Defensive end Mario Williams returned to Houston a much richer man on Sunday after signing a six-year, $100 million contract during the offseason with the Buffalo Bills.

The Houston Texans, off to their best start in franchise history, showed their #1 overall pick of the 2006 draft first hand that they’re doing fine without him.

Matt Schaub threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns, Arian Foster racked up 111 yards on the ground, Andre Johnson totaled 118 yards on eight receptions, and the Texans (7-1) notched another one in the win column with a 21-9 victory over Williams and the Bills (3-5).

“We’re happy to be 7-1 at the halfway mark,” said Schaub. “But we’re not finished. We’ve got to go into a tough environment against a very good team next Sunday night.”

The Texans never made Williams any type of offer once he hit the free agent market, but their defense hasn’t missed a single beat in their first season without him since ‘06, as they’re ranked fourth in the league in points allowed, surrendering an average of just 17.1 per game.

He finished the game with five tackles and one sack.

Leading 14-9 early in the fourth quarter, Houston capped off an 11-play, 68-yard drive when Schaub tossed a five-yard touchdown pass to tight end Garrett Graham on 3^rd and 5 with 11:25 remaining to extend the lead to two possessions at 21-9.

Their defense closed out from there. They imposed their will on Houston all day long, specifically in the run game. Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had 239 yards through the air on 25 completions, but running backs C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson combined for just 60 yards on 12 rushes.

“We didn’t want to let them run the football,” said Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. “We had to stop the running game and I thought we did that.”

A 39-yard touchdown grab by tight end Owen Daniels gave the Texans the first score of the game with less than a minute left in the first quarter. Buffalo knocked through two field goals for the only other points of the first half.

Taking advantage of a short field following a 26yard punt return by receiver and special teams extraordinaire Brad Smith, Houston had to go just 43 yards to get into the end zone with a three-yard Foster run and push their lead to 14-9. Foster had four carries and nine yards on the drive, and was set up by a 34-yard catch by Johnson.

Texans head coach Gary Kubiak wasn’t thrilled with his team’s performance, given that it wasn’t at its most dominating offensively or in the defensive passing game. Nonetheless, he’ll take it.

“We did a lot of things that are not good enough for us to win consistently,” Kubiak said. “But yet we found a way to survive.”

Houston will travel north for what would appear to be one of the most intriguing games of the year thus far: a battle with another 7-1 heavyweight, The Chicago Bears.

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For all the talk this year about Chris Johnson losing his step and not being worth his new contract that made him one of the highest paid players in the league, he’s recently found his legs and just in time as the Titans make a push for the playoffs.

After a two month hiatus Johnson has comeback in a huge way rushing for 190 yards last week, and this time rushing for 153 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries, as the Titans gave the slumping Bills another loss 23-17. The Titans now sit at 7-5 and are in a tie for the final wild card spot with four other teams.

The Bills, who started the season on fire, now find themselves at 5-7 and out of the playoff race losing their fifth straight on Sunday. The Bills are now in a battle for the bottom of the AFC East as Miami beat Oakland on Sunday and pulled to within one game of the Bills. For the Titans, next up is the red hot New Orleans Saints who are coming off a big win over the Detroit Lions.

“In the beginning of the season, the passing game carried us, and now it’s time for the running game to step it up,” Johnson said. “The offensive line and everything is hitting on all cylinders right now, and hopefully we can continue to keep this momentum going.”

The Titans moved ahead when Johnson broke a run 48 yards for the score and they never looked back. On the Titans next possession he ran another in from four yards out which put Tennessee up 17-7. Rob Bironas added three field goals along with two fumbles the Titans won an easy one over the Bills.

Buffalo which looked like an early team to contend for a playoff spot, rushing out to a 5-2 record, has gone into a tailspin. The Bills are currently  looking more like the team that was 0-8 last year, and that no one expected to do anything this year. ”Extremely shocked and disappointed: All those words,” quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. “The way we’ve played lately hasn’t been good enough.”

C.J. Spiller who has been filling in for the injured Fred Jackson had a career high 83 yard performance and a touchdown. His touchdown came on a 35 yard run. Stevie Johnson, who was under fire for his antics during last weekends’ game when he mocked Plaxico Burress by pretending to shoot himself in the leg after he scored a touchdown, had 5 catches for 52 yards and a touchdown.

“Last week was last week,” said Johnson, “We moved on to the Titans and we tried to get this W and we came up short.” The Bills looked like they might mount a comeback, but ran out of time at the end of the game. The Bills try to snap their losing skid next week when they travel to the West coast for a showdown with the San Diego Chargers, who snapped their own losing streak with a win Monday night over the Jaguars.

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Tennessee will head to Buffalo on Sunday looking to keep pace with the rest of the teams in the wild card hunt. Tennessee is seeking its first back to back wins in almost two months and will need to make a run in the last few weeks in order to have a shot at making the playoffs. The Bills on the other side will probably have to win out the rest of their games just to have a shot at making it.

