The Buffalo Bills are back on the road this week, but they won’t have to go too far as they have a matchup with the Cleveland Browns who outside of Myles Garrett, is a disaster of a team. Buffalo is coming off back-to-back comeback wins and are feeling great about themselves. As for Cleveland, they are losers of three straight and will be looking to pull off a huge upset.
While the last two games for the Bills have been thriller wins, it shouldn’t be a consistent thing to see them having to crawl out of the hole that they dug in order to win. It’s simple, you beat the teams that are not as good as you right from the start.
As for Buffalo, the first step to not going down early is for the defense to adjust faster than they typically do. The defense has been a huge liability this season, especially against the run. While Cleveland isn’t exactly one of the top teams in terms of rushing the ball, they are not afraid to get physical in the trenches and establish the run.
At the same time, Buffalo also has to make sure that they put a ton of pressure on rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders. With that being said, there are three players on Buffalo’s defense that has lead the way to not let Cleveland get anything going on offense.
Defensive Bills players who have to limit Cleveland's offense in Week 16
DE Joey Bosa
Bosa had a bit of a quiet game against the Patriots, but he did make a great 4th-down stop to essentially end any hope of the Patriots making a comeback late in the 4th quarter. There’s no doubt that Shedeur Sanders can sling the ball down the field, and that’s where Bosa has to come up big and not let the rookie get any momentum going.
If Buffalo doesn’t provide a pass rush against Cleveland, there could be some trap situations throughout this game and that’s the last thing the Bills need.
DE Greg Rousseau
While Rousseau should be able to provide a pass rush, he doesn’t do it on a consistent basis. He is more of the run stopper which is something that he is pretty solid at. As far as the Browns’ rushing attack, this is where Rousseau is going to have to step up and make plays behind the line of scrimmage.
If Buffalo can play good run-defense like they did against Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, they will be in a fantastic spot to win this game with ease.
LB Matt Milano
Matt Milano had himself a big game against the Patriots and without him on the defense, I don’t believe that the Bills would have adjusted the way they did in the second half. He led the Bills with 10 total tackles and 2 sacks. He was playing great sideline-to-sideline football and he’ll be tasked to do the same thing against Cleveland.
Whether it’s plugging the gap against the run or covering Harold Fannin or David Njoku, Milano will be an X-factor in this Sunday’s game.