Buffalo Bills

A matchup between one team in a free fall and one team playing their first game since their head coach was fired–two teams nursing disappointing seasons. This game promised and delivered little in terms of quality as both sides were guilty of sloppy football in some inclement weather in Buffalo. When the Miami Dolphins established a three-score lead with less than six minutes remaining, this game appeared to be over. The Dolphins came out on the ensuing drive believing that to be the case as well and consequently the game sprung into life as the Bills mounted three scoring drives but came up a touchdown short of halting their losing skid.

On each side, players played hero and villain in the same game, at the same time pulling off great plays and great drives then a few drives later making catastrophic mistakes to nuke their team’s momentum. For Miami, Reggie Bush rebounded well from an early fumble (that came from lax ball handling and gifted the Bills possession for their first scoring drive), by rounding-off his performance with a 76-yard strike to seemingly put the game away before the Dolphins took their foot off of the gas. This marks the Dolphins’ fifth win in seven games, a streak as good as any in the league. Can they maintain this momentum into next season? Can they spoil the party for division rivals New England and New York in the final two weeks and disrupt their playoff preparations? Read the rest of this entry »

This divisional rematch finds two teams who are used to playing for nothing more than pride and a paycheck at this point in the season, once again doing just that.

The 5-8 Buffalo Bills looked like contenders early with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick piling up yards and points while the defense generated plenty of turnovers. Since a Week 8 shutout win over the John Beck-led Washington Redskins they haven’t won a game though, including three divisional losses, the worst being an 8-35 loss in Miami to these Dolphins. Last week’s blowout loss to the San Diego Chargers makes their early-season triumphs look like a distant memory.

The 4-9 Miami Dolphins were once contenders for next year’s first overall pick, starting 0-7, but seemed to right the ship after that, rattling off dominating wins and playing the Dallas Cowboys close on Thanksgiving. Read the rest of this entry »

How times change. In Week 5, this matchup would have been a top-of-the-bill game between two division leaders boasting 4-1 records, a game to mark out early supremacy in the AFC. Nine weeks later and those same two teams sat at 5-7, in third place in their respective divisions, and were looking to keep their mathematical playoff hopes alive. In only two months, this game became an afterthought of a late kickoff. As the game played out, one team reminded us why they were division front-runners while the other left their fans scratching their heads looking for the drain that their early season form has run down.

For the second straight week, the San Diego Chargers took care of business in a clinical manner against a floundering opponent demonstrating the offensive prowess that eluded them for the middle two months of the season. But for Matt Prater’s heroics in Denver they would have been only one game out of first place in the AFC West right now. For the Buffalo Bills, this marked their seventh loss in eight games since that 4-1 start and a season of such promise has unraveled before them. The same problems of a defense lacking a playmaking ability and an offense only too willing to offer big plays to the opposition reared their ugly heads again and there is a sense that the Bills are back at square one right now. Read the rest of this entry »

Two months ago, the Bills and Chargers looked like they would be playoff teams; both franchises sitting at 4-1. Since then, they’ve each lost six of their last seven games and are two games out of the playoffs with four games to go. It was injuries that doomed Buffalo’s season (14 players on injured reserve) and a supposed injury to Philip Rivers along with a few other starters lost (11 players total on injured reserve) that plagued San Diego to mediocrity.

Neither team can go back and change where their record is at now, but running the table from here on out for either team would result in a winning season. After what these teams have gone through, that sounds highly unlikely, but somebody has to win this game. Here are the matchups that will decide who gets to hold on to their dim playoff hopes and who will have to wait for 2012 for another chance.

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When the Tennessee Titans travelled to Buffalo to face off with the Bills, something had to give. Both teams were clinging onto hopes of a playoff spot, with defeat almost certain to end those hopes. So it proved for a Buffalo team that not only had to deal with defeat, but walked into a changing room full of the knowledge that both the Patriots and Jets had picked up priceless victories.

A season where so little was expected at the start, and yet managed to promise so much after a Week 3 win against New England, has fizzled into something of an afterthought. Instead attention should turn to 2012, where with some key acquisitions maybe they won’t lose games like this one to a Titans team, that did enough without ever really excelling.

That has often been the case of this Tennessee team. Good enough to slow you down and put some points up, but lacking that cutting edge to put you away for good. They walked out with a victory but after looking in control for so long, and forcing key turnovers, it shouldn’t have taken a last minute stand from the defense to wrap up the win. Let’s look at some of the key performances from each team.

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Seeing a matchup between Buffalo and Tennessee instantly brings back memories of the Music City Miracle. Current Titans head coach Mike Munchak was in his was in his fourth year as the Titans’ offensive line coach. It’s been over a decade and these two have played four more times with the Titans winning the last three. Now they face off in a less glamorous situation with both teams currently on the outside looking in on the playoffs.

The Bills are coming off of four straight losses, and have placed eight players on injured reserve in the last five weeks. The Titans have made a living off of defeating weaker opponents. Tennessee finds themselves one game out on the wild card, and two games out of a division that’s led by a third string quarterback. These signs point to a victory by Matt Hasselbeck, but six of the eight PFF staff that picks games went with the Bills. Here are the three matchups to explain why this game will stay interesting.

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Ordinarily in our Marquee Matchups column we take a look at three of the more intriguing one-on-one matchups that the week’s action threw up. However, this week allowed us to review the matchup between Darrelle Revis and the man who earlier this season put up more yards in Revis’ coverage than any individual receiver has managed in the last four seasons against him, Stevie Johnson.

Back in that Week 9 encounter, Johnson amassed an impressive – for Revis’ coverage – 84 yards on three receptions. In the return game this week at the new Meadowlands Stadium, Johnson put up 75 yards … the second highest mark on Revis over the last four seasons.  Read the rest of this entry »

This AFC East matchup finds the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills facing off for the second time in three weeks, with both still alive in the playoff hunt at 5-5. Though now carrying those matching records, that first contest in Week 9 saw the Bills helpless against the Jets, who walked out of Buffalo with a convincing 27-11 win. While both have struggled recently, the Jets have not suffered nearly as many devastating injuries as the Bills have.

The Jets were the latest victims of Tim Tebow’s legs, as they could not stop his game-winning drive in Denver in last week’s 17-13 loss. The Bills’ loss was a bit more embarrassing, getting thoroughly whipped 35-8 by a Miami Dolphins squad that many people thought may have a chance to go winless this year. Read the rest of this entry »

Two teams whose seasons are traveling in polar opposite directions met this week and the result only reinforced that self-evident truth. Miami is as hot a team as there is in the AFC right now while Buffalo is falling to pieces under the combined weight of injuries after their hot start to the season.

This game showed the gulf between the two sides despite Miami remaining two games behind the Bills even after the win. The Dolphins blitzed the Bills in the first half and then set the cruise control on the game for the remainder.

Buffalo could only muster eight points, two of which came after failing to punch in the ball from the Miami 1-yard-line and turning it over on downs. Injuries are proving too much for Buffalo to overcome at the moment, and they continue to mount. Let’s look at some of the consequences. Read the rest of this entry »

Alright, hands up who thought this game had any chance of being competitive two or three weeks ago? No? Me neither. But the Bills have come back to earth courtesy of two lackluster performances against the New York Jets and the Dallas Cowboys. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (+18.5), while not playing poorly, hasn’t wowed us recently like he did in the first three weeks of the season. Fortunately they still have one of the game’s most elusive runners in Fred Jackson (+22.8).

In Miami, the Dolphins have suddenly remembered how to win football games, albeit against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Redskins. Matt Moore (+14.6) has turned in some solid performances at quarterback, including a superb day against the Chiefs two weeks ago.

This represents a good test for both teams. Have the Dolphins really improved? How far have the Bills fallen? We’ll have a pretty good idea of the answers to both those questions when the dust settles in this one. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the three areas to focus on when these two AFC East foes go to work this Sunday.

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