Buffalo Bills: Keys to victory and final score prediction for Week 8
Stick With the Running Game
In an odd offensive game last week against the Jets, the Buffalo Bills didn’t call a designed run for a running back until their third offensive possession. Before that point, the Bills had called all passing plays and could not find any consistency moving the chains with the combination of Josh Allen‘s arm plus his legs. Long story short, the Buffalo offense cannot funnel completely through Josh Allen; opposing defenses have already started neglecting the running game to prepare for the deep passing game and Josh Allen’s ability to scramble.
As the season progresses, the weather will continue to get worse in Buffalo. This means the Bills will need to lean more on their running game to find offensive success. As the weather gets worse it will become more difficult for Josh Allen to throw the ball accurately and equally difficult for the receivers to catch a slippery football.
This seems to be the week that the Bills will get offensive guard Jon Feliciano back on the field. After recently being activated off of injured reserve, Feliciano should bring back and fiery competitive spirit to a Buffalo Bills’ offensive line that has been pushed around in the running game all year so far. Although offensive lineman Cody Ford has already been ruled out for this week, getting Feliciano back should be a big help for the combined backfield of Devin Singletary and Zack Moss.
Last week, the Bills’ leading rusher was Josh Allen with 61 yards, but Zack Moss flashed a couple of times coming in second for the Bills with an efficient 47 yards on only 7 carries. Although the offensive line has not helped out much this season, Singletary has stilled struggled with his rushing efficiency. After a week that Moss flashed more positive plays, expect him to carry a larger workload in Week 8.
Additionally, if the Bills want to find success on offense against the Patriots it will have to come in the ground game first. The Patriots have a very talented secondary and will undoubtably prepare to defend against the Bills threatening air attack.
However, without a true run-stuffing presence on their defensive line, this year and the opt-out of Dont’a Hightower this season, the Patriots have really been struggling to stop opposing ground attacks. The Patriots have consistently shown 7 men in the box this year in attempts to get opposing quarterbacks to audible out of their running play and into a passing play which is the strength of this Patriots defense. The Patriots currently rank 27th in rushing yards allowed this season.