WGR

‘Even before the 2020 season started, the stated goal of the Bills, from general manager Brandon Beane to head coach Sean McDermott, down to the players, was to win the division, because that’s how they’ll get a home playoff game. Whenever they mentioned it, they also specifically referenced beating the Patriots. The standard. The team that’s owned the AFC East for the last 20 years. It’s still theirs until the Bills take it from them, Beane and others said. They’re right.’

‘Belichick’s 35 wins over the Bills are only tied for the most against the team. Don Shula had the same 35 wins, against 20 losses. The only other coaches to beat the Bills 10 or more times go back to the AFL days of the 1960s: Sid Gillman (11) and Hank Stram (10).’

‘“We just have to see,” McDermott said of Milano’s status for this week. “He’s coming off a pretty significant injury there, but I thought he did a good job. Mentally he was in a good spot today and we’ll just see how it goes throughout the rest of the week here.”’

‘Even before the 2020 season started, the stated goal of the Bills, from general manager Brandon Beane to head coach Sean McDermott, down to the players, was to win the division, because that’s how they’ll get a home playoff game. Whenever they mentioned it, they also specifically referenced beating the Patriots. The standard. The team that’s owned the AFC East for the last 20 years. It’s still theirs until the Bills take it from them, Beane and others said. They’re right.’

‘I’m not sure it’s that simple, but the Bills’ struggles to produce points and big plays lines up with Brown missing the Tennessee and New York games, and playing hurt against Kansas City. It’s entirely possible that Brown’s absence allows opponents to more easily take away the deep stuff and the dominos fall from there.’

‘It was, by no means, a pretty win for the Bills. For a while, it looked like the outcome of the game was going to be worse than just an ugly victory for Buffalo.’

‘It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but no victory can look good when a team trails to an opponent that’s now 0-7 for the majority of the game. An afternoon that featured no touchdowns from a Bills offense that could use a breakout performance wasn’t reassuring either.’

‘If you believe in turning points to a season, perhaps that second half performance will create some forward momentum and carry this defense to some better days. Coming into Sunday, the Bills were in the bottom-five in nearly every key defensive category and came off two consecutive poor performances.’

‘Once again, a Bills opponent decided to play a lot of soft zone coverage in an attempt to take away any big pass plays from the Bills and the Jets were successful with that plan.’

‘The Bills entered the game with the best third down offense in the NFL, but only converted on 3-of-11 chances against the Jets (27%). All eight of the non-conversions resulted in field goal attempts.’

‘Becker is on the practice squad and Sweeney is on the reserve/PUP list, so only Knox and Smith are taken off the 53-man active roster.’

‘Jets quarterback Sam Darnold has missed the last two games due to a shoulder injury. He’s expected to start against the Bills. Darnold can make plays happen when he escapes the pocket and has to improvise. And the Bills got hurt by Titans QB Ryan Tannehill and Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes getting outside the pocket the last couple of weeks. Darnold will also most likely be without one of his top wideouts in slot receiver Jamison Crowder, so he won’t have that security blanket off the line of scrimmage and often in the middle of the field, either. The Bills can greatly help their chances on defense by keeping him in the pocket and not allowing him to make something out of nothing.’

‘John Brown did not participate in practice once again as he continues to recover from a knee injury. Both Tyrel Dodson and Cody Ford, who were listed as week-to-week on Tuesday by head coach Sean McDermott, did not practice as well.’

‘Right guard John Feliciano, however, is eligible to be activated from the Injured Reserve list. Feliciano injured his pectoral muscle prior to training camp and has been on I.R. the entire season. He began practicing on October 7, which means the team has until October 27 to activate him to the 53-man roster. It’s possible they could do that prior to Sunday’s game at the New York Jets.’

‘Guard Jon Feliciano is still on Injured Reserve with a pectoral injury, but is eligible to be activated to the team’s 53-man roster. McDermott said he’s had “minor talks” with general manager Brandon Beane about that possibility and will continue to do so this week. The Bills have until Tuesday, October 27, which is 21 days since he started practicing, to activate Feliciano, or he will revert back to I.R.’