans, ears here in Houston. John Harris on the Texans. So if the idea is they had to fix their offense in the off season, what did they do to do that? What was, I guess, universally thought of as, here is the fix that we must find to get this offense to be good enough where it can finish the job the defense starts. Well, I think, well, everybody not just fans, but I think people in the building, you know, the players could see it too. They wanted the defense to look in the mirror and see the offense in vice versa. You know, these defense is this badass group that, you know, the snatcher's soul. I mean, that's just the way they play football.

11:21Now off the field, I'd want my daughter to marry any one of them. I mean, they're just incredible individuals. But on the field, they're raving lunatics, but we didn't have that offensively. We couldn't match that offensively. And then look, obviously offensive football defensive football, we all know it's different. Yeah, okay. There's got to be a little bit more precision and finesse with the offense. Yeah, you still can have the same attitude. And that is we're going to run the football down your throat. We're going to be physical up front when we pass protect, you know, we're going to punch people right into mouth. And it just felt like we weren't doing that. We weren't matching on offense the defense is mentality of, you know, what we call the swarm. That wasn't being matched offensively. And so they had to go out and find players that match that. So they drafted Keelan Rutledge. They brought in Wyatt Teller. They still had Trent Brown, although Trent doesn't say a whole lot. And he's the biggest human being I've ever seen.

12:22He exhibits that mentality. They had to try and match that offensively. What's on defense? At least the mentality. And I think they've done a better job of that. David Montgomery coming in was probably a big key. You know, he demoed on the sale a whole lot, but when he does, boy, he's got some grit and some grime to him that we really needed offensively. So I think that unit gets tougher. I think CJ Stroud is taking strides. And I think the offense can now look at the defense and say, yeah, we can hold our own. We can go chest to chest with you in practice and not back down. You're not going to bully us all over this field. And it really started showing itself in the offensive performance when we went and joined practice against the Raiders and the Panthers. Now, you know, one of those defenses, I think, at whole water, but was at least against two different teams in the NFL, our offense went to work. And you could see that demeanor and mentality really starting to take hold on that side of the ball. But that continues.

13:23We could play football for a long time this year. But if it starts to go back to last year where we're not running with physicality or not playing with that physicality enough at the side, we're not scoring in the red zone, we're going to get bouncing the visual playoff round again. And that obviously is something that nobody here wants to see again. Yeah. No one around here wants that either. I mean, the Vils goals, stated goals are, you know, super bowl appearance, super bowl win. John, for this week for week one, Bill's Texans, who's your pick? Have you made it a public pick yet? You got to vibe for this game? Yeah, I say this in Houston all the time, Jeremy. I never go against my heart and my head. I know this. I know that this will be, it will be a close ball game. I don't think it's going to be high scoring. You know, last, what, last two, three years, Josh has put up God knows how many points. I know he's doing it to Ravens. I know how to get the Rams. What was that a few years ago? You'd put up, you know, 40. I don't think that's happening. I do think this is a game that is going to be very interesting early on because with Jim

14:27Leonard, different defense, you know, Texas offense is going to have to adapt early. I've said this, you know, a couple of times here in Houston that I think that first quarter, you know, on into the second quarter is maybe the most important 15 minutes, 15 to 20 game minutes. The Texas are going to have offensively because they're going to have to prove that they can make adjustments and make them in a hurry and then execute once they do that on the sideline because they're going to see some stuff from Jim Leonard go, whoa, whoa, we didn't see that on film. We didn't expect that on film. All right. How do we adapt? How do we adjust? That's going to be massive for the Texans offense to be able to do that. So look, I, you know, playing at home in our building, the accessory we've had against Buffalo in the past. And a lot of times I don't even rely on that. I do think that when you have him being a team in a particular place and they've kind of had your number a little bit, you know, that one mistake that you make, you're like, oh, here we go again. That's what we have to inflict on Buffalo.

15:28That's what we have to put on the bills. Oh, yeah. See this mistake? You guys have done this before and then capitalize. But you're last year we go up a kick returning to special teams on a Ray Davis. And those are things we can't have happen. I do think the Texas will miss Jaden Hagen's a lot. He was really taking his game to a different level there in training camp. So K-Shambu, he's got to step in and do some things. Not to Jaden Hagen's level, but he's got to make some plays in this game. If they're not making plays, if they're not creating offense in a different manner, you know, I don't think they're going to be able to drive eight to ten plays on a Jim Leder defense. So I think there's going to have to be some chunk plays that Texans make, some easy offense, if you will. You know, one play drive for, you know, 50 yard bomb like Nico had a couple of years ago. And that's going to hopefully, you know, be what separates this game. You know, who can end up making a chunk play? And the Texans defense, if they have a source bot, it is that they've given up chunk plays that have cost them in big games because the offense hasn't been able to match it or

16:29top it on the other side. So I would think whichever offense is able to create 75 yard run, 75 yard bomb right out of a, you know, right out of time out, something like that easy offense. That might be the difference in what I think is going to end up being a pretty low scoring game. John Harris on the Texans, Texans sideline reporter on the West or High Line. John, thanks. Enjoy the game and say hi to sell for us. Oh, I certainly will. For any Buffalo fans coming to Houston, start hydrating now. I know the games inside, but when you tailgate outside, it is going to be 90 plus degrees. If you haven't felt that in Houston before, you'll be done by the second quarter. So start hydrating now if you come into the game. But you're gonna appreciate your time. We'll see you soon. Thanks, John. Always a pleasure. John Harris Texans sideline reporter on the West or Hot Line 80305 50. If you want to pop in on a prediction for this game, got a couple days still to get there. Of course, NFL season starts tonight with the Patriots and the Seahawks, the dolphins and

