Here are the Bills news of note for Saturday, December 24:
1. CYRUS' TIME AGAIN?
It looks like Cyrus Kouandjio is in line for his fourth start of the season at left tackle, after Cordy Glenn was listed as doubtful* *yesterday.
Kouandjio got first team reps all week at left tackle and he's ready to go.
"I feel comfortable," Kouandjio said this week in an appearance on The John Murphy Show. "I've had a good week of practice. I feel like the team had a good week of practice. We just have to go out there and put it to the test."
Kouandjio played a solid game last Sunday in Buffalo's win over Cleveland, helping LeSean McCoy run for 153 yards.
"As an offensive lineman, when your running back has success you feel successful," he said. "When I see him hitting those big runs I felt like I had a part of it."
Kouandjio got a shot at winning the starting spot at right tackle during the offseason, but Jordan Mills held off his challenge. And he and the coaching staff have taken note that Kouandjio does better on the left side than he does on the right.
"I played my whole college career at left tackle. When I moved to the NFL, it was the first time I tried to play right tackle."
2. BLIZZARD PACKAGE-MAY OR MAY NOT BE NEEDED
McCoy's production against the Browns last week was helped along by the blocking of FB Jerome Felton, who was on the field for 39 snaps, 58% of Buffalo's offensive plays. That's the highest percentage of plays Felton has played so far this season.
Offensive Coordinator Anthony Lynn says Felton was a big part of the bad weather game plan the Bills had in place last week. And they may employ it again today.
"We didn't know what the weather conditions were going to be like," Lynn says. "So we had a blizzard plan and a normal game plan. As we went on, the blizzard plan was working so we stuck to the blizzard plan. We left Jerome in the backfield and we ran the ball quite a bit."
The forecast for game time today is temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s, with rain, not a blizzard, expected. But look for Felton to have a role to play.
"He's built for that. It was one of those deals we were running the ball efficiently and Jerome's a big part of that. That's why he played so much,' Lynn says.
3. CAN AJAYI MATCH HIS PRODUCTION?
Two months ago, the Bills got steamrolled by Dolphins RB Jay Ajayi in the first Buffalo-Miami matchup. He got 214 yards against the Bills one week after running for 204 against Pittsburgh.
Since then, however, Ajayi's production has taken a dip. He's averaged 67 yards per game since the Bills game in October, 3.7 yards per carry.
The reason? Dolphins radio color analyst Joe Rose, a former Miami Tight End, says it's the Miami's offensive line.
"This offensive line is not the offensive line you saw in the back to back 200-yard games," Rose says. "Mike Pouncey is on IR, (Kraig) Urbik is playing center. A lot of those guys playing now, Branden Albert, Laremy Tunsil are banged up."
Rose says Ajayi is still running hard, but he's not getting much room to run.
"I think Jay Ajayi is running the same. Everybody is asking if something is wrong. I think he still runs hard and still tries to run everybody over. I just don't see the holes we saw before."
"I just haven't seen the running game and the run blocking from this group of guys," Ajayi says. "It has made a big difference.