Tennessee is in a position where it could maybe catch up to the first place Houston Texans with the Texans down to their third-string quarterback T.J. Yates, a rookie from North Carolina, and the recently signed Jake Delhomme. With the teams finishing out the season against each other a few wins and Tennessee could be playing for the division in that final game.

“We’re aware of where we are in the standings every week and what our situation is, and that’s why we have to realize how important this game is for us,” coach Mike Munchak said. “We’ve got to win if we’re going to have a chance to play more than 16 games.” The Bills suffered their fifth straight road loss and fourth loss on the road last Sunday when they fell 28-24 to the New York Jets.

“We have to win out, and we probably have to get some help — and that’s what I told the team,” coach Chan Gailey said. While the offense, which had been lacking in the previous three losses, bounced back against the Jets, too many penalties doomed the Bills in MetLife Stadium. They committed a season high 9 penalties and gave up 138 yards on just 23 carries to a running game that had been struggling.

The Bills are giving up 123.8 yards on the ground per game which is ranked 21^st in the league, and it won’t be easier for them this week as they face running back Chris Johnson who is coming off his best performance this season rushing for 190 yards. Another problem for the Bills could be if they let the Titans get to the red zone as they rank second to last in TD efficiency inside the 20 and the Titans hold the NFL’s highest mark scoring a TD over 70 percent of the time they get there.

With leading rusher Fred Jackson out for the year, and C.J. Spiller not filling the role effectively so far the Bills will have to rely on Ryan Fitzpatrick and the passing attack to put up points. That plays right into Tennessee’s strength as they have the 13^th ranked passing attack giving up only 229.1 yards per game.

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It wasn’t as easy for the New York Jets in their second game with the Buffalo Bills, but the end result was the same. The Jets won a critical game and kept their playoff hopes alive. Led by Mark Sanchez and his career high four touchdown passes, the Jets escaped Sunday’s game with a win when Sanchez found Santonio Holmes for a 16-yard score with just over a minute left to keep the Jets in the thick of the AFC playoff race.

“He’s at his best in big moments,” coach Rex Ryan said. This was as big a moment as the Jets have had all season and with the win they now have only five more to go. The sentiment through the Jets locker room this week has been that they have to win in order to make it to the post season. It was looking like that was going to end with the first game when Dave Rayner hit a 53-yard field goal to put the Bills up 24-21.

Sanchez then led the Jets down the field, the key play coming on a third and 11 from the Bills 36 where Sanchez found Plaxico Burress along the sideline. Burress reached up and made an amazing one handed catch for 18 yards and the first down. ”It was crazy,” Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said of the catch. “He’s 6-foot-5 and he’s got those ‘Go-Go-Gadget’ arms. It was probably one of the best catches I’ve seen in a while.”

Sanchez ran a sneak to assure there would be no challenge and then on the next play rolled out right and found Holmes in the end zone for the go ahead score. Though posting a career high in touchdown passes, Sanchez was far from great. He finished 17 of 35 for 180 yards and a pick, but when things mattered most, he prevailed.

His Bills counterpart, Ryan Fitzpatrick, bounced back from a streak of bad games to go 26 of 39 for 264 yards and three touchdowns, but couldn’t manage one more at the end. Fitzpatrick found a wide open Stevie Johnson, but Johnson dropped the pass. He also missed Johnson in the end zone as he threw behind him and the catch couldn’t be made.

Johnson made headlines for other reasons than just the dropped pass. He scored a touchdown late in the first half and to celebrate mocked shooting himself in the thigh, clearly a shot at Plaxico Burress who had accidentally shot himself in the leg in a nightclub in 2008 when he was with the Giants.

He then continued by mocking the “flight” celebration many of the Jets use after they score and fell to the ground which got a flag for 15 yards and ended up leading to the Jets tying the game back up 14-14. ”I was just having fun and part of having fun ended up being a penalty and a touchdown for the Jets,” Johnson said. “It was a stupid decision by myself.”

“I’ve seen worse, and I’ve heard worse,” Burress said of Johnson’s celebration. “So, it doesn’t bother me at all. The result I’m looking at is we won the football game.”

The Jets have won their first game and look to continue their streak for the playoffs as they head down to Washington to square off with quarterback troubled Redskins. The Bills, now losers of four straight games look to snap the streak as they head home to face Matt Hasselback and the Tennessee Titans.
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If the Bills’ season does not turn around, they will look back to Week 9 when they faced the New York Jets and were defeated in front of their home crowd. Going into Week 12, the Bills have a chance to stop the bleeding and keep themselves in the wild card race if they can muster a win over the same New York Jets.

The Bills have lost three straight and are facing a Jets team that is trying to avoid their own third straight loss when the teams square off Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

During this tough stretch, the Bills have only managed to score 26 points which is nothing compared to the team scoring 30 points a game through their first 7 games. To make things worse, running back Fred Jackson, who was amidst a career year with 934 yards good for third in the league, was lost for the season when he broke a bone in his left leg last week.

