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https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/11/02/nfl-picks-week-9-jets-bills-thursday-night-football
Thursday Night Football Preview: Will Bills Keep Up Surprising Start vs. Jets?
By Andy Benoit
Previewing Buffalo Bills at New York Jets (8:25 p.m. ET, NFL Network) on Week 9 Thursday Night Football...
UPDATE: Bills wideout Kelvin Benjamin has been ruled out for Thursday night's game against the Jets.
Yes, the Bills certainly needed a boost at wide receiver. Second-round rookie Zay Jones’s development has been slow, and “slow” is a good word to describe the rest of Buffalo’s receiving corps. Benjamin, far from a speedster, doesn’t change that—he’s a big-bodied possession target, effective on slant patterns but not quick enough in his throttle-down and direction-changing to beat defenders with a full route tree.
Also, he’s the type of receiver a quarterback must be willing to target when he’s covered, but Tyrod Taylor is not a tight-window anticipation thrower. What the Bills really need is a wide receiver who can win on crossing routes. That’s where almost all of Buffalo’s aerial success has come this year.
Jets head coach Todd Bowles knows that Buffalo is dangerous on play-action crossing routes, so he’ll likely have the defense play straight zone coverages Thursday night, just like he did last year against Taylor. In return, that will force Taylor to decipher through more bodies when reading the field, plus it ensures that more defenders have eyes on him. Taylor can burn defenses with his legs.
The question is, what type of zone will Bowles play? Single-high zone (aka Cover 3) can be especially vulnerable against play-action crossing routes. But playing two-high, which the Jets did often last week against Atlanta (Cover 4, not Cover 2), can be dicey against a running game as strong as Buffalo’s. New York’s imposing front seven has been better in run defense the last three weeks, but it hasn’t faced a team whose quarterback is part of the rushing attack.
Looking at the Bills’ defense, no safety in football is playing better than Buffalo’s Micah Hyde. He has five interceptions, mostly off deflections, which is more a sign of “good” than “lucky” in a run-to-the-ball scheme like head coach Sean McDermott’s. Hyde can also win in matchup coverage, though that’ll be less of a factor Thursday, given that New York’s passing attack is thin on talent and reliant on play designs.
Bold Prediction: The Bills will force at least three turnovers, mostly by generating pressure against a mediocre Jets O-line.
SCORE PREDICTION: BILLS 24, JETS 16
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...treaming-tv-why-the-bills-will-beat-the-jets/
'Thursday Night Football' tonight: Streaming, TV, why the Bills will beat the Jets
The Jets remain on their elusive search for a franchise quarterback
by Ryan Wilson
Perhaps it's not the Jets' biggest issue, at least right at this moment, but it's still high on the list and will definitely be a priority this offseason: The team is in desperate need of a franchise quarterback. Josh McCown, 38 years young and now on his eighth NFL team, hasn't even been replacement-level through the first half of the season; he does have 12 touchdowns against seven interceptions and a passer rating of 95.3, but he also ranks 25th among all quarterbacks, according to Football Outsiders, just ahead of Jacoby Brissett, Brian Hoyer and Trevor Siemian.
McCown played a starring role in the Jets' loss to the Dolphins two weeks ago, throwing an interception deep in New York territory with less than a minute to go that set up Miami's game-winning field goal.
These things happen, of course, and McCown probably has more to do with the team's three wins than their five losses, but the reality is that he's a bridge to whomever the Jets find to be their next franchise quarterback. Christian Hackenberg, the embattled 2016 second-round pick, couldn't win the job in training camp, forcing coach Todd Bowles to try to make the best of a bad situation.
"I would say that he's learning the offense and he didn't have enough playing time yet," Bowles said at the time of Hackenberg. "We got him some significant playing time. It has nothing to do with his development. He's 22 years old, he has time to grow and he'll grow from it."
But it's not like Hackenberg had to beat out Tom Brady or Drew Brees. This is McCown we're talking about -- the same guy with the lowest winning percentage for a starting quarterback over the last three seasons.
View: https://twitter.com/NFLResearch/status/902258965500669954?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbssports.com%2Fnfl%2Fnews%2Fthursday-night-football-tonight-streaming-tv-why-the-bills-will-beat-the-jets%2F
Halfway through the season and McCown remains entrenched as the starter.
Whether Bowles will be around to see the next candidate to take a spin as the Jets' starting quarterback remains up for debate but it's not like the previous regime didn't make an effort. Rex Ryan, who had the ignominious distinction of being fired by both the Jets and Bills, admitted recently that he desperately wanted Tyrod Taylor in New York when he was the coach there.
ESPN.com's Rich Cimini explains:
"I wanted Tyrod Taylor when I was with the Jets," Ryan said in a recent phone interview. At the time, Taylor was a seldom-used backup for the Baltimore Ravens. Ryan said Cam Cameron, the Ravens' offensive coordinator and a close friend, was "the guy that turned me onto him." The way Ryan tells it, he approached the front office about trading for Taylor, but it apparently gained little to no traction.
Instead of making a move for Taylor, the Jets drafted Geno Smith in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. After Mark Sanchez suffered a season-ending injury in the preseason, Smith was forced into the starting job as a rookie. The team won two more games than they had the year before and finished 8-8, but Smith was one of the league's worst quarterbacks.
He completed just 55.9 percent of his throws and had 12 touchdowns, 21 interceptions and four lost fumbles. According to Football Outsiders' metrics, Smith ranked 45th in total value among all eligible quarterbacks, ahead of only Terrelle Pryor and Brandon Weeden.
Ryan believed that then-general manager John Idzik did not do enough to surround Smith with talented players.
"I don't think we helped Geno by any stretch of the imagination," Ryan said. "We never added anything that could help him. And he didn't help himself, either. It was that combination."
So yeah.
Meanwhile, Ryan called McCown "good" for the current team though conceded that "He knows he's not the long-range answer."
But what about Hackenberg?
"None of those guys are," Ryan continued, "certainly not [Christian] Hackenberg."
Two months into the season and the Jets remain competitive, which is something no one would've expected as recently as early September. In fact, we joked that if the Jets won six games in 2017 Bowles should win Coach of the Year honors. But after having the easiest schedule over the first eight games, the Jets now have the third-toughest.
You know what would really help them down the stretch? A legit franchise quarterback. But that will have to wait until next year (again).
Our prediction: Bills 24 Jet 13
It's Color Rush Thursday (again), y'all!
Every Thursday is Color Rush Thursday in the NFL. You're welcome.
View: https://twitter.com/nyjets/status/925712309015719936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbssports.com%2Fnfl%2Fnews%2Fthursday-night-football-tonight-streaming-tv-why-the-bills-will-beat-the-jets%2F
View: https://twitter.com/buffalobills/status/925342868629110784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbssports.com%2Fnfl%2Fnews%2Fthursday-night-football-tonight-streaming-tv-why-the-bills-will-beat-the-jets%2F
Thursday Night Football Preview: Will Bills Keep Up Surprising Start vs. Jets?
By Andy Benoit
Previewing Buffalo Bills at New York Jets (8:25 p.m. ET, NFL Network) on Week 9 Thursday Night Football...
UPDATE: Bills wideout Kelvin Benjamin has been ruled out for Thursday night's game against the Jets.
Yes, the Bills certainly needed a boost at wide receiver. Second-round rookie Zay Jones’s development has been slow, and “slow” is a good word to describe the rest of Buffalo’s receiving corps. Benjamin, far from a speedster, doesn’t change that—he’s a big-bodied possession target, effective on slant patterns but not quick enough in his throttle-down and direction-changing to beat defenders with a full route tree.
Also, he’s the type of receiver a quarterback must be willing to target when he’s covered, but Tyrod Taylor is not a tight-window anticipation thrower. What the Bills really need is a wide receiver who can win on crossing routes. That’s where almost all of Buffalo’s aerial success has come this year.
Jets head coach Todd Bowles knows that Buffalo is dangerous on play-action crossing routes, so he’ll likely have the defense play straight zone coverages Thursday night, just like he did last year against Taylor. In return, that will force Taylor to decipher through more bodies when reading the field, plus it ensures that more defenders have eyes on him. Taylor can burn defenses with his legs.
The question is, what type of zone will Bowles play? Single-high zone (aka Cover 3) can be especially vulnerable against play-action crossing routes. But playing two-high, which the Jets did often last week against Atlanta (Cover 4, not Cover 2), can be dicey against a running game as strong as Buffalo’s. New York’s imposing front seven has been better in run defense the last three weeks, but it hasn’t faced a team whose quarterback is part of the rushing attack.
Looking at the Bills’ defense, no safety in football is playing better than Buffalo’s Micah Hyde. He has five interceptions, mostly off deflections, which is more a sign of “good” than “lucky” in a run-to-the-ball scheme like head coach Sean McDermott’s. Hyde can also win in matchup coverage, though that’ll be less of a factor Thursday, given that New York’s passing attack is thin on talent and reliant on play designs.
Bold Prediction: The Bills will force at least three turnovers, mostly by generating pressure against a mediocre Jets O-line.
