Buffalo Bills

Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets: Three Keys to the Game

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Nov 12, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA;The New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills line up in the second half at MetLife Stadium. The Bills defeated the Jets 22-17 Mandatory Credit: William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

The Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets Week 2 matchup kicks off on Thursday at 8:25 p.m. in Buffalo.

Well, I think it’s fair to say that things didn’t go the way anyone expected they would Sunday down in Baltimore.

The Buffalo Bills couldn’t move the ball, either through the air or on the ground, as the offense sputtered throughout the day. However, on a positive note, the defense played very well against the Baltimore Ravens. The Bills limited the AFC North team to just 308 yards of total offense, which was good for ninth-best Week 1.

Facing a much tougher opponent Thursday night in the New York Jets, the Bills are going to need to bring their A game if they want to win this crucial early-season showdown. With the New England Patriots upsetting the Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday, there is some extra importance to Thursday’s game because neither the Bills nor the Jets want to lose any more ground to the Tom Brady-less Patriots.

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Playing in front of a rowdy New Era Field crowd will only help the Bills as they attempt to right the ship before a couple of tough tests against the Cardinals and Patriots in the coming weeks.

Each week during the regular season, this column will provide the three ways the Bills can secure a victory. So, without further ado, here’s the Three Keys to the Game for the matchup against the Jets, which kicks off Thursday at 8:25 p.m. from New Era Field.

Sep 11, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy (25) carries during the third quarter against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens won 13-7. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Run the Ball

Last week I noted that the Bills had to feed LeSean McCoy the football. And while they did that, for the most part, offensive coordinator Greg Roman didn’t get McCoy the ball in creative ways.

By game’s end, McCoy got 20 touches but was only able to muster up 70 yards of offense. Now, while 20 touches isn’t terrible, ideally he should get more. The star running back wasn’t used correctly.

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McCoy wasn’t often given the ball in space and the offense became predictable, allowing the Ravens to key in on him and take him out of the game. He was often forced to make cutbacks that weren’t there because the offensive line didn’t give him enough running lanes. In fact, according to Pro Football Focus, none of Buffalo’s six offensive linemen that saw serious playing time graded out above a score of 76.1, which was Jordan Mills score.

Thursday night has to be different.

Buffalo needs to run the ball more than 24 times if they want to be successful. And it’s not just McCoy either. Tyrod Taylor needs to carry the ball, too. For a guy who was so successful as a runner last year, the fact that Taylor carried the ball just five times, and not often on a designed run, is a bit surprising. Not to mention, Taylor only kept the ball once on a designed run, according to Pro Football Focus.

Taylor’s running ability will open up the offense for the Bills and will allow McCoy to get more chunks of yards at a time. McCoy’s longest run Sunday was 16 yards, and he has much more in the tank than that.

With fullback Jerome Felton back into the fold, expect the Bills to gain more than 65 yards on the ground.

Sep 11, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor (5) his hit by Baltimore Ravens nose tackle Brandon Williams (98) at M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens won 13-7. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Better Offensive Line Play

The offensive line must improve Thursday night.

You can rag on LeSean McCoy and Tyrod Taylor all you want, but the offensive line is much to blame for their ineffectiveness.

Believe it or not, but Taylor was pretty successful Sunday when he had a clean pocket to throw from, unlike when he was under pressure.

“Taylor was efficient when the Bills’ offensive line kept him clean, completing 92.9 percent of his passes. That number dropped significantly when that wasn’t the case, and he completed just 25.0 percent of the passes he attempted while under pressure.” – Pro Football Focus

Not to mention, the Bills run game finished with just 65 yards, good for a three-way tie for 24th. For a team that led the league in rushing in 2015, that’s extremely disappointing. This is the exact same offensive line from a year ago, and considering all the success they had in 2015, they should be able to pick right back up from where they left off.

