NFL Schedule-makers whiff on Bills at Texans game placement

The Buffalo Bills will play five primetime games in 2024, but shockingly their road bout against the reigning AFC South champions is not one of them.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen hands the ball off to Stefon Diggs during the first half of the Bills / Tina MacIntyre-Yee /Rochester Democrat

There are a finite number of primetime television slots on the NFL schedule, but it's hard to believe there wasn't enough room for the Buffalo Bills' road game against the Houston Texans.

Slotting this game at 1:00 pm ET in an early Sunday afternoon is a disservice to viewers around the country. It's simply too good to be lost in the shuffle, simultaneously going up against five other games, one of which is a Bengals-Ravens clash, in Week 5.

Making the scheduling decision even more surprising is the fact that the Bills-Texans matchup possesses the traits that make television executives salivate.

First, it's a battle between the reigning AFC East and AFC South division champions.

Both teams have franchise quarterbacks in place. Buffalo's Josh Allen, a three-time NFL MVP finalist, has accounted for more total touchdowns than any player ever over the first six seasons of a career. Houston's CJ Stroud is coming off the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award after leading the Texans to the AFC Divisional Round.

If the aforementioned doesn't make this matchup juicy enough, then look no further than the Stefon Diggs element. The Bills traded the WR1 to the Texans this past March, ending a relationship that featured four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons but had apparently grown tenuous.

NFL VP for broadcasting Mike North made a compelling case to feature the matchup in primetime, painting it as an asset for networks.

"Did it become a little different [when the Texans acquired Diggs]? Yes. Did it become a lot different? I would say, no, because that Buffalo-Houston game was gonna be one of our better games of the year," said North during a late April appearance on the It's Always Gameday in Buffalo podcast. "Those are two playoff teams. That Houston team is on the ascendancy. They were a lot of fun last year. And, don't forget the schedule makers whiffed entirely on the Texans last year. We had them in literally zero national television windows."

In his new digs, alongside receivers Nico Collins and Tank Dell, Diggs will face his former team for the first time in what's likely to be an intense reunion that makes for compelling TV. It's unfortunate, and somewhat stunning, that it won't be available to a wider audience.