The Bills now turn to former first round pick, C.J. Spiller, to carry the load in the running game. Spiller has been somewhat of an underachiever, only showing some promise in the return game, but not so much out of the backfield. The real key for the Bills comes with quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick who since signing a new contract three weeks ago has not played up to it. “We’re trying to figure out some answers and looking to see some results this week,” Fitzpatrick said.

In the past six games, Fitzpatrick has thrown 11 interceptions. His favorite target, wide receiver Stevie Johnson, who only has seven catches during this losing streak and when facing the Jets, has been another victim of Revis Island. He has 11 catches for 187 yards and a touchdown in the past three meetings with the Jets.

The Jets, like the Bills, have also been reeling as of late. Two weeks ago, the Jets were riding a three game winning streak heading into a game at home against New England for first place in the AFC East. They not only got blown out of the water in that game, but also turned around and lost to the Tim Tebow led Denver Broncos four days later.

They now find themselves two games out of first behind the Patriots and in serious danger of not making the playoffs at all. There is hope that another win over the Bills will be just what they need to turn things around. They have been here before, having to finish up the season strong to make the playoffs. “I think everyone kind of feels like it’s now or never,” safety Jim Leonhard said.

“We have to play well, and we have to play well now.” The Jets schedule definitely favors them, as the New York Giants are currently the only remaining team the Jets will face that currently has a winning record. “In this game, you don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself,” linebacker Bart Scott said. “You have to move on, and you have to get ready to play.”

This is a good opportunity for us to get on the right track and try to go on a roll because we have to. We can’t afford to lose any more games.” Just as it is for the Bills, the Jets will need quarterback Mark Sanchez to step up his play, which has hardly been NFL quality the past two games.

He has an NFL high of three interceptions returned for touchdowns, two of those coming in the past two games. Last time the Jets and Bills faced off, Sanchez was 20 of 28 for 230 yards with one TD and one interception, but the Jets were able to manhandle the Bills with their physical play at the line on both sides of the ball.

Running back Shonn Greene, who left the game in Denver and never returned, looks to be okay and is expected to play Sunday. The Jets will need a repeat performance of the game in Week 9 if they want to get the ball rolling, as they aim to make a late season run at a wild card spot and into the playoffs.

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The Miami Dolphins couldn’t have started their season any worse when they lost their first seven games. The Buffalo Bills couldn’t have started any better when they were sitting atop the AFC East. It all changed on Sunday. The Dolphins laid a beat down on the reeling Bills 35-8 to win their third straight game, handing Buffalo their third loss in a row.

The turnaround for the Dolphins, who are now 3-7, was been due to their improved defensive play. ”You can see how good we can be,” said safety Yeremiah Bell. “This is where we expected to be at the beginning of the season. It just took us a while.”

The Dolphins were able to turn two interceptions into touchdowns, along with a blocked punt, which was recovered for a touchdown. The defense also made a goal line stand midway through the second half. The Bills were stuffed four times in a row after having first down at the Dolphins second yard line.

On the other side of the ball, Matt Moore torched the Bills’ defense. He finished the day 14 of 20 for 160 yards and three touchdowns for a passer rating of 133.3. The Dolphins punched it in on their first three possessions and Moore wasn’t called upon to throw much after that. ”Guys around me are making big plays and making it easy for the quarterback,” Moore said. “It’s such a good feeling.”

The Bills didn’t have any good feelings in this game. With their once-promising season in a tailspin, the Bills have been outscored 106-26 during their losing streak, a far cry from the team that was scoring 30 points a game earlier this season. ”We’re baffled as to what has happened,” quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said.

“For the past three weeks, it has not been fun to play, and I’m sure it has not been fun to watch.” They have only managed two touchdowns in the past three weeks. One of those touchdowns was during the end of the game. To add to their problems, the Bills lost three of their key players. Wide receiver Donald Jones and cornerback Terrence McGee were both carted off the field in the second quarter.

The NFL’s leading rusher, running back Fred Jackson, left in the third quarter with a bruised right calf. Since signing his big, six-year, $59 million contract, Fitzpatrick has failed to win a game and has turned the ball over 12 times in the past six games. On Sunday, he was 20 of 39 for 209 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions. His passer rating was a mere 45.8.

Fred Jackson was held to 17 yards on seven carries. The Bills fumbled the ball four times (though all were recovered), and went zero for 14 on third and fourth down. ”I don’t know if I’ve ever been through that before, ever,” coach Chan Gailey said. “When you’re that bad, you’re having a pitiful day.”

The Bills try to bounce back and save their season as they head to MetLife Stadium to face the struggling New York Jets in a must-win for both teams if they wish to make the playoffs. The Dolphins have a short week as they look to continue their recent success and continue to play spoiler as they travel to Jerry World to face the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving.

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