WEEK 1 · FINAL
THE READ
Texans beat Bills, 21-9
Bills kept it respectable. Texans still won by 12. Danielle Hunter was the problem for Texans — 2 sacks. Blake Corum ran it for Texans — 10 carries, 66 yards, 1 TD. Total yards: Bills 323, Texans 275.
The Wire · league beat
THE WIDER PICTURE
| Team | SRS | SOS | MARGIN | TO +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bills | +3.5 | +2.6 | +0.9 | +5 |
| Texans | +9.1 | -4.2 | +13.3 | +11 |
SRS is how many points a side beats an
average team by once you account for who they played — beat a good
team by 3 and it counts for more than beating a bad one by 20.
SOS is how hard that schedule has been.
Full table.
Texans —
AFC #1 · division
· 7-1
Playoff picture →
IN THE BOOTH
Riley Parker
The chaos merchant
Buffalo threw it 33 times and gained 175 yards through the air while Houston threw it 26 times for 148—so the Bills were actually more efficient in space, which makes the 9-point margin even more damning. The real game was in the trenches: Houston's 4 sacks to Buffalo's 1 created a choke hold that mattered infinitely more than yardage, and that's what Week 1 football looks like when one team's defense decides to live in the backfield.
Zoe Bell
The contrarian
· replying
Buffalo just lost a game it should've won on volume, which means the margin's about to feel a lot wider over the next 16 weeks—a defense that can't stay healthy against a pass rush this relentless doesn't recover from Week 1, it compounds.
They only ever read the box score and this league's own numbers —
none of them has a source, and none of them can report anything that
did not happen.
Danielle Hunter
Texans
2 sacks
Blake Corum
Texans
10 carries, 66 yards, 1 TD
James Cook III
Bills
16 carries, 79 yards
WHAT DECIDED IT
Total yards
Bills 323, Texans 275
Bills
Through the air
Bills 175, Texans 148
Bills
On the ground
Bills 148, Texans 127
Bills
Pressure
Texans 3 sacks, Bills 1
Texans
THE ROOM
Final. The recap is below.
THE MATCHUP SCOUT
every number below is counted from the export or read off the roster — nothing is inferred about playcalling
LEAGUE DATA
counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it
Balanced
Pass 57% · Rush 43% · 28.1 scored, 27.3 allowed
8.5 yds/att
62.3% completions
5.7 yds/carry
362.0 yds/game
1.1 giveaways/game
7.9% sack rate
last 5: 1-4
SAPPHIRE METRICS
QB efficiency 69 · Efficient
Balance 93
Ball security 68
Back usage 31%
QB runs 5.6/game
PERSONNEL
off the roster — unit averages, best starters only
QB 99
WR 83
TE 82
RB 86
OL 79
DL 86
LB 77
DB 83
Best: Josh Allen QB 99
Fastest: Mecole Hardman WR 93 SPD
6 at star dev or better
YOUR NOTEBOOK
what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic
Sign in as a member of this league to keep private scouting notes on your opponents.
LEAGUE DATA
counted by Madden, and arithmetic on top of it
Pass-heavy
Pass 61% · Rush 39% · 35.9 scored, 22.6 allowed
9.3 yds/att
60.2% completions
5.1 yds/carry
396.6 yds/game
1.0 giveaways/game
2.2% sack rate
last 5: 5-0
SAPPHIRE METRICS
QB efficiency 75 · Efficient
Balance 89
Ball security 72
Back usage 31%
QB runs 4.3/game
PERSONNEL
off the roster — unit averages, best starters only
QB 94
WR 85
TE 85
RB 82
OL 82
DL 89
LB 78
DB 88
Best: Danielle Hunter REDG 96
Fastest: Trey Palmer WR 95 SPD
8 at star dev or better
YOUR NOTEBOOK
what you wrote about them — private, and never a Sapphire statistic
Sign in as a member of this league to keep private scouting notes on your opponents.
HOW THEY PLAY
the man, not the franchise — only weeks the record attributes to him, this season
Toldher
Texans · his last 7 games
Balanced
Pass / run61% / 39%
Points for / against35.9 — 22.6
Margin+13.3
Giveaways a game1.0
Sacks taken2.2% of dropbacks
Lead backBlake Corum · 13.0/g
Top targetNico Collins · 29%
QB carries2.6 a game
𝓔𝓵𝓲
Bills · his last 7 games
Balanced
Runs the quarterback
Pass / run57% / 43%
Points for / against28.1 — 27.3
Margin+0.9
Giveaways a game1.1
Sacks taken7.9% of dropbacks
Lead backJames Cook III · 11.7/g
Top targetDJ Moore · 27%
QB carries5.3 a game
Counted from the weeks each man actually held his team — so a franchise that changed hands is not credited to whoever has it now. Nothing above is a playcall: the export does not carry those, and neither does this.
THE SERIES
𝓔𝓵𝓲 against Toldher — the men, not the teams
Toldher leads it 1-0.
Toldher won the last one.
