Week 2: Buffalo Bills at New York Jets Preview
When and Where: Sunday, September 14th, 1:00 PM at MetLife Stadium
How to Watch: Airing on CBS
Betting Line: Buffalo -6.5 O/U 47.5
Key Storylines
Player of the Week: Josh Allen won his 16th career AFC Player of the Week award for his week 1 performance vs the Ravens. Will he stay hot vs the Jets?
Division Rivalry: Josh Allen has a 9-4 career record vs the Jets, 4-2 at MetLife Stadium. There is no love lost between the teams, with Dion Dawkins taking any chance he can get to stir the pot.
Rookie Head Coach: First-year coach, Aaron Glenn, will be coaching in his first divisional matchup. The Jets are coming off a two point loss in his Week 1 coaching debut.
Injuries: The Bills will be without DT Ed Oliver. The Jets will be missing WR Josh Reynolds
Lockdown Corners: Christian Benford and Sauce Gardner are two of the NFL’s best DBs and will draw challenging assignments this week.
Friday Injury Report
Matchups to Watch
Jets Secondary vs the Bills’ passing attack: How will the Jets deploy Sauce Gardner on Sunday with the Bills’ lacking a defined WR1? I expect the Bills will target Brandon Stephens early and often with a lot of WR motion to avoid Gardner. Josh Allen should be in line for another 300+ yard performance.
Bills’ Second Level vs Jets RBs: Cole Bishop, Taylor Rapp, Matt Milano, and Terrel Bernard had games to forget in week 1. How will they fare against the Jets' three-headed rushing attack led by Breece Hall? Hall looked like his 2023 version, eclipsing the century mark vs the Steelers. Buffalo will need to do a better job of tackling and adjusting their angles if they want to slow down the run game.
Bills Pass Rush: The Bills’ pass rush wasn’t bad in week 1, they just happened to be facing Lamar Jackson. Justin Fields isn’t as dynamic as Jackson but he is mobile and not afraid to use his legs if the pocket breaks down. It will be vital for Joey Bosa and Greg Rousseau to set the edge and avoid the big scrambles. Deone Walker and T.J. Sanders will need to step up in the absence of Oliver. The Jets' offensive line is young, and Fields averages a sack for every 7.5 pass attempts over the course of his career. It could be a big day for the Bills’ front four.
Jets Defensive Depth: The Jets lack the defensive line depth of years past, where they could rotate in players and maintain a high-level pass rush. Buffalo will need to take advantage of this and use tempo when back-ups are in to prevent substitutions. The Steelers had success in this in their week 1 victory. I expect Joe Brady and Josh Allen to take advantage as well.
X-Factors
New York Jets: Quinnen Williams and Garrett Wilson. Williams is one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL and had a stellar performance in Week 1. The Jets moved him up and down the line of scrimmage to avoid double teams, which led to 5 tackles, 2 for a loss, and one sack while accumulating a 92 PFF Grade. The Bills’ offensive linemen will have their hands full. Wilson is the best player on the Jets’ offense. The Bills cannot let him be the player who beats them. Double-team him and force Fields to use his less dynamic options, or see if it leads to mistakes by the fifth-year QB.
Buffalo Bills: Khalil Shakir and T.J. Sanders. I was tempted to put Elijah Moore here, given the matchup with the team that drafted him, but I am unsure if he will be active today. Shakir has had big games vs the Jets and should be a leading receiver this week. Coleman and Palmer being on the outside should draw the coverage of Gardner for most of the game, leaving Shakir the advantage of inferior DBs covering him. Sanders will see more snaps with the absence of Oliver this week. He has a similar size to Oliver, and I expect him to be utilized in the same way. This is a good opportunity for him to showcase that.
Keys to Victory
The Bills will take the lead early and play mistake-free football. The defense will sell out to stop the run, forcing Justin Fields into a pass-heavy game and a one-dimensional offense lacking weapons outside of Garrett Wilson.
Prediction
Bills 34 Jets 20
Go Bills!
