Lori Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 NEW YORK JETS (2-3) AT BUFFALO BILLS (2-3) SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2005 - 4:15 PM EDT RALPH WILSON STADIUM, ORCHARD PARK, NY CBS: Ian Eagle and Solomon Wilcots REGULAR-SEASON SERIES RECORD: Buffalo leads, 48-40 PLAYOFF RECORD: Buffalo leads, 1-0 LAST MEETING: November 7, 2004 - Bills 22, Jets 17 The Bills won their third game in four weeks, knocking off the 6-1 Jets at a blustery Ralph Wilson Stadium. Willis McGahee posted season highs in carries (37) and rushing yards (132) for Buffalo, and broke loose a 4th-and-inches play for a 12-yard touchdown to put the Bills up 7-0. The Jets scored the next ten points before a 20-yard Lindell FG tied the score at the half. Buffalo took the third-quarter kickoff and drove 77 yards to the go-ahead touchdown on a 4-yard Drew Bledsoe-to-Lee Evans pass; on the day, Bledsoe was an efficient 18-30 for 184 yards, no sacks and no turnovers. Another Lindell FG extended the lead to 20-10 early in the fourth quarter. Buffalo was forced to punt on their next series, but a perfect Brian Moorman kick pinned New York at the 1; Pat Williams stuffed Curtis Martin for a safety on the next play. The Jets tacked on a late TD when Terrence McGee slipped and fell while covering Santana Moss, but Buffalo ran the last 4:06 off the clock to seal the win. OVERVIEW OFFENSE: Welcome to the Vinny Testaverde Reunion Tour. After injuries to both Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler left overmatched third-stringer Brooks Bollinger as the only healthy QB on the roster, Vinny called Herm Edwards and offered to trade in his Jets Alumni membership card for a helmet. Considering the circumstances - not having played since the end of last season, and stepping into a new offensive system - he managed his first game well vs. a stout Tampa Bay defense. Not bad for a guy a month short of his 42nd birthday… Long-term, it will be interesting to see how new OC Mike Heimerdinger - brought in from Tennessee to open up the passing attack - revamps his scheme to accommodate the not-exactly-fleet-of-foot Testaverde. Heimerdinger prefers deeper drops and taking shots down the field instead of the dink-and-dunk West Coast set used by former OC Paul Hackett, but Jet QBs have already been sacked 16 times this season. If Vinny can’t get the ball off in time, they may have to start mixing in more short routes. Laveranues Coles is the unquestioned #1 WR - he was just starting to come into his own during his first stint with the Jets, and made a trip to the Pro Bowl as a Redskin in 2003. Justin McCareins is the other starter, with Wayne Chrebet the #3. (Hopefully, the Bills can figure out a way to cover Chrebet this season.) Chris Baker and Doug Jolley are both adequate pass-catching TEs. Curtis Martin is an obvious first-ballot Hall of Fame RB; he’s currently fourth all-time in rushing yards, trailing only Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, and Barry Sanders. Martin led the league with 1697 yards last season, but his numbers are down this year - he hasn’t rushed for more than 72 yards in any of the Jets’ first five games, and his current 2.7 yards/carry average is by far the worst of his career. Is he finally starting to slow down? Maybe. The way I see it, though, Jets management weakened their rungame in the offseason by letting RT Kareem McKenzie jump to the Giants in free agency and replacing solid blocker TE Anthony Becht with Jolley, who has never been known for his blocking ability. (And despite costing the Jets their first-round pick last April, Jolley can't even crack the starting lineup…) With Derrick Blaylock sidelined for at least the next month, sixth-round pick Cedric Houston becomes the top backup. FB Jerald Sowell could get a couple of carries; he’s also a very good receiver out of the backfield, as is Martin. Second-year tackle Adrian Jones opened the season at McKenzie’s RT spot, but Jones and LT Jason Fabini have switched sides in an attempt to protect Fabini’s gimpy right knee. The interior of the line - LG Pete Kendall, C Kevin Mawae, and RG Brandon Moore - is the same as last year. DEFENSE: NT Jason Ferguson moved on to Dallas, and was replaced in the lineup by James Reed. The rest of the line returns intact. Ends Shaun Ellis (11 sacks) and John Abraham (9.5) accounted for more than half of the Jets’ 37 sacks last season; hopefully Mike Williams is good to go, because I don’t like Greg Jerman’s chances against Ellis. The Bills’ best bet vs. Abraham is to double him early and often, and hope the interior of the line can hold off Reed and DT Dewayne Robertson. MLB Jonathan Vilma is a playmaker who may well end up in the Pro Bowl this season. He might not be the biggest guy on the team, but he can go sideline-to-sideline and loves to hit. According to the Jets’ statistics, he’s currently leading the entire league in tackles. ‘Sam’ LB Victor Hobson doesn’t have Vilma’s speed, but plays tough against the run. ‘Jack’ LB Eric Barton is probably out again this week with a high ankle sprain; Mark Brown has started the last two games in his place. After Donnie Abraham’s sudden retirement, the Jets are fortunate they could create the caproom to bring Ty Law aboard. Law may never completely return to Pro Bowl form, but he’s still worlds better than their other options at the position. Former Cardinal David Barrett is the other starting CB. FS Erik Coleman was a fifth-round steal in last year’s draft; New York is hoping for similar success with rookie SS Kerry Rhodes. Another rookie, second-round pick Justin Miller, will probably see the most time at nickel. SPECIAL TEAMS: Kicker Doug Brien had a respectable 2004 season for the Jets, but his two missed FGs in a playoff loss to the Steelers helped cost New York a trip to the AFC Championship game. Exit Brien; enter second-round pick Mike Nugent, the Lou Groza Award winner from Ohio State. Nugent had a rough day last Sunday, missing both his FG attempts; he’s 4-7 for the season. Ben Graham isn’t your typical punter. The 31-year-old AFL import - that “A” stands for Australian, not Arena - checks in at 6-5 and 230 lbs. The former Geelong captain’s unique kicking style most likely has Bobby April studying extra tape this week; it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Bills employ their two-deep PR set on Sunday. Jerricho Cotchery and Justin Miller have split time at PR this year, but they’ve each fumbled away a punt and neither has managed a return of over 12 yards. Miller is the primary KR, and is averaging a respectable 27.8 yards/return. The coverage teams are led by ST captain and former Bill Kenyatta Wright. