***TNF IN THE SWAMP - NYJ @ BUFF***
***NEW YORK JETS @ BUFFALO BILLS***
What better way to kickoff week 2 than the Rex Ryan bowl?! The 0-1 Jets head into Buffalo to take on the 0-1 Bills. Needless to say this is a HUGE game for both as ESPN's Adam Schefter made clear on twitter earlier today when he stated that under the current playoff format, only 12% of teams make it to the playoffs after starting the season 0-2. On paper the Jets have the better team in pretty much all aspects of comparison and it isn't necessarily close. However tonight's game features a division rivalry with some bad blood in the mix. The Jets fired former Head Coach Rex Ryan at the end of the 2014 season, and Ryan made it clear he wasn't happy about it and still holds a grudge by making it a point to beat the Jets in both matches when he faced them as the new Head Coach of the Bills last year. The second matchup determined the playoff fate of the Jets as they controlled their own destiny and the Bills crushed all hopes in a home game where NY QB Ryan Fitzpatrick played poorly and took most of the blame. Fitzpatrick's history against Rex Ryan teams is awful, and I don't think it will get any easier tonight. Now let me be clear that I am not high on this Bills team this season and am well aware of their injuries and suspensions and that being said I do not see them winning many games. I even had Baltimore as one of the Muck picks last Sunday. However I did have this game circled as one of their wins. Rex Ryan is now teamed up with his brother Rob Ryan AKA Bad Santa as the Defensive Coordinator of the Bills this season. I know two Ryans don't make a right but I got to believe with Rex's help, Rob's defenses will improve this year being able to comfortably bounce ideas off each other. There is no doubt in my mind that Rex wants this game more than anything, and being that he is said to be on the hot seat already in Buffalo, I think his guys will give it everything they got tonight to get the job done. Not that they need any added fuel to the fire being that it is a division rivalry at home on the Prime Time stage and the season is extremely young where anything can happen. There is no reason to not have high hopes at this point. Bills WR Sammy Watkins is banged up and was questionable to play tonight but he is going to give it a go. Last year Watkins owned Jets CB Darelle Revis and if he is healthy enough to play tonight, I expect more of the same. Especially after seeing how badly Revis got owned last weekend on the deep ball by Bengals WR AJ Green. While Watkins is no Green, he can certainly beat defenses over the top on the deep ball. The Jets defensive line is arguably the best in the game. They piled up 7 sacks last weekend against Andy Dalton but don't think the Bills offensive line didn't take note of this. While I don't expect the Bills to be able to stop the Jets defensive from getting an effective pass rush, I like QB Tyrod Taylor's legs to come into play here to counter. I expect a lot of running from Taylor tonight and using his legs to keep drives alive. I also like him to use TE Charles Clay and RB LeSean McCoy in the passing game out of the backfield to pick up chunks of yardage. The Bills offense looked like garbage last week in Baltimore but they also faced Tyrod's old team who probably had the edge on how to slow him down as well as a far superior coach with a long preperation time. I think their offense will look much more prepared tonight. This is mostly a Fitzpatrick fade as I can see him throwing an interception or two tonight under the pressure as the stadium goes wild and Buffalo feeds off the energy under a full moon from the Bills Mafia. NY players have tried to downplay this one throughout the week saying it isn't necessarily a "must-win" game but we all know it is. I think that is just an effort to lessen the pressure on them after falling short last week against Cincy, but it won't work. Not to look ahead, but I like the Jets chances of defeating Buffalo at home in the last game of the season, maybe with some playoff implications on the line again perhaps? One can only hope. Taking the boys in the Color Rush red tonight to get rowdy and win an ugly hard hitting battle that will make for another classic chapter in this book. BILLS PK
