The Buffalo Bills Face Their Biggest Test Of The Season In Week Three

By: Toby Christie

The New England Patriots have been an offensive juggernaut as of late. Against the Miami Dolphins, Tom Brady torched the secondary for over 500 yards on the night, and now after two weeks he’s nearly at 1,000 yards passing for the season. The Patriots stand undefeated at 2-0, but so too does a surprising divisional rival – the Buffalo Bills.

I will be the first to admit that I wasn’t very high on the Buffalo Bills bandwagon as the season started, I’ve liked what Ryan Fitzpatrick has done over the last few seasons, but to me they just seemed like a team that lacked that killer instinct. Anytime they were in a close contest they seemingly were destined to be the loser by default.

That trend seems to have done a full turn in the second season under head-coach Chan Gailey.

In the first two weeks of the 2011 season, Ryan Fitzpatrick has tossed the exact same amount of touchdowns (seven) as Tom Brady, and Steve Johnson has emerged as one of the best young receivers in the game today. Now I know what you’re thinking: Tom Brady is better than Fitzpatrick, and Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Chad Ochocinco, and Rob Gronkowski as a whole are better than just Steve Johnson… to which I would say, yes – but…

But the Buffalo Bills also have a couple of explosive tight ends. In addition Fred Jackson is an incredible bruising running back, so the Bills can control the clock in this game – something the Patriots and nearly 30 other teams in the leage aren’t equipped to do. Add the pure speed of C.J. Spiller and you have a mismatch anywhere he lines up on the field.

The defensive side of the ball ultimately is where I believe this game will be won.

Amongst all of the “Patriot Super Bowl” talk, not many have brought up the fact that New England’s defense is suspect to say the very least. Hell Chad Henne tallied up over 400-yards, and ran for over 50 against them in week one. For the season the Patriots are allowing an average of 479 yards per game, while the Bills only give up 333.5.

When you add the fact that the Patriots can’t run the ball you get a one dimensional offense that should be shut down by the Bills’ defense.

On the surface this is an easy game to just chalk up as a win for the Patriots just because the Bills have been so bad, for so long. Honestly though I believe the Bills have the tools needed to top the New England Patriots this weekend and shock everyone in the process.