Sunday, October 23, 2011

Quick take: Bills off bye, on to Redskins

With the Buffalo Bills’ bye week officially over, they’ll be getting to work in preparation for the Washington Redskins, who couldn’t keep up with Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers Sunday in a 33-20 loss.

The Bills should have the advantage this coming Sunday – not only because Buffalo will be at home, where it is 3-0 (well, Toronto is close enough, no?), but because the Bills are a rested team facing a reeling Redskins squad that has lost three of its last four games and was already on its second starting quarterback before it surrendered its winning record.

Buffalo, however, has been dealing with issues of its own, losing two of its last three games after a 3-0 start to the season. The Bills have been decimated with injuries at wide receiver and have been sore on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

The Bills have managed the injury bug well, and we’ll see what kind of adjustments coach Chan Gailey made over the bye week to fill in the gaps.

Washington is one of the best teams in the league at getting to the quarterback, so quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Bills’ offense probably wont venture too far from its quick-strike scheme to counter the pressure.

Bills running back Fred Jackson, who has busted some big runs this year, should have some opportunities to break off 20-plus gains. While the Redskins defense hasn’t been terrible against the run, it has been susceptible to big gains on the ground.

Defensively, while Buffalo has a knack for the interception, it still needs to do a better job getting off the field, as the Bills are near the top of the league in first downs given up per game.

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