HOUSTON — The Houston Texans’ secondary has seen its share of struggles through the first three games of the season, and it’s going to be difficult to find their rhythm against Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
ESPN has Allen as an early favorite to win league MVP honors, as the 25-year-old quarterback has led the Bills to a 2-1 record, throwing for 807 yards and seven touchdowns.
First-year coach David Culley described Allen as a strong kid who has the total package. But defensive back Tremon Smith understands that slowing down the Bills will take more than focusing on Allen.
“He has a great arm,” Smith said during Monday’s post-practice press conference. “He can make pretty much any throw on the field. So, we have to be real sticky this week. Just looking forward to the matchups we got with Cole Beasley and Stefon Diggs and all of them.”
“They have a great quarterback-receiver duo. They’re real explosive. They are just really good on the offensive side in general.”
The Bills have averaged 39.0 points over the last two games, putting together the most explosive offense. With Allen leading the way, Buffalo has recorded an averaged of 397.5 total yards, with 504 coming in the passing game.
Allen has spread the ball around evenly amongst his receivers, as Emmanuel Sanders (194 yds), Cole Beasley (194 yds) and Diggs (191 yds) are all less than 10 yards away from surpassing 200 reception yards on the season.
Smith says the key to slowing down a high-powered offense similar to the Bills is knowing their defensive calls and assignments prior to the start of the play — but more importantly, trusting their teammates.
“We are going to stick to what we have been doing these past weeks and just getting better at what we’ve been doing,” he said. “We just know we beat ourselves with a couple of mistakes in critical times in the game. So, we are just going on each other and be where we are supposed to be and trust our teammates.”