17:33the jets. I want to just talk division real quickly. The dolphins and the jets. They saw at NFL.com that is a quote from Garrett Wilson, jets receiver saying that it's very realistic for the jets to make the playoffs. And that might be an early, haha, but the jet should play, you know, an easier version of the schedule than the bills and the Patriots do, right? That's terrible year last year. Could the jets make it seven teams make it? If I gave them, if you give them two over the dolphins, let's try, let's find nine wins for the jets, right? Let's just have a little fun with the jets. Let's find them nine wins. All right. Let's do it. You guys laughing about something else in the other jet? No, it's the idea. Yeah. Let's find nine wins for the jets. All right. This is a fun little game. laughable. All right. Give them two dolphins, right? It could be the dolphins. Sure. Titans? Yeah. They open with the Titans. All right. Let's give them the Titans. Yeah. No bears, no.

18:34Well, look at that. NFC North, mostly out of the way. Yeah. Browns? Yeah. Okay. We're giving the Browns. I think Geno Smith will do fine against Cleveland. We'll go up the four. We're not going to give them the Patriots. No. Okay. We shouldn't. Raiders? I would be okay. Let's give them the Raiders. Five. Okay. Chiefs? No. Okay. Don't want to give them the chiefs. Bill? No. I can't give them the chiefs. No. Cardinals. Maybe. Six. I would give this. I would give this. I would give this. Carson Becker is this Jacobi percent. I don't know. What matters? But it's very possible the Cardinals are going to the bottom and the Jets are. They got six wins. Let's just say they're trying to lose. Never. Six. Vikings? Is that home? See, that could be a game. I think Geno, Tyler Murray is going to be fine. Yeah, but I think Geno is serviceable.

19:34Hold on. If you give them the Vikings, I'm at seven. Okay. Week 18 bills. Hold on. The bills are a lot. Some times that's a. Okay. Listen, we worked for it. But that's large. It's eight. Could I swing something else? You know, the Packers have a stupid loss because the Packers always have a stupid loss. They're a stupid split with the Patriots. Yeah, right. They like catch the Patriots on a day. Right. That could happen. Or the bill. I gave them a win over the bills. Right. Yeah, in the week 18. Yeah, we're not giving them a sweep over the bills. No, probably not. No. No. The Dolphins on the flip side, if we stay in the division, like what's the Dolphins peak? Okay. Raters. Loss. Again, we're trying to give them. If we gave the Jets the Raiders, then we should give them. We'll try to give them wins. The Jets and Dolphins are very different teams though. I agree. Like the exercise is try to find them. Sure. So we'll give them the Raiders if we're trying.

20:34Right. Yeah, I think we have to do that if we gave them to the Jets. Niners. No. How, I mean, that's coming back from Australia, Niners. And is, you know, four more ACLs blown out on that team? Like, I can't give them the Niners. Yeah. No, I can't either. Chiefs. No. We're not going to give it to them. No. Vikings. Not going to give it to them. I think that would be a game between the Jets and Vikings. The Dolphins are worse. That might be the line. You're right. I think the Jets could maybe beat the Vikings. I don't think the, the Bengals. No. This is Dolphins Bengals. No. Let's give them two against the Jets in this scenario. We're finding the wins for the, like what's Miami's peak, right? So we're up to two and three by beating the Jets twice. Patriots. No. Lions. No. No. Okay. You want to know there. What he was last year. Broncos. No. Bears. No. Packers. No.

21:34Chargers. No. Okay. We've worked. Yeah. We have to get them three. We gave them two against the Jets. We, yeah. We, yeah. We, just giving them two against the Jets. Which I don't know if that'll actually happen. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. That's part of, all right. If you're a Jets fan trying to find it, you start with two against my, we tried to get Miami wins. We got to three. Maybe throw on the Colts. We get them four. If we try. Yeah. And the Jets, if we try, I can get them to eight. Oh. Yikes. I mean, week 17 dolphins bills are the bills locked in by then. The bills are taking time off in week 17. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so. They might take time off in week 18, but now week 17. Yeah. There's too many possibilities. They can be trying to win the conference and still be playing at that point. Yeah. Then you're, you could still be alive both on the good and the, yeah. I think you're not. Take it. 17 off. And so the difference over under is four and a half. And the under is minus 190. Should you not hammer that under? Again, it's minus 190. Yeah.

22:35So like you're going to have to hammer it. You're going to have to. Yeah. Really. I mean, you might want to go under three and a half for Miami. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. Alt. So I'm just ready for NFL world where after week one, it reads, Dolphins Jets, Bills Patriots in the standings. And we're all just like, oh, yeah, who would have predicted? Anyway, Sal coming up on the other side, a preview. We get, we get injury designations today. We find out who's actually hurt. Who's questionable? Maybe some information on some of these Bills players as they gear up for the Houston game. 803-050 to join us on WGR.