From The Other Side is back. This week, we welcome back former Spectrum Sports Editor Dave Jarka. You may remember that Dave wrote without a doubt the most in-depth comprehensive preview prior to the firsts Jets/Bills game this season. We welcome him back for a second contribution.
Four weeks after winning its first game of the season, the Buffalo Bills set their sights on sweeping the New York Jets in 2007.
Team Overview
There are some differences that exist between the Buffalo team since they last played the Jets. The Bills with Trent Edwards going under center seem to start exerting a better sense of confidence in its play. As Jets fans saw in the first game of the season, Edwards showed a sense of maturity and smarts that you wouldn’t expect out of a rookie and has secured the job away from J.P. Losman. There was a bit of controversy going into last week’s game against a stingy Baltimore defense, but Edwards managed the game well and once again kept rookie mistakes to a minimal in the Bills’ second win of the year and was thus able to secure the job away from Losman with his performance.
Marshawn Lynