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I would like to start by saying that aside from popular belief I am a Bills fan first and foremost and have just as much passion for the team as the next guy. In my opinion this is one of our more solid teams from top to bottom. Having said that here's how I see our season breaking down. Teams in blue are the teams I think we will beat, red the teams I think we'll lose to.
Week One: Seattle
Player to watch for: Patrick Kerney (DE)
- Walker vs. Kerney will be an interesting match-up and one I will be keeping a close eye on. Kerney no longer possesses the skills to be much of a speed rusher but he is a hell of a power rusher and excels at the "dip and rip" technique. Walker is a Tackle that is not very athletic but will engulf a defender, my concern is that Walker tends to be what is referred to as a "waist bender" instead of a "knee bender." This means that someone like Kerney who is a hell of a power rusher could knock big Langston's balance off which would leave the inside rush wide open. In football, just like any sport the quickest way from point A to point B is a straight line, you might see Kerney with a lot of straight lines to the QB in this game, I have a feeling we might keep Royal in to help chip.
In the end I think we still win this game, Seattle's offense has been literally bent over by injuries to their WR corps and Julius Jones and Maurice Morris are nothing to be afraid of. Walter Jones vs. Aaron Schobel is very similar to the Walker vs. Kerney match-up and is another one to keep an eye out for.
Final score: Buffalo 27/Seattle 17
Week Two: @Jacksonville
Player to watch for: John Henderson (DT)
- John Henderson vs. Derrick Dockery should be a great match-up. In order for Dockery to win this match-up he's going to have to stay lower than Henderson, which shouldn't be too hard considering his massive size. Although Henderson is an elite DT he does tend to wear down towards the end of the game and is no longer considered an every down DT. The last time these two met Henderson did an excellent job of keeping Dockery off of his LB's; some of you might be asking, why the hell does it matter? Well the job of most DT's (especially in a defense like Jacksonville's) is to keep the OL off the LB's to free up the LB to make the play. Mike Peterson (MLB), who will be healthy this year is amongst the best in the league at what he does, if Dockery cannot get to the second level it could be a long day for our running game.
In the end I don't see us winning this game. Jacksonville is the kind of team that is built to run over (literally) our Cover 2 scheme; I'd expect to see a very healthy dose of both Jones-Drew and Taylor. Word has it that Matt Jones has also finally pulled his head out of his ass and has learned his playbook for the first time since he was drafted. If he can feed off the momentum of his great off-season the better match-up might end up being Jones vs. Greer/McKelvin. Don't underestimate the heat and humidity in Florida this time of year either, I expect that to play a huge part in the loss.
Final score: Buffalo 14/Jacksonville 27
Week Three: Oakland
Player to watch for: Nnamdi Asomugha (CB)
- Nnamdi Asomugha vs. Lee Evans brings us yet another excellent match-up. In this you have a BIG press CB vs. one of the fastest WR's in the game. Both are seeking new contracts and have a lot to play for this year so I would expect them both to be at their best week in and week out. I actually think this is won by Evans. Although Asomugha is a top tier CB he tends to be overly aggressive at times and will on occasion give up the big play because of it; Evans has the tools to take advantage of that and cause some chaos. Nnamdi also doesn't have the luxury of a Safety to really help him out over the top if he gets beat, he also doesn't have the speed to catch up with Evans if he does get beat.
Anytime the Raiders and Bills play I'm intrigued, two of the more storied franchises, two of the oldest owners, two of the oldest teams, etc..... Sadly it's a match-up of two teams that have been in the same boat over the past decade (minus a couple of years for Oakland) when it comes to the constant rebuilding process. At this juncture I feel that Buffalo is ahead of Oakland in rebuilding and is the better all around team. Though the Raider pose one of the better Defensive Tackles (Tommy Kelly) and one of the better Line Backers (Thomas Howard) I still think that Lynch can and will run early, often, and successfully vs. the Raiders.
Final score: Buffalo 24/Oakland 7
Week Four: @ St. Louis
Player to watch for: Steven Jackson
- Steven Jackson vs. Paul Posluszny is going to be interesting because it's a match-up that is somewhat lopsided. The Rams have made it no secret that they plan to run the ball this year; we've made it fairly obvious that we plan on stopping the run this year with the addition of Marcus Stroud. I envision Stroud eating up at least two blockers in this game as the Rams are very weak in their interior line. That leaves a one on one match-up when the Rams run the ISO between Posluszny and Jackson. In my honest opinion this is a match-up easily won by Jackson; Posluszny is more finesse than he is power, Jackson is far more power and isn't afraid to drop his shoulder into a defender. Unless Posluszny can break down and stay low on Jackson I expect Jackson to break a lot of tackles in this match-up.
Because of the match-up listed above I'd expect to see us use Donte Whitner much in the same way the Cowboys use Roy Williams in this game. We really have nothing to fear against the pass with the Rams (though Holt still has a little gas left in the tank) so we can afford to put an extra man in the box. This is a game where I can see Edwards having his first "break out" game; I'm expecting something in the neighborhood of 3 or 4 TD's and 350 or so yards through the air. As it stands right now Fakhir Brown and Tye Hill are the starting CB's for the Rams, neither of them posses any threat and neither does particularly well against large WR's (which we finally have this season.)
Final score: Bills 38/ Rams 13
Week One: Seattle
Player to watch for: Patrick Kerney (DE)
- Walker vs. Kerney will be an interesting match-up and one I will be keeping a close eye on. Kerney no longer possesses the skills to be much of a speed rusher but he is a hell of a power rusher and excels at the "dip and rip" technique. Walker is a Tackle that is not very athletic but will engulf a defender, my concern is that Walker tends to be what is referred to as a "waist bender" instead of a "knee bender." This means that someone like Kerney who is a hell of a power rusher could knock big Langston's balance off which would leave the inside rush wide open. In football, just like any sport the quickest way from point A to point B is a straight line, you might see Kerney with a lot of straight lines to the QB in this game, I have a feeling we might keep Royal in to help chip.
In the end I think we still win this game, Seattle's offense has been literally bent over by injuries to their WR corps and Julius Jones and Maurice Morris are nothing to be afraid of. Walter Jones vs. Aaron Schobel is very similar to the Walker vs. Kerney match-up and is another one to keep an eye out for.
Final score: Buffalo 27/Seattle 17
Week Two: @Jacksonville
Player to watch for: John Henderson (DT)
- John Henderson vs. Derrick Dockery should be a great match-up. In order for Dockery to win this match-up he's going to have to stay lower than Henderson, which shouldn't be too hard considering his massive size. Although Henderson is an elite DT he does tend to wear down towards the end of the game and is no longer considered an every down DT. The last time these two met Henderson did an excellent job of keeping Dockery off of his LB's; some of you might be asking, why the hell does it matter? Well the job of most DT's (especially in a defense like Jacksonville's) is to keep the OL off the LB's to free up the LB to make the play. Mike Peterson (MLB), who will be healthy this year is amongst the best in the league at what he does, if Dockery cannot get to the second level it could be a long day for our running game.
In the end I don't see us winning this game. Jacksonville is the kind of team that is built to run over (literally) our Cover 2 scheme; I'd expect to see a very healthy dose of both Jones-Drew and Taylor. Word has it that Matt Jones has also finally pulled his head out of his ass and has learned his playbook for the first time since he was drafted. If he can feed off the momentum of his great off-season the better match-up might end up being Jones vs. Greer/McKelvin. Don't underestimate the heat and humidity in Florida this time of year either, I expect that to play a huge part in the loss.
Final score: Buffalo 14/Jacksonville 27
Week Three: Oakland
Player to watch for: Nnamdi Asomugha (CB)
- Nnamdi Asomugha vs. Lee Evans brings us yet another excellent match-up. In this you have a BIG press CB vs. one of the fastest WR's in the game. Both are seeking new contracts and have a lot to play for this year so I would expect them both to be at their best week in and week out. I actually think this is won by Evans. Although Asomugha is a top tier CB he tends to be overly aggressive at times and will on occasion give up the big play because of it; Evans has the tools to take advantage of that and cause some chaos. Nnamdi also doesn't have the luxury of a Safety to really help him out over the top if he gets beat, he also doesn't have the speed to catch up with Evans if he does get beat.
Anytime the Raiders and Bills play I'm intrigued, two of the more storied franchises, two of the oldest owners, two of the oldest teams, etc..... Sadly it's a match-up of two teams that have been in the same boat over the past decade (minus a couple of years for Oakland) when it comes to the constant rebuilding process. At this juncture I feel that Buffalo is ahead of Oakland in rebuilding and is the better all around team. Though the Raider pose one of the better Defensive Tackles (Tommy Kelly) and one of the better Line Backers (Thomas Howard) I still think that Lynch can and will run early, often, and successfully vs. the Raiders.
Final score: Buffalo 24/Oakland 7
Week Four: @ St. Louis
Player to watch for: Steven Jackson
- Steven Jackson vs. Paul Posluszny is going to be interesting because it's a match-up that is somewhat lopsided. The Rams have made it no secret that they plan to run the ball this year; we've made it fairly obvious that we plan on stopping the run this year with the addition of Marcus Stroud. I envision Stroud eating up at least two blockers in this game as the Rams are very weak in their interior line. That leaves a one on one match-up when the Rams run the ISO between Posluszny and Jackson. In my honest opinion this is a match-up easily won by Jackson; Posluszny is more finesse than he is power, Jackson is far more power and isn't afraid to drop his shoulder into a defender. Unless Posluszny can break down and stay low on Jackson I expect Jackson to break a lot of tackles in this match-up.
Because of the match-up listed above I'd expect to see us use Donte Whitner much in the same way the Cowboys use Roy Williams in this game. We really have nothing to fear against the pass with the Rams (though Holt still has a little gas left in the tank) so we can afford to put an extra man in the box. This is a game where I can see Edwards having his first "break out" game; I'm expecting something in the neighborhood of 3 or 4 TD's and 350 or so yards through the air. As it stands right now Fakhir Brown and Tye Hill are the starting CB's for the Rams, neither of them posses any threat and neither does particularly well against large WR's (which we finally have this season.)
Final score: Bills 38/ Rams 13
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