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Giants (3-2) vs Bills (4-1)
Last week the Bills aggressive defense picked off
Michael Vick on the his first two possessions. Overall they hit the Eagles with
five turnovers, including the last one where on a 3rd-and-3 at the Bills 25, Vick
completed a pass they stripped away to preserve a 31-24 win over Philadelphia.
The Giants could not pull off yet another come
from behind win and they lost their game to the Seahawks, 36-25. Same as the Eagles
in the Bills game, the Giants were driving the ball. Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz
with a pass that was batted around and intercepted, and that turnover was returned
for a Seattle touchdown. Buffalo
Bills.
So are the Bills one of those dream teams that
comes off years with losing records to shock the rest of the league? You have
to go back to 2004 to find a season over .500 (9-7). Their current 4-1 record
already matches the total amount of wins they had all of last year. Those
four wins were over teams that finished with a combined record of 22-42, Detroit,
Cincinnati, Cleveland and Miami. The Bills were 1-11 in their division
over the last two years, splitting their games with Miami. Now they are 1-0 with
a division win over powerhouse New England. Their only loss to date was
just by 3 points to Cincinnati. So what has changed and will it
continue?
In 2009 Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell
held that same position for the Bills when he suddenly became the interim head
coach. Fewell went 3-4, but for 2010 the Bills wanted someone
with head coaching experience like Bill Cowher or Mike Shanahan to take over.
When they couldn't make that happen, they chose Chan Gailey who previously had
been a head coach (Cowboys) and an offensive coordinator. Gailey picked former
Miami and Washington aide George Edwards to run his defense. The offense improved
and the defense dropped a few notches. They finished at 4-12 after starting 0-8.
The bright spot was that they split the last eight games in 2010, and Chan
Gailey really has their offense rolling this year. Bills
offense.
They can run the ball and
protect their quarterback and when that goes hand in hand you can control the
ball and put points up on the board. As a team the Bills are near the top in the
NFL, averaging 32.8 points a game. They have allowed a league low four sacks,
just three on quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and one on wide receiver Brad Smith.
Fitzpatrick is having a good year with 10
touchdowns and four interceptions. Fred Jackson is the third-leading rusher in
the NFL averaging 96 yards per game and he has 5 touchdowns. Jackson also has
to be watched when he slips past the line as he has 19 catches for 232 yards.
The leading receiver on the team is Steve Johnson with 28 catches for 343 yards
and 3 touchdowns, followed by David Nelson with 23 for 257 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bills
defense.
For the years Perry Fewell was there,
the Bills run defense was ranked in the bottom third in the NFL. Last year without
him they fell to dead last. Despite their current winning record there's not much
improvement in this area. They rank 29th in the league yielding 138.2 yards per
game. They also give up plenty of passing yards, over 283 per game, but this group
has been opportunistic. The defense picked
off four of Michael Vick's passes last week and now lead the NFL with 12, which
is actually one more than they had all last year. Not to take away, but maybe
the Bills have had so many of these turnover opportunities because of the way
they play. They give enough yards to rank 30th in the NFL - 421.8 yards per game. Giants
offense.
Their rushing attack is near
the league's worst, averaging just 83.8 yards a game and they are almost the absolute
worst in yards per carry with 3.2 yards per. They were even worse than average
last week against the Seahawks with 69 rushing yards and they converted on only
1-of-12 third-down situations. Eli Manning has been sharp and he threw for a career-high
420 yards. He almost stole this game away from the Seahawks with a late drive,
but it didn't work this time. Penalties and turnovers also killed the Giants,
and three interceptions and two lost fumbles did not help. Wide receiver Victor
Cruz has been a big surprise this season, but that's been offset by a questionable
offensive line and the starting running backs who need an initial block up front
to get rolling. Giants
defense.
The Giants continue to have
the same problems from week to week. They can bring pressure on the quarterback
and even with Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck just trying to stay on the field,
they lead the league in sacks with 18, but their secondary continues to let them
down. They had trouble with the Seahawks backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst
last week. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick gets rid of the ball fast and that's one
of the reasons he's been sacked only three times in five games. Running back Fred
Jackson is hard to catch and rushing yards keep piling up against this Giants
defense. There's not much reason to think it will stop this week. Another task
for the defense is to stop the Bills red-zone offense which ranks at the very
top in the NFL. Overall.
The Bills are on a roll, but In the game before
last week in Cincinnati their run defense fell off in the second half once quarterback
Andy Dalton started hitting on his passes against them. Last week
playing Philadelphia they allowed 8.7 yards per carry on the ground, and even
excluding Michael Vick's runs (which Eli certainly won't provide), you still get
about 6 yards per carry against them.
This defense gives up as much as their
offense takes on the ground, ranking high on the one side - 4th in the NFL with
138.2, and low on the other - 29th with 138.4. This could have been just the opportunity
the Giants needed to get their ground game going, but guess what for their offense
- guard Chris Snee (concussion) is out, as are running back Brandon Jacobs (knee)
and fullback Henry Hynoski (neck). NFC
East.
On Sunday at 1pm at the same
time the Giants are playing the Bills, the Eagles (1-4) will be facing off against
the Redskins (3-1) in Washington. At 4:15pm, the Cowboys (2-2) will be playing
their game in New England (4-1). The Giants and Eagles were favored to win their
games. 
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Notes.
Giants Perry Fewell was the Bills defensive
coordinator for four years.
He served as interim head coach for the final
seven games of 2009. Giants Chris Snee
will end his streak of consecutive regular season games started (and played) at
101. Giants Eli Manning has started 108
consecutive regular season games. Giants
have averaged less than 3.0 yards per rushing attempt in back-to-back games for
the first time since 2004. Bills George
Wilson was the AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Philadelphia. Bills
at 4-1 are tied with New England and San Diego for the AFC's best record. Bills
have an NFL-high 12 interceptions, including three returned for touchdowns. Bills
have not made it to the playoffs since 1999.
Next Games
Oct 30 - Dolphins at Giants.
Giants Tickets
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Nov 6 - Giants at New
England.
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