The Buffalo Bills are looking to come out of these final two games with two things. One of them is healthy going into the playoffs, and the other is playing tighter on defense, which has been a huge issue for them in the past few games. The Bills can use this week against the New York Jets and next week to fine-tune a few issues they have on both sides of the ball and get ready for the playoffs. This is the perfect week, as they face a Jets team that’s not quite sure what direction they want to go. From firing their head coach to seemingly going all in on this season by acquiring Davante Adams at the deadline.
Everyone expects the Bills to win, but how will they gameplan for this Jets team? There are some obvious weaknesses in New Jersey, and the Bills can use that to their advantage on Sunday. Let’s take a look at two specific weaknesses of this Jets team.
The secondary
The Jets' passing defense has been one of the best in the league, with Fox Sports ranking the unit as the fifth best. So why add that unit to a list of Jets weaknesses? Well, star corner Sauce Gardner is dealing with a hamstring injury that forced him to miss practice on Thursday. Jets reporter Rich Cimini implied on Thursday that Gardner likely won’t play when he tweeted out “(Davante) Adams has a better chance of playing than Gardner does”. For reference, Adams is dealing with a hip injury.
If he misses Sunday’s matchup, that would leave Brandin Echols as the starter alongside DJ Reed. Backup nickel corner Michael Carter II is also dealing with a back injury and was only able to practice on a limited basis Thursday. The Jets' secondary is depleted, and with Josh Allen having a tremendous month of December, it’s looking like this could be a blowout in the Bills' final home regular season game this season.
The offensive line
The Jets completely reshaped their offensive line in the off-season, adding veteran Tyron Smith, rookie Olu Fashanu, John Simpson, and Morgan Moses, among others. However, it seems to have gotten worse from last year. The Jets' offensive line ranks as one of the worst in the league, with Pro Football Network ranking them 25th in the league.
The Bills' pass rush has been very disruptive this season. Even though at times they don’t get the sack numbers, you can always count on one or two of them in the backfield. The duo of Von Miller and Greg Rousseau have combined for 11.5 sacks, 29 quarterback hits, and 48 pressures on the season. Aaron Rodgers, who’s dealing with a knee injury, won’t be as mobile as he wants to be on Sunday. That’ll cause issues for him as this front seven has had a dominant season and always causes havoc for the offense.