A TOUCHDOWN OF A TIME!

Former Texans player gets taste of Astros road-hate up close, leaves 2 fans with big smiles

Former Texans player gets taste of Astros road-hate up close, leaves 2 fans with big smiles
Arian Foster catches an Astros game in Seattle. Composite image by Brandon Strange.

Sometimes the stars align to make for a pretty cool moment. And when you can throw in some unintentional, lighthearted fun: even better.

Hey Texans fans- remember Arian Foster? Of course you do. There’s only been about 6 great Texans in the history of the franchise, and he’s certainly one of them. Who are the other 5? Andre Johnson, JJ Watt, and you can fight about the rest.

Over the weekend Foster, who also goes by the musical alias “Bobby Feeno,” realized that he had purchased too many tickets to the Astros-Mariners matchup on Saturday. With no way to get a refund, Foster offered them on Twitter with the caveat, the best response would win them.

Shortly after, Foster announced the tickets were spoken for. For the moment, that’s all we knew. More on that in a minute.

In the meantime, Foster did some fun tweets reacting to the experience of being at the game.

He gave us a firsthand glimpse of the crowd. We can immediately see at least one (seemingly cold) Astros fan in the crowd.

Then he showed off his Ken Griffey Jr. stadium giveaway bobblehead.

Next, he got to hear some road hatred from the Seattle faithful when Jose Altuve walked to the plate.

After the game, Foster posed for a pic with the lucky couple he had given the tickets to. They were lifelong Mariners fans who are both fighting cancer.

The gentleman, named Dayne, was quick to express his appreciation to Foster after the game. But maybe TOO quick…

Whoops. The misspelling of “Arian” as “Aiden” was enough to make Dayne’s son cringe.

Foster was unfazed by the typo, though, and added to the pleasantries on the original Twitter thread.

The son assured Arian he’d help his dad Dayne with his spelling next time.

And if the night wasn’t perfect enough, they got to watch a vintage Justin Verlander performance on the way to a 4-0 Astros victory. Ok, maybe Mariners fans wouldn’t appreciate that AS much, but they’ll always have the memories and the Griffey, Jr. bobblehead!

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Stefon Diggs faces his former team on Sunday. Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images.

Josh Allen has never said a bad word about Stefon Diggs. As the Buffalo Bills prepare to face their former star receiver in a visit to Houston on Sunday, he insists the two went their separate ways on good terms.

And the quarterback wasn’t changing his stance a week ago, not wanting to ruffle any feathers when asked about the early season success the Bills have enjoyed with their spread-the-ball motto on offense.

He later explained that he spoke out after reading comments on social media in which people were attempting to twist the “everybody eats” motto into something being directed at Diggs.

Allen understands why Buffalo facing Diggs for the first time since a blockbuster trade sent him to Houston this offseason is a big deal. He raved about his former teammate.

“I’ve got a lot of love for him. I still do,” Allen said. “The things that he did for me in my career, and the things that he did in a Buffalo Bill uniform won’t be forgotten anytime soon, especially from me … (but) going into Year 7, I understand the business, and the aspect of what this league is, and again, I’m just trying to focus on what we got going on in this building.”

Diggs, a four-time Pro Bowler, is second on the Texans with 25 receptions for 233 yards. He has two receiving touchdowns and had the first rushing score of his career last week against the Jaguars. He spent the last four seasons in Buffalo, where he had more than 1,100 yards receiving each year, highlighted by an NFL-leading and career-high 1,535 yards in 2020.

He didn’t address Allen directly this week when talking about his time in Buffalo. Diggs did say his tenure with the Bills was “amazing” but that he’s solely focused on his future now and not interested in rehashing the past.

“A lot of other people are going to feel a way or have a lot to say about X, Y, Z, and I’m not mad at it,” he said Wednesday. “Football is a very emotional sport. I go in there and wear my heart on my sleeve, and I won’t stop, but for me, I block out the noise.”

“Nobody is going to run the routes but me,” he continued. “Nobody is going to watch the tape but me. I try not to get back into the back and forth about the opinions or how people feel. I’ve got a job to do; I try to get it done.”

Diggs has helped the Texans to a 3-1 start and Allen hasn’t missed a beat without him. The Bills also are 3-1, though they’re looking to bounce back after a 35-10 loss to the Ravens last week.

Texans coach DeMeco Ryans certainly knew how talented Diggs was when he arrived in Houston but said he has been pleasantly surprised to see his passion for the game.

“He loves football … you see it in the way he practices, the way he plays the game,” Ryans said. “He loves ball, he plays with effort and that is all you want.”

The blame game

Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady was still kicking himself for calling a trick play that backfired, squelching any chance of a Buffalo rally in the loss to Baltimore.

After opening the second half with a TD to cut the deficit to 21-10, the Bills faced second-and-7 at the Baltimore 44, when receiver Curtis Samuel took a direct snap and pitched the ball to Allen. The Ravens weren’t fooled and forced a fumble, which led to a TD six plays later.

“I probably can’t say it on Zoom,” Brady said when asked to sum up the call in one word. “There’s no excuses. I can give the justification of why it was on the call sheet, but at the end of the day, the timing was not what it should’ve been and it was costly.”

Nico’s start

While much of the focus this week has been on Diggs facing his former team, the star of Houston’s offense so far this season has been another receiver. Nico Collins had a career-high 12 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown against the Jaguars for his third 100-yard game this season. He leads the NFL with 489 yards receiving and is the first player in franchise history with more than 450 yards receiving though the first four games.

“He’s a strong, physical, fast, and big receiver,” Ryans said. “That’s an easy target for C.J. (Stroud) and Nico has showed up every time that we needed him.”

Feeding Samuel

In the Bills’ “everybody eats” motto on offense, Samuel has had difficulty finding a regular place at the table. The eighth-year player who enjoyed his best season in Carolina under Brady as the Panthers coordinator in 2020 has been limited to eight catches for 48 yards. More curious is Samuel has been on the field for only 68 of a total of 230 offensive snaps.

“We’d love to get him going and whether or not Khalil is in or out this week,” Allen said, referring to receiver Khalil Shakir, who is nursing a right ankle injury. “So we’re going to be calling on his number, and he is going to have to step up, make some plays, which we’ve got no doubt in his ability.”

Update: Shakir has been ruled out (ankle) for Sunday's game.

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