We compare the production from Bills’ revamped wide receiver room to Stefon Diggs’ first game as a member of the Houston Texans
Sunday kicked off the first full day of regular-season football across the NFL. For the Buffalo Bills, that meant their home opener against the Arizona Cardinals. It wasn’t pretty in the first half but the team was still able to come away with a victory. This was the first game after wide receiver Stefon Diggs was traded in the offseason to the Houston Texans. As such, everyone wanted to know how the offense would adjust without a true dominant number-one option.
During the offseason, One Bills Drive talked about how they were going to have an “everybody eats” attitude in the receiver room. It didn’t matter who was getting the ball when, all that mattered was claiming victory at the end of the day. Meanwhile Diggs felt that there were times where he believed he should have been getting the ball more — and that it wasn’t his fault that his numbers decreased the second half of last season.
With that in mind, let’s compare how parties did after one week of the regular-season action.
We start with Stefon Diggs and the Texans, with Houston capturing a road win to start their season against the Indianapolis Colts. Diggs was tied for the team lead with six receptions but for only 33 yards. However, he seemed to be the go-to target in the red zone as two of those catches went for touchdowns including a catch on 4th & Goal to seal the victory. Now we all know Diggs can still play, but how will his attitude change if the targets start going more towards wide receivers Nico Collins and Tank Dell?
In Buffalo, no receiver individually had similar production to Diggs, but the unit as a whole were just as successful. They combined for 12 catches for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Mack Hollins caught the first touchdown of the day with a great 1-1 route down the seam. Wide receiver Khalil Shakir grabbed the other touchdown, showing off his shiftiness getting yards after the catch, twirling his way into the end zone. Then there was second-round rookie wide receiver Keon Coleman who had an impressive debut for the team catching four passes for 51 yards.
Obviously you can’t fairly compare one receiver against an entire receiving unit, but for now it appears that both Diggs and the Bills could be in a much better place with a different perspective this season.