Jets Vs Bills Preview

 Following last week's tough loss at home to the Patriots, Zach Wilson and the Jets will once again play hosts today at Metlife Stadium...only this time to probably the best team in the AFC, if not the best team in the NFL, and division rival Buffalo Bills. The Jets let a first-half lead crumble away last week which lead to the loss, but that simply cannot happen this week if the Jets want to come out on top. The Bills have firepower on both offense and defense and can capitalize and eat teams alive very easily that make mistakes. 

For today's injury report, It's pretty light for the most part on the Jets' side of things. WR Corey Davis remains out this week with his knee injury from the Denver game two weeks ago. RB James Robinson was listed late on the injury report as questionable with a knee injury as well, but he more than likely will be playing. All the other Jets' injuries listed were full participants at practice and should all be good to go otherwise. For the Bills, although not a lot of players are on the injury report, it's key players on the injury report, such as Safety Jordan Poyer, who is out with an elbow injury. LB Matt Milano is listed as questionable with an oblique injury and OT Spencer Brown is also listed as questionable with an ankle injury. Elite CB Tre'Davious White is set to make his 2022 season debut after tearing his ACL last year as well. 

The Bills' dynamic duo of
Josh Allen (Left) and Stefon Diggs (Right)

For a Bills team preview, they are effective and can produce on both sides of the football. They have one of the best QBs in the league with Josh Allen under center. Not only does he have an amazing arm and can stretch defenses out very well, but he also is good on the run and is a good decision maker under pressure. He has the ability to read different defensive coverages very well and react accordingly, and can give opposing defenses nightmares. Will this Jets defense be ready and up to the task?

In the backfield, the Bills primarily were using RB Devin Singletary, but with their recent acquisition of Nyheim Hines from Indianapolis, I would expect him and Singletary to split time and carries going forward. Either way, they are both effective RBs and Hines is also a great recieving RB as well. At WR, all pro star Stefon Diggs will be a tough customer for this Jets defense, and I would expect Jets CB Ahmad "Sauce" Gardner to play coverage on him throughout a majority of this game. 

Diggs and Allen have a solid connection with one another and he has emerged as a top wideout in the league during his time in Buffalo. Not to mention he's not their only target, as both WR's Gabriel Davis and Isaiah McKenzie both are threats downfield as well. At TE, they have the reliable red zone target in Dawson Knox, who is a solid recieving TE as well and can almost serve as another reciever in this offense. 

Defensively, where do you even begin? This defense like their offense is loaded and has solid players at all areas. Up front, both DE's Greg Rousseau and Von Miller are both quality pass rushers, especially with a depleted Jets offensive line, these two will be running around making Zach Wilson make quick decisions all game. Not to mention the two DT's Ed Oliver and DaQuan Jones will fold right into the mix with this as well, and they can also stop the rush well too. That has been the Jets bread and butter this year, but alternate game plans should be in affect today, as they were last week against New England. at LB, Matt Milano (if healthy) and Tremaine Edmunds drop back well in coverage and almost serve as the "eyes" for this defense. Both have proven their quality in the league and will be a threat as well.

The matchup of "Sauce" Gardner and Stefon Diggs (Left)
and Josh Allen and Zach Wilson (Right)
will be crucial to today's outcome

In the secondary, although set to make his season debut today, CB Tre'Davious White (Update: Will Not Play)  will be tough to matchup against and has always been that main "cover corner" for this Bills' defense just as "Sauce" is for the Jets. The Jets should focus targeting the other CB Dane Jackson instead. He is young and inexperienced, but although he has had success early on, he is one of the weaker points of this defense as a unit. Zach Wilson should look to challenge him more than he does White in order to find connections with his WR's.

With the Jets having a tough forecast this week with the red hot Buffalo Bills coming into town, it's safe to say that the Jets should play conservative football as much as possible when possible. Since this Bills defense truthfully has no weak points, Zach Wilson has to be smart with his decision making and avoid quick throws into coverage as he has done quite often in his young career. WR Denzel Mims has also moved up the depth chart again this week, and Wilson should continue to utilize him more along with WR Elijah Moore as well. 

Defensively, the best way for the Jets to stay in this game is to throw different coverages at Josh Allen every play. His only loss this year was to the Dolphins in Miami, and the way they were able to beat them was by doing that, and causing Allen to try to play catch up late in the game. Although a difficult task, it is possible, and turnovers have to be cut down this week or the Jets might be in yet another game to forget. 

For today's prediction, I find it pretty difficult to see how the Jets will pull this one out, and the Bills have been playing some quality football throughout the 2022 season so far. As always, it is a divisional game and at home, so hopefully, the Jets crowd brings them into this game a bit as well and gives them life. Even though I have faith that the Jets will end up playing better than some expect, I still don't think it will be enough to take down the Bills, but they will go down with a dog fight first. I'll take the Bills in a highly competitive game winning this one by a score of 27-21.

-Miles Chamberlain