Predicting the Buffalo Bills record against the NFC West in 2020
Week 10 at Arizona Cardinals
Coming off their last game against the Seahawks, the Buffalo Bills travel to Arizona to face the very young and talented Cardinals. Similar to the Bills, the Cardinals added an elite level wide receiver, DeAndre Hopkins, via trade during this offseason.
After acquiring Hopkins from the Houston Texans, the Cardinals have a strong group of pass catchers with Hopkins, Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk. As established before, the Bills secondary may have trouble this year against teams with a deep group of pass catchers and that includes the Cardinals now.
Additionally, the Bills defense may have to treat Kyler Murray similarly to Wilson the week before by applying pressure but also containing him in the pocket. Murray is a young and gifted quarterback with loads of potential. Consequently, the Buffalo defense may see some things they aren’t typically used to from the Quarterback position.
On the other side of the ball, the Cardinals have a talented secondary but their defense generally gets weaker as you get closer to the line of scrimmage. The most intriguing defender on the Cardinals is rookie linebacker Isaiah Simmons, who was selected eighth overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Simmons showed the ability play on all three levels of the field during his time at Clemson. He played a decent amount of snaps at safety, traditional middle linebacker, and even contributed some solid snaps as an edge rusher. Aside from Simmons, the Bills will have to pay extra attention to edge rusher Chandler Jones in this matchup as he has a knack for getting after the opposing quarterback. During his eight years in the league, Jones has averaged 12 sacks per season after setting his career high with 19 sacks last season.
Expect the Bills to attack the relatively weak defensive line of the Cardinals by establishing the running game. Singletary and Moss should be able to move the chains effectively in this game, but when the down and distance dictates passing, the Bills offense has the personnel to execute in clutch situations.
The Buffalo Bills have a solid chance to take advantage of the young and inexperienced Cardinals personnel in this game. This advances the Bills to 2-1 against their NFC West opponents in 2020 with just one team left to play on their schedule.
Prediction: Win (2-1)