HOUSTON - As if there wasn’t enough on his plate as Jim Leonhard prepares to call the defensive plays for the Buffalo Bills as a first-time NFL defensive coordinator, he’ll be doing so knowing there won’t be much room for error.
Not that the Houston Texans’ offense is dynamic and a threat to torch the Bills for 30 or more points. No, it’s the fact that Houston may have the most talented defense in the league, so points will likely be at a premium and Leonhard’s still-evolving defense has to somehow find a way to allow fewer points Sunday in the season opener at Reliant Stadium.
“Yeah, and that's the fun part of football,” he said. “It's not strictly offense versus defense, right, special teams involved. The other matchup, you have to understand
what goes into the other side of the ball and the issues (the Bills offense will have) against them. The more we can get (Josh Allen) the ball, the more success we're gonna have.”
Of the Texans offense, Leonhard basically said that they play games knowing they don’t need to be explosive because their defense probably isn’t giving up 20 points, not even to an offense as prolific as Buffalo’s.
“They're not overly aggressive,” Leonhard said of Texans QB CJ Stroud and the Houston offense. “They will take their chances, they will take their shots, but they're fine getting in a slugfest, keeping it low scoring. You just have to understand the DNA of the team that you're playing, and this is one that you better play good, complimentary football, otherwise you can run into trouble fast.”
Playing a new defensive scheme that will take time to fully gel, are the Bills up to the task?
“There's going to be mistakes, there's going to be calls I want back, but if guys are playing fast, if they're playing confident, if we're able to communicate pre-snap within the calls, we're going to give ourselves a really good chance to have success,” Leonhard said. “It's always going to come back to that to me. Obviously, you want guys to make plays. Am I helping our guys to be in a better position to make plays within the scheme?”
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Buffalo Bills vs Houston Texans game today
- Date: Sunday, Sept. 13
- Start time: 1 p.m. ET
- Venue: Reliant Stadium
What channel is the Bills vs Texans game on today? TV schedule
∎ Cable/Network TV: CBS. The game will be available locally via the following stations: WROC channel 8 (Rochester area), WIVB channel 4 (Buffalo area), WTVH channel 5 (Syracuse area), WKTV channel 2 (Utica area), WENY channel 36 (Elmira area), WRGB channel 6 (Albany area), and WBNG channel 12 (Binghamton area).
How can you stream Bills vs Texans game?
∎ Online streaming services: You can watch games on NFL.com and the NFL mobile app, and you can subscribe to NFL+, the league’s own streaming service, though you can’t cast the games to your TV - you must watch on your phone or tablet.
∎ TV streaming: You can also stream games if you have subscriptions to Spectrum, DirecTV Choice, Fubo Sports, Sling, Vidgo, Hulu + Live TV, YouTubeTV + NFL Sunday Ticket, and Paramount+.
Bills vs. Texans odds
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Saturday, September 12
- Betting line: Bills -1.5.
- Over-under: 44.5
- Money line: Bills -120 (bet $120 to win $100) and Texans +105 (bet $100 to win $105).
Who is announcing the Bills vs. Texans game
- Play-by-play: Ian Eagle
- Analyst: Ross Tucker
- Sideline reporter: Evan Washburn
Bills vs Texans on radio today
You can listen on SiriusXM satellite radio on channel 264 (Bills feed) and channel 195 (Texans feed), and on traditional radio on the Bills Radio Network. Chris Brown has the play-by-play, Eric Wood is the analyst, and Steve Tasker is the sideline reporter. The network includes:
- Rochester (WAIO 95.1 FM);
- Buffalo (WGRF 96.9 FM);
- Syracuse (WSKO 1260 AM);
- Albany (WOFX 92.5 FM);
- Utica (WKLL 94.9 FM);
- Dunkirk (WDOE 1410 AM);
- Hornell (WKPQ 105.3 FM);
- Elmira (WMTT 94.7 FM);
- Jamestown (WWSE 93.3 FM);
- Olean (WPIG 95.7 FM);
- Ogdensburg (WQTK 92.7 FM);
- Watertown (WOTT 94.1 FM);
- Bradford, Pa. (WBRR 100.1 FM);
- Cortland/Ithaca (WIII 99.9 FM);
- Auburn (WAUB 1590 AM);
- Geneva (WGVA 1240 AM);
- Binghamton (WENE 1430 AM);
- Newark (WACK 1420 AM);
- Cobleskill/Schoharie (WSDE 1190 AM);
- Williamsport, PA (WRAK 1400 AM);
- Erie, Pa. (WRKT 104.9 FM);
- New York City (WEPN 1050 AM);
- West Palm Beach, Fla. (WESP 106.3 FM);
- Montreal, Canada (CKGM 690 AM);
- Ottawa, Canada (CFGO 1200 AM);
- Toronto, Canada (CHUM 1050 AM).
Bills regular-season schedule 2026
All times Eastern
- Week 1: at Houston Texans, 1 p.m. ET, Sunday, Sept. 13, CBS
- Week 2: vs. Detroit Lions, 8:15 p.m. ET, Thursday, Sept. 17, Prime Video
- Week 3: vs. Los Angeles Chargers, 1 p.m. ET, Sunday, Sept. 27, FOX
- Week 4: vs. New England Patriots, 1 p.m. ET, Sunday, Oct. 4, CBS
- Week 5: at Los Angeles Rams, 8:15 p.m. ET, Monday, Oct. 12, ESPN
- Week 6: at Las Vegas Raiders, 4:25 p.m. ET, Sunday, Oct. 18, CBS
- Week 7: Bye
- Week 8: vs. Baltimore Ravens, 1 p.m. ET, Sunday, Nov. 1, CBS
- Week 9: at Minnesota Vikings, 8:15 p.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 9, ESPN
- Week 10: at New York Jets, 1 p.m. ET, Sunday, Nov. 15, CBS
- Week 11: vs. Miami Dolphins, 1 p.m. ET, Sunday, Nov. 22, FOX
- Week 12: vs. Kansas City Chiefs, 8:20 p.m. ET, Thursday, Nov. 26, NBC
- Week 13: at New England Patriots, 4:25 p.m. ET, Sunday, Dec. 6, CBS
- Week 14: at Green Bay Packers, 8:20 p.m. ET, Sunday, Dec. 13, NBC
- Week 15: vs. Chicago Bears, 8:20 p.m. ET, Saturday, Dec. 19, CBS
- Week 16: at Denver Broncos, 4:30 p.m. ET, Friday, Dec. 25, Netflix
- Week 17: at Miami Dolphins, 1 p.m. ET, Sunday, Jan. 3
- Week 18: vs. New York Jets, Date/Time TBD, CBS
Playoffs
- Wild-Card Round: Jan. 16-18
- Divisional Round: Jan. 23-24
- Conference Championships: Jan. 31
- Super Bowl LXI: Feb. 14, SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California, 6:30 p.m., ESPN/ABC
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: What channel is Bills vs Texans on today? Time, TV, streaming
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