Sunday, October 14, 2012

Week 6 AFC East game picks: Bills at Cardinals

Lead writer Nick St. Denis and AFC East Daily contributors Dan Begnoche, Sean Donovan and Sam Hollingsworth pick the Buffalo Bills' road matchup with the Arizona Cardinals.

Nick's take:
Bills center Eric Wood said it best this week: Enough is enough. The Bills have been bullied in three of five games, giving up an average of 48.3 points a game in their losses. Buffalo needs to put its foot down in Arizona, and it starts with generating penetration on defense against the Cardinals' mediocre offensive line. Offensively, Buffalo, has to focus on ball security, something it has neglected thus far. The Bills do enough Sunday to win this one.
Prediction: Bills 20, Cardinals 17.

Dan's take:
Victims of two crushing losses the past two weeks, expect Buffalo to come out throwing haymakers on both sides of the ball against a Cardinals team down two running backs and coming off a wake-up call beating in St. Louis. Against a weak rushing attack, the Bills can get back to the business of rushing the passer, a task that will be made a bit more difficult without defensive tackle Mark Anderson. Keep an eye on the speedsters on the Buffalo side in this game, particularly running back C.J. Spiller and rookie receiver T.J. Graham.
Prediction: Bills 21, Cardinals 17

Sean's take:
The Bills, after an exciting and expensive offseason, seem to be on the cusp of earning yet another high draft pick. There is still time to change their momentum, and this week they get a chance to do that facing a banged-up Cardinals team that they match up fairly well with. Buffalo scores enough to beat out a weak Arizona offense.
Prediction: Bills 20, Cardinals 13

Sam's take:
The Bills have had a really tough run the past few weeks, more or less assuming the role of the league's punching bag. That motivates the high-expectation, low-performing defense. It also motivates a potentially potent offense, too. Look for quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to shine, quieting the doubters on the road for at least a week.
Prediction: Bills 35, Cardinals 21