1 meeting
avg 9.0 — 21.0
biggest: 12 pts to Toldher
S1 · week 1
𝓔𝓵𝓲 9 — 21 Toldher
TOLDHER
Only meetings Sapphire can attribute to both men are counted — a Madden export never says who owned a team last season, so the series starts where the record does.
MATCHUP ADVANTAGES
unit averages against each other — inside three points is a push
Bills receivers vs Texans secondary
83 v 88
TEXANS
Texans receivers vs Bills secondary
85 v 83
EVEN
Bills line vs Texans front
79 v 89
TEXANS
Texans line vs Bills front
82 v 86
BILLS
Bills backs vs Texans run defence
86 v 85
EVEN
Texans backs vs Bills run defence
82 v 82
EVEN
Bills passer vs Texans secondary
99 v 88
BILLS
Texans passer vs Bills secondary
94 v 83
TEXANS
TOP PERFORMERS
🎬
The Game Recapthis game as an episode -- the score, the stars, the numbers that decided it -- and a video you can post ›
BOX SCORE
BILLS
TEXANS
BILLS
TEXANS
BILLS
TEXANS
BILLS
TEXANS
BILLS
TEXANS
BILLS
| PLAYER | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | SCK | LNG | RTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Allen QB | 18/33 | 175 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 25 | 57 |
TEXANS
| PLAYER | C/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | SCK | LNG | RTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C.J. Stroud QB | 14/26 | 148 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 83.4 |
BILLS
| PLAYER | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | BTK | YAC | LNG | FUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Cook III HB | 16 | 79 | 4.9 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 14 | 0 |
| Josh Allen QB | 6 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Ray Davis HB | 9 | 28 | 3.1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 0 |
| Ty Johnson HB | 3 | 8 | 2.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| DJ Moore WR | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
TEXANS
| PLAYER | CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | BTK | YAC | LNG | FUM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blake Corum HB | 10 | 66 | 6.6 | 1 | 4 | 35 | 27 | 1 |
| Trey Benson HB | 11 | 57 | 5.2 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 18 | 0 |
| Nico Collins WR | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| C.J. Stroud QB | 2 | 3 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Kayshon Boutte WR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Woody Marks HB | 3 | -3 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
BILLS
| PLAYER | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | YAC | DRP | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dalton Kincaid TE | 6 | 55 | 9.2 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 19 |
| Keon Coleman WR | 6 | 48 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 13 |
| DJ Moore WR | 3 | 36 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 21 |
| Khalil Shakir WR | 1 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 25 |
| James Cook III HB | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 7 |
TEXANS
| PLAYER | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | YAC | DRP | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nico Collins WR | 2 | 34 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 20 |
| Dalton Schultz TE | 3 | 31 | 10.3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 17 |
| Kayshon Boutte WR | 2 | 30 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 21 |
| Trey Palmer WR | 1 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 22 |
| Brevin Jordan TE | 2 | 13 | 6.5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 9 |
| Jayden Higgins WR | 1 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Blake Corum HB | 3 | 5 | 1.7 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| Matthew Hibner TE | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
BILLS
| PLAYER | TKL | SCK | INT | PD | FF | CMP ALW | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradley Chubb REDG | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dorian Williams WILL | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jalon Kilgore SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| T.J. Sanders DT | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jordan Hancock SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kaleb Elarms-Orr WILL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Greg Rousseau DT | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Davison Igbinosun CB | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Cole Bishop FS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Terrel Bernard MIKE | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Landon Jackson DT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Deone Walker DT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Toriano Pride Jr. CB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Maxwell Hairston CB | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
TEXANS
| PLAYER | TKL | SCK | INT | PD | FF | CMP ALW | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kamari Lassiter CB | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Ronnie Hickman SS | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Calen Bullock FS | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Azeez Al-Shaair MIKE | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kayden McDonald DT | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Danielle Hunter REDG | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Derek Stingley Jr CB | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Sheldon Rankins DT | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| E.J. Speed SAM | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Upton Stout CB | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Henry To'oTo'o WILL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Will Anderson Jr LEDG | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jamal Hill WILL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reed Blankenship SS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
BILLS
| PLAYER | FG | XP | LNG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler Bass K | 3/3 | 0/0 | 52 |
TEXANS
nothing recorded
RECENT FORM
Bills
no games yet
Texans
no games yet
TEAM STATS
| Bills | Texans | |
|---|---|---|
| 323 | TOTAL YARDS | 275 |
| 175 | PASSING YARDS | 148 |
| 148 | RUSHING YARDS | 127 |
| 4 | SACKS ALLOWED | 1 |
| 1 | SACKS MADE | 3 |
| 2 | GIVEAWAYS | 1 |
| 1 | TAKEAWAYS | 2 |
Bold is the side that won that line. Giveaways come off a team's own offensive rows and takeaways off its own defensive rows — two separate payloads, so they need not tie out against each other.
ALL-TIME HEAD-TO-HEAD
0
BILLS
—
1
TEXANS