By Lyle Fitzsimmons, Contributing NFL Editor
(SportsNetwork.com) – When your best 60-minute effort of the season results in
a two-point gut kick of a loss to your most heated rival in a primetime TV
game, it’s hard to re-scale the emotional wall.
And when that loss drops you to 1-6 and probably spells the end for both your
playoff chances and your coach, it gets even more difficult.
Welcome to the New York Jets in Week 8, as they prepare for a Sunday home date
with Buffalo.
Rex Ryan and Co. nearly pulled off an unlikely bounce-back in Week 7 at New
England, taking a New York team that had been held to 151 yards in a 31-0 loss
at San Diego and humbled by Peyton Manning in a 14-point home defeat to
Denver, and transforming it into a wrecking machine that battered the
Patriots for 218 rushing yards and 423 yards of total offense.
Still, when Nick Folk’s game-winning field goal try was blocked in the final
seconds, it wasn’t enough, which left the increasingly hot-seated Ryan to
reflect on reality.
“We can’t deny where we are at, we’re 1-6,” Ryan said. “The job is every day
to get better and I believe our football team is getting better, it just
hasn’t been good enough to win yet.”
Chris Ivory contributed 107 of the 218 ground yards against the Patriots,
adding a TD on his 21 carries, and he’ll try to better the intermittent
success he had while churning out 98 yards against the Bills when
the teams most recently met last November in Buffalo – a game the Bills won,
37-14.
Quarterback Geno Smith completed eight of 23 passes in that Week 11 loss, but
played perhaps his best game of the season last week at Foxborough, where he
connected on 20-of-34 throws for 226 yards, had a touchdown pass and was not
picked off for the first time this season.
He also averaged better than 5.2 yards on seven rushing attempts.
His challenge this week comes from an aggressive Buffalo defense that’s fourth
in the league against the run – allowing 80.4 yards per game – has 19 sacks in
seven games and has created 12 turnovers, good for fifth in the NFL.
Smith does get a new toy to play with in the form of former first-round pick
Percy Harvin, who was acquired from Seattle in a sudden trade for a
conditional draft pick. Harvin scored a touchdown on a kickoff return in the
Seahawks’ Super Bowl win over the Broncos in February, but fell out of favor
after catching 22 passes and rushing for 92 yards in five games this season.
Several stories this week have heralded disputes with teammates and other off-
field issues that may have prompted Seattle to give up on him after it had
acquired him from Minnesota for first-, third- and seventh-round draft picks
prior to the 2013 season.
“I’m learning from those lessons,” Harvin said. “I’m happy to be here right
now and looking to make the most out of it.”
As for the Bills, they’re a surprising 4-3 through seven games after winning
just six times in 16 tries last year, but the powerful tandem responsible for
their lofty status among ground-gaining teams in 2013 – Buffalo was second in
the league with 144.2 yards per game – is out of commission this week.
Starters C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson were lost in the first half of a one-
point home win over Minnesota last week. Spiller is on injured reserve, but
could return later in the season, with a collarbone injury; while Jackson is
probably gone for at least four weeks with a groin problem.
Thus, backups Bryce Brown and Anthony Dixon step into the spotlight against
the Jets, and the Bills signed Phillip Tanner this week to add some backfield
depth.
Brown hasn’t appeared in a game this season, while Dixon has gotten 27 carries
for 137 yards and caught three balls for 15 yards. Tanner played in all 16
games for Dallas last season, but carried only nine times for 12 yards and
caught four passes for 33.
“I’m going to go out there and play for them,” Brown said. “I’ll do my very
best. I don’t want to let those guys down.”
The Bills are above .500 after seven games for the first time in three years,
but they haven’t finished above break-even since going 9-7 in 2004. The run
game has averaged 103.4 yards per week in 2014, a 40-plus yard dip from last
season thanks in part to the arrival of two rookies on the offensive line.
The Jets are eighth in the league at stopping the run – allowing 88 yards per
game – but they were gashed for 300 against San Diego and Denver before
holding the Patriots to 63 in the Week 7 loss.
Buffalo quarterback Kyle Orton drove the team 80 yards in 15 plays and hit
rookie Sammy Watkins with a scoring pass with one second left to defeat the
Vikings, and he faces a New York secondary this week that’s been riddled by
injury and ineffectiveness and allowed two TD passes to Tom Brady last week.
Watkins was the fourth overall pick in April’s draft and has panned out with
35 catches for 433 yards and four touchdowns. The win against Minnesota was
his best game of the season with nine catches for 122 yards and two
touchdowns.
“We just have to get better,” Orton said. “Everybody did a better job this
week of getting right to work, being focused, being ready to go on Wednesday.
Any time you have a young team and a young offense, you’re going to have some
growing pains, and we’re going to continue to get better and continue to win
games.”
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Welcome to the Big Apple
Normally, the acquisition of a proven NFL player like Harvin would create
ripples of optimism, but it’s hard for a team to reach that level when it’s
already 1-6, and the arriving player comes with baggage.
Still, regardless of how limited his knowledge of the playbook might be,
Harvin will provide a downfield threat and could find himself on the receiving
end of a play-action pass or two in his debut.
Sling it to Sammy
As mentioned earlier, the Jets are no longer the secondary they were in the
days of Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie. Their first-round selection of
Dee Milliner in 2013 has been mildly impactful at best, and a handful of other
players are being shuffled through various roles. That doesn’t bode well in a
meeting with a high-octane rookie like Watkins, who’s already shown an ability
to carry his team.
OVERALL ANALYSIS
There are a lot of reasons to like the Jets. They’re home. They’re coming off
their best performance. And they’re playing a team that’s a mild surprise thus
far, but not exactly on the level of the last three foes.
Still, the main question revolves around just how much the loss at New
England, with its consequences, will mean in the follow-up. It could be a New
York rout, but it’s more likely an aggravating, close loss.
Sports Network predicted outcome: Bills 21, Jets 20