With left tackle Cordy Glenn possibly being out this week, the Bills will need swing tackle Cyrus Kouandjio to step up his game once again. He filled in nicely when Glenn went down with an ankle injury against the Ravens.

The Bills will be facing a much tougher task up front with the Jets than they did against the Ravens.

The Jets were able to reel off seven sacks against the Cincinnati Bengals this past Sunday, and that was without Sheldon Richardson, who returns from his one-game suspension Thursday.

“We have a lot of work to do and we’ve got to look at what we’re doing and asking our guys and come up with something,” Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan said, via BuffaloBills.com. “This defense that we’re getting ready to play is as talented as there is in the league. You’ve got Sheldon Richardson coming back and Big ‘Mo’ (Muhammad Wilkerson) coming back. So it’s a talented team, there’s no doubt about that.”

The offensive line will need to step it up if Buffalo has any hopes of finding success offensively this week.

Sep 1, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan puts his arms up during the third quarter against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Lions win 31-0. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Limit the Penalties

Yes, this was one of the three keys last week, but it bears repeating again. The Buffalo Bills must limit their penalties Thursday, especially the ones that can kill a drive or extend an opponent’s.

There was a point in the second half against the Ravens where the Bills had given Baltimore four first downs because of penalties. That is unacceptable.

Buffalo’s eight penalties were fifth-highest Week 1, while its 89 penalty yards was fourth-highest in the league.

Here are what some of the movers and shakers had to say about the penalty problems and how they’re looking to limit them moving forward.

“Some of them you can excuse,” Rex Ryan said, via NewYorkUpstate.com. “The one that (Nickell) Robey got, he’s trying to make a tackle, and he got the back of the helmet. So that one, I understand. Jerry (Hughes), trying to make a play on the quarterback, he thinks (Flacco)’s running with the football. I can live with that penalty because they’re going to full speed. That’s what we’re trying to do. But there’s some that I just can’t live with. Like the field goal. You have to be smart there. We know the rules. And there’s other ones that are just frustrating.”

“I don’t know how many penalties we had, but we had too many.,” Bills safety Corey Graham said. “We had some critical ones, I know that, especially personal fouls, and they got the ball back. We’ve just got to be smarter. We’ve got to find ways to avoid those penalties, because when it all boils down, good teams don’t kill themselves like that.”

The Bills have been saying that they’re going to fix this problem for over a year now. It’s at the point where words no longer mean anything. Actions speak louder than words, and with a crucial divisional matchup on tap, Thursday would be a great time to show some discipline.

Sep 11, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Buffalo Bills defense reacts after sacking Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens won 13-7. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Prediction: Bills 24, Jets 20

The Bills have a tough task ahead of them Thursday.

Luckily, they are playing in the homey confines of New Era Field and a crowd that is witnessing its first home primetime game in four years. Oh, and it’s also the home opener and the Bills are finally retiring Hall of Fame defensive end Bruce Smith’s jersey.

“If you played this game at a certain level, you would want to be recognized as being one of the best, which is being in Pro Football’s Hall of Fame,” Smith said, via BuffaloBills.com. “And then, the ultimate–never having your jersey worn again by another player. That leaves you speechless.”

If the defense can match the level of production from Sunday, it should find similar success against the Jets. While the Jets’ playmakers are significantly better, Joe Flacco is an upgrade over Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Not to mention, the Bills have had success against Fitzpatrick during his tenure with the Jets.

“Our secondary doing a great job of disguising converges, making him really hold onto the ball, and then us up front really doing our job of creating havoc,” Buffalo Bills hybrid Jerry Hughes said, via Buffalo News. “I think that’s a great recipe we have of our back seven doing a tremendous job playing coverage.”

If the Bills can get their running game going, Tyrod Taylor will have more time to exploit the Jets secondary, similar to how he did last season.

But, at the end of the day, this game might come down to the final possession, and Taylor will either need to show off his clutch gene or Rex Ryan and Co. will need to formulate a plan to foil the Jets offense on final drive.