SCORE PREDICTION: BILLS 24, JETS 16
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...treaming-tv-why-the-bills-will-beat-the-jets/
'Thursday Night Football' tonight: Streaming, TV, why the Bills will beat the Jets
The Jets remain on their elusive search for a franchise quarterback
by Ryan Wilson
Perhaps it's not the Jets' biggest issue, at least right at this moment, but it's still high on the list and will definitely be a priority this offseason: The team is in desperate need of a franchise quarterback. Josh McCown, 38 years young and now on his eighth NFL team, hasn't even been replacement-level through the first half of the season; he does have 12 touchdowns against seven interceptions and a passer rating of 95.3, but he also ranks 25th among all quarterbacks, according to Football Outsiders, just ahead of Jacoby Brissett, Brian Hoyer and Trevor Siemian.
McCown played a starring role in the Jets' loss to the Dolphins two weeks ago, throwing an interception deep in New York territory with less than a minute to go that set up Miami's game-winning field goal.
These things happen, of course, and McCown probably has more to do with the team's three wins than their five losses, but the reality is that he's a bridge to whomever the Jets find to be their next franchise quarterback. Christian Hackenberg, the embattled 2016 second-round pick, couldn't win the job in training camp, forcing coach Todd Bowles to try to make the best of a bad situation.
"I would say that he's learning the offense and he didn't have enough playing time yet," Bowles said at the time of Hackenberg. "We got him some significant playing time. It has nothing to do with his development. He's 22 years old, he has time to grow and he'll grow from it."
But it's not like Hackenberg had to beat out Tom Brady or Drew Brees. This is McCown we're talking about -- the same guy with the lowest winning percentage for a starting quarterback over the last three seasons.
View: https://twitter.com/NFLResearch/status/902258965500669954?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbssports.com%2Fnfl%2Fnews%2Fthursday-night-football-tonight-streaming-tv-why-the-bills-will-beat-the-jets%2F
Halfway through the season and McCown remains entrenched as the starter.
Whether Bowles will be around to see the next candidate to take a spin as the Jets' starting quarterback remains up for debate but it's not like the previous regime didn't make an effort. Rex Ryan, who had the ignominious distinction of being fired by both the Jets and Bills, admitted recently that he desperately wanted Tyrod Taylor in New York when he was the coach there.
ESPN.com's Rich Cimini explains:
"I wanted Tyrod Taylor when I was with the Jets," Ryan said in a recent phone interview. At the time, Taylor was a seldom-used backup for the Baltimore Ravens. Ryan said Cam Cameron, the Ravens' offensive coordinator and a close friend, was "the guy that turned me onto him." The way Ryan tells it, he approached the front office about trading for Taylor, but it apparently gained little to no traction.
Instead of making a move for Taylor, the Jets drafted Geno Smith in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. After Mark Sanchez suffered a season-ending injury in the preseason, Smith was forced into the starting job as a rookie. The team won two more games than they had the year before and finished 8-8, but Smith was one of the league's worst quarterbacks.
He completed just 55.9 percent of his throws and had 12 touchdowns, 21 interceptions and four lost fumbles. According to Football Outsiders' metrics, Smith ranked 45th in total value among all eligible quarterbacks, ahead of only Terrelle Pryor and Brandon Weeden.
Ryan believed that then-general manager John Idzik did not do enough to surround Smith with talented players.
"I don't think we helped Geno by any stretch of the imagination," Ryan said. "We never added anything that could help him. And he didn't help himself, either. It was that combination."
So yeah.
Meanwhile, Ryan called McCown "good" for the current team though conceded that "He knows he's not the long-range answer."
But what about Hackenberg?
"None of those guys are," Ryan continued, "certainly not [Christian] Hackenberg."
Two months into the season and the Jets remain competitive, which is something no one would've expected as recently as early September. In fact, we joked that if the Jets won six games in 2017 Bowles should win Coach of the Year honors. But after having the easiest schedule over the first eight games, the Jets now have the third-toughest.
You know what would really help them down the stretch? A legit franchise quarterback. But that will have to wait until next year (again).
Our prediction: Bills 24 Jet 13
It's Color Rush Thursday (again), y'all!
Every Thursday is Color Rush Thursday in the NFL. You're welcome.
View: https://twitter.com/nyjets/status/925712309015719936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbssports.com%2Fnfl%2Fnews%2Fthursday-night-football-tonight-streaming-tv-why-the-bills-will-beat-the-jets%2F
View: https://twitter.com/buffalobills/status/925342868629110784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbssports.com%2Fnfl%2Fnews%2Fthursday-night-football-tonight-streaming-tv-why-the-bills-will-beat-the-jets%2F
