Ray Davis — Week 1: One Carry, Two Kickoff Returns
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 14
Davis carried once Sunday, three yards behind the right guard on first and ten at the Houston forty-three in the first quarter, and was not targeted. His work was on kickoffs: a forty-one-yard return to the Buffalo forty-six with twenty-six seconds left in the half, called back to the seventeen by a holding penalty, and a twenty-nine-yard return to the thirty-four early in the fourth. James Cook carried thirteen times in a 36–31 win over the Texans.
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Ray Davis's one carry came on the fourth snap of the game. First and 10 at the Houston 43, 13 18 left in the first quarter, scoreless, behind the right guard for three yards, tackled by Jalen Pitre. It was worth −0.2 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and it was the last time the play-by-play lists him with the ball from scrimmage. No targets, no catches, in a game Buffalo won 36 to 31.
The rest of his day was the return game. Two kickoffs came his way: the first with 26 seconds left in the second quarter, after Nico Collins's touchdown, which he brought from the five to the Buffalo 46 for 41 yards before a holding penalty on Joe Andreessen moved the ball back to the 17; the second early in the fourth after David Montgomery's receiving touchdown, 29 yards to the 34, and the offense went 52 yards from there for the field goal that made it 30 to 28. Greg Dortch returned three more, one went for a touchback, and Dortch had the two punts that were returned.
Where the carries went: James Cook 13 for 57, Josh Allen six for 23 and both rushing touchdowns, Frank Gore Junior one for three, Davis one for three. 21 rushes in all against 32 pass plays, and the running game came out at −2.6 expected points as a unit while the passing game came out at +14.5. It was an afternoon Buffalo threw its way through, and the second running back's touch came before the first field goal.
Back in June the preview's line on Davis was depth-chart access rather than a defined weekly role — a sixtieth-place finish among running backs across all 17 games. Sunday was that line exactly: one carry, two kickoff returns. A single game cannot tell you whether the role grows, and there is nothing here to suggest it did. Buffalo is home to the Lions on Thursday the seventeenth.
_Data via nflverse._
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