I’ve been doing opponent preview articles for years and you know which ones suck the most to write? Week 1 of any season. I can’t truly rely on stats from last year because there are so many variables that change between years. I could historical matchups, but… see above. Player previews are fun but we’re left with one of two choices.
Option 1: Players who were on the team before where there’s plenty of footage. It’s not likely I’m sharing anything new and there’s always a chance of change between seasons.
Option 2: Rookies where I can give authentic first impressions but it’s based on a very low data set.
The title likely gave away I went with option 2 and that’s in large part thanks to some fantastic coverage by the rest of the Buffalo Rumblings team, breaking down hit recent history between the two teams and the ferocity of the Houston defense. Houston’s draft results this year though took me in a different direction.
So why Rutledge and why might he actually be the key to victory for Buffalo? If you read this by Chris Trapasso, or this by Rachel Auberger; you likely already know how ferocious the Houston defense has been and how they were the key to the game last year in beating Buffalo.
However, if you read closely you likely also noticed that Buffalo’s offensive line was banged up as well as the skill players that day which shouldn’t be the case this time around. If you dive into the box score, you might also have noticed that despite the Texans barrage of sacks, the Bills put up a mostly average number of points and the defense held the Texans to a VERY average scoring output.
Enter Keylan Rutledge. The rookie guard is the only member of the Texans’ 2026 draft class currently expected to start Week 1 against the Buffalo Bills. If the health of Spencer Brown, Dion Dawkins, Keon Coleman, and Dalton Kincaid will help the offense out, they might be able to normalize the points scored. If the defense can exploit the rookie lineman, that might help knock a few points off the Houston side of the ledger too.
So what are we looking at?
In summary, Rutledge is a lot of what you’d expect. There are certainly very good traits the Texans should be excited to see develop. They’re interspersed with moments of learning/vulnerability for now. If the Bills can take advantage of his mistakes, it could go a long way in flipping the script from last season.