Bills-Texans Preview – CBSSports.com

HOUSTON (AP) Josh Allen never said a bad word about Stefon Diggs. As the Buffalo Bills prepare to face their former star receiver in Houston on Sunday, he insists the two have parted ways on good terms.

And the quarterback didn’t change his stance a week ago and didn’t want to get upset when asked about the Bills’ success early in the season with their spread-the-ball motto on offense.

He later explained that he spoke out after reading comments on social media that attempted to turn the “Everyone Eats” motto into something aimed at Diggs.

Allen understands why it’s a big deal that Buffalo is taking on Diggs for the first time since a blockbuster trade sent him to Houston this offseason. He raved about his former teammate.

“I have great love for him. I still do,” Allen said. “The things he did for me in my career and the things he did in a Buffalo Bills uniform won’t soon be forgotten, especially by me… (but) when I get to the seventh Class, I understand the business and that aspect of what this league is all about, and again, I just try to focus on what we have going on in this building.”

Diggs, a four-time Pro Bowler, is second on the Texans with 25 receptions for 233 yards. He has two receiving touchdowns and had the first rushing score of his career last week against the Jaguars. He spent the last four seasons in Buffalo, where he averaged more than 1,100 receiving yards each year, highlighted by an NFL-leading rushing rushing season and a career-high 1,535 receiving yards in 2020.

He didn’t address Allen directly this week when discussing his time in Buffalo. While Diggs said his tenure with the Bills was “amazing,” he is now focused solely on his future and is not interested in rehashing the past.

“A lot of other people will have an opinion or a lot to say about X, Y, Z, and I’m not mad about it,” he said Wednesday. “Football is a very emotional sport. I’m going in there wearing my heart on my sleeve and I’m not going to stop, but for myself I’m blocking out the noise.”

“No one will run the routes except me,” he continued. “No one but me will watch the tape. I try not to get caught up in people’s opinions or feelings all the time. I have a job to do; I’m trying to make it happen.”

Diggs has helped the Texans get off to a 3-1 start and Allen hasn’t missed a single attempt without him. The Bills are also 3-1, although they are trying to bounce back from last week’s 35-10 loss to the Ravens.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans certainly knew how talented Diggs was when he arrived in Houston, but said he was pleasantly surprised to see his passion for the game.

“He loves football … you can see it in the way he practices, the way he plays the game,” Ryans said. “He loves the ball, he plays with effort and that’s all you want.”

Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady was still smarting that he ordered a trick play that backfired and ended any chance of a Buffalo rally in the loss to Baltimore.

After opening the second half with a TD to cut the deficit to 21-10, the Bills were facing second-and-7 at the Baltimore 44 when receiver Curtis Samuel took a direct snap and threw the ball to Allen. The Ravens weren’t fooled, forcing a fumble that led to a TD six plays later.

“I probably can’t say it over Zoom,” Brady said when asked to summarize the call in one word. “There are no excuses. I can justify why it was on the call sheet, but ultimately the timing wasn’t what it should have been and it was costly.”

While Diggs has been mostly focused on playing with his former team this week, Houston’s offense has been one receiver so far this season. Nico Collins posted a career-best performance of his third 100-yard game of the season against the Jaguars: 12 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown. He leads the NFL with 489 receiving yards and is the first player in franchise history to have more than 450 receiving yards in the first four games.

“He’s a strong, physical, fast, big receiver,” Ryans said. “That’s an easy target for CJ (Stroud) and Nico showed up every time we needed him.”

In keeping with the Bills’ “everybody eats” motto on offense, Samuel had difficulty finding a regular spot at the table. The eighth-year player, who had his best season in Carolina under Brady as Panthers coordinator in 2020, was limited to eight catches for 48 yards. What’s even stranger is that Samuel was only on the field for 68 of 230 total offensive snaps.

“We would like to get him playing whether Khalil is here this week or not,” Allen said, referring to receiver Khalil Shakir, who is dealing with a right ankle injury. “So we’re going to go back to his number and he’s got to step up and make some plays where we have no doubt about his ability.”

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AP Sports Writer John Wawrow in Orchard Park, New York, contributed to this report.

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