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUTLOOK: In spite of what One Bills Drive is (or isn’t) saying, I think we all expect Kelly Holcomb to get the start at QB again. The Bills made a strong commitment to the running game last week; even though Miami did a decent job stopping McGahee, forcing them to defend the run left some room to work in the passing game. New York’s run D isn’t on a par with Miami’s, so I see no reason to do anything different for this game. The potential return of Mike Williams, Chris Villarrial, and Tim Euhus to the lineup - and perhaps even a Roscoe Parrish sighting? - should also help improve the offense’s production. As for the defense… what happens when a resistible force (the 29th-ranked Jets running game) meets a moveable object (the 31st-ranked Bills run D)? Guess we’ll find out Sunday afternoon. Buffalo has had decent success stopping Curtis Martin in years past; let’s hope that continues, because I don’t think the Jets can win if it does. See you in Lot 1 Sunday afternoon, and Go Bills! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Links: NFL.com injury report NFL.com Jets depth chart NFL.com Jets team stats Ourlads.com – Jets depth chart NewYorkJets.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill from NYC Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Great work as usual Lori! Any predictions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark VI Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Any predictions? 474809[/snapback] With a 4:15pm start, only 1,000 fans at the Ralph will be sober by kickoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Interesting battle to watch. Even though Jets run game has been anemic, they prefer to run to their left, exactly the spot where Ronnie Brown broke off several ong runs in space vacated by Tim Anderson. I'm guessing the coaches will also note the pattern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Rich Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 With a 4:15pm start, only 1,000 fans at the Ralph will be sober by kickoff. 474914[/snapback] That's better than last week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Tuesday Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 In last year's first game against the Jets (in NY), Jennings put out one of the worst performances I've ever seen by a LT - Abraham absolutely abused him. I'm curious to see how Gandy performs against Abraham on Sunday, after a somewhat inconsisten performance against Jason Taylor. That is perhaps the most important matchup in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. Rich Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 In last year's first game against the Jets (in NY), Jennings put out one of the worst performances I've ever seen by a LT - Abraham absolutely abused him. I'm curious to see how Gandy performs against Abraham on Sunday, after a somewhat inconsisten performance against Jason Taylor. That is perhaps the most important matchup in the game. 475064[/snapback] The guy we need to be concerned w/ is Vilma. If we can't get him blocked, and it appears that we may have trouble doing so (just a tad), he could wreak havoc on our backfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralonzo Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 The Jets DL is the strength of their team, and has looked scary the last couple of weeks. I can't imagine a worse time to be facing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zac Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 The Jets DL is the strength of their team, and has looked scary the last couple of weeks. I can't imagine a worse time to be facing them. 475377[/snapback] Not to mention that Vilma leads the league in tackles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted October 15, 2005 Author Share Posted October 15, 2005 In last year's first game against the Jets (in NY), Jennings put out one of the worst performances I've ever seen by a LT - Abraham absolutely abused him. I'm curious to see how Gandy performs against Abraham on Sunday, after a somewhat inconsisten performance against Jason Taylor. That is perhaps the most important matchup in the game. 475064[/snapback] Don't forget, after Vince Wilfork cracked the side of Jennings' helmet the week before on a late helmet-to-helmet shot, JJ was questionable (concussion) and didn't practice for part of the week in question. Probably shouldn't even have played that game in the Meadowswamp. Abraham did nothing vs. Jennings and his helpers the second game, and Marcus Price (in for MWilliams) held off Ellis... Dug this up from before last year's game in Buffalo: As always seems to be the case with this team, though, I think the Bills' offense determines the outcome of this game (for good or bad). The Bills HAVE to slow down John Abraham by any means possible... RBs, TEs, heck, send HoJo and Woody off the sideline after him if you have to.http://www.stadiumwall.com/index.php?showtopic=8937 I see no reason to change that plan. P.S: Bill, the last time I actually predicted a score was the Tampa Bay game. Considering how wrong I was on that one, I'd prefer not to embarrass myself further... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiew Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 Awesome Lori - thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeF Posted October 15, 2005 Share Posted October 15, 2005 Thanks Lori. Great prep for the annual family sojourn to Buffalo this weekend... Another little one (6) gets introduced to the Bills experience on Sunday..If she is anything like her older sister--we will have another life long fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts