Top 3 Individual Matchups
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Top 2 Bills Advantages
Good advantage – Pass rush – The Jets offensive line is solid, but with
Best advantage - Run game – The Jets proved to be a bit vulnerable on the ground against the Dolphins last week. New York is giving up an average of 110 yards on the ground per game, and Buffalo’s rushing attack is ranked 10th in the league. The last time the Bills faced the Jets they rolled up 187 yards on the ground.
Bills Number One Must
Eliminate penalties – Buffalo had 11 offensive penalties last week as the Bills lead the league with 44 on the season. It will be hard to stay mistake free in a hostile road environment like Giants Stadium, but Buffalo’s offense will need to significantly reduce their miscues if they’re to be in this game at the end.
Scouting Eye
Running hard
With a powerful offensive line and a solid 1-2 running back punch of Thomas Jones and Leon Washington, the Jets have been successful in rolling up yardage on the ground. Ranked seventh in the league in rushing, New York is averaging better than 132 yards per game.
Jones has posted rushing touchdowns in each of his last two games against Buffalo, and averages over 100 when he gets 20 or more carries. He and Washington help to take pressure off of rookie signal caller Mark Sanchez by putting him in favorable down and distance situations on third downs.
Setting the Pace
Out for the first four games of the season on league suspension, Jets pass rusher Calvin Pace returned to the lineup for New York last Monday night. Pace contributed five tackles including one for loss in the game. Now with his feet wet, Pace is expected to be given more opportunities to get after opposing quarterbacks. He had two sacks in his last game against the Bills.
Jets specialists soaring
The special teams battles between the Bills and Jets has become legendary. Mike Westhoff and Bobby April are two of the better special teams minds in the game. Thus far this season the Jets specialists have been at their best.
New York’s coverage units had two takeaways in their Week 3 win against Tennessee, though that was due to poor ball security by the Titans returners than anything else. Still both takeaways led to touchdowns for the Jets.
They’ve also been effective in converting fourth downs. So far this season they’ve successfully pulled off two fake punts for first downs with a 26-yard run by punter Steve Weatherford and a 12-yard run by Brad Smith on a direct snap to the upback. Both of those plays came against the Dolphins to extend scoring drives.
The Jets are 5-for-5 on fourth down conversions this season. Conversely, New York has stopped all six fourth down conversion attempts by their opponents this season.
Jets kicker Jay Feely has also been stellar. Currently 8-for-8 on field goal attempts this season, Feely has hit his last 22 attempts dating back to last season, which has tied a franchise record.
New York also ranks fifth in the league in punt return average, thanks in large part to former Bills safety Jim Leonhard.
Plenty of pressure
Though their sack total may not indicate it, the Jets are bringing extra pass rushers a great deal of the time thus far this season. In fact on 64 percent of their defensive plays through five games, the Jets have blitzed. All that pressure has been effective in limiting the success of opposing quarterbacks.
New York is allowing opposing signal callers to complete just over 54 percent of their passes with those quarterbacks averaging just 5.67 yards per attempt. The five quarterbacks the Jets have faced have also thrown just three touchdown passes against four interceptions. The collective passer rating of opposing quarterbacks for the Jets is 67.6.
Linebacker Bart Scott leads the Jets with seven quarterback hits.
Sanchise
He has not had to carry the Jets offense on his back by any means, but rookie QB Mark Sanchez has made some plays for the New York attack. Sanchez has been relatively effective in managing the game as the offensive staff has used him to complement their strong run game more than anything else.
He has however, made some difficult throws downfield through the first five weeks and figures to have more opportunities moving forward with Braylon Edwards now in the lineup.
Sanchez has also shown an ability to buy time with his feet and he will take off and run with 17 carries in his first five games. He’s done a good job avoiding sacks as he’s been taken down just once every 15 drop backs.
The only thing he hasn’t done enough of to this point is find his pass catching tight end Dustin Keller. Keller, who had 48 catches and three touchdowns as a rookie, did not record a catch last Monday night and has just 12 receptions on the season.
Down a receiver or two?
Even though the Jets acquired Braylon Edwards, they could be missing one of their top two receivers this week in Jerricho Cotchery due to a hamstring injury. Cotchery did not practice all week. He's considered a game time decision. The multi-faceted Brad Smith would normally take his place in the lineup, but he’s dealing with a quad injury and hasn’t practiced this week either.
It’s expected that David Clowney will line up opposite Edwards and tight end Dustin Keller will be next in line when the Jets go to a three-wide look on Sunday if both Cotchery and Smith are unavailable.
Buffalo Chips
Quote of the Week
“We’re only two games out (of first place). We can go ahead and run some wins off. I’m confident about that. On both sides of the ball we’re doing some things to change some of the mistakes that we’ve made. I’m not saying the mistakes we make are acceptable. I think they should be fixed and I think this week they will be fixed.”
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Stat of the Week
In his career,
Milestones in reach
Sunday will be
Final note
The Bills rushed for 187 yards against the Jets in their last meeting at Giants Stadium (12/14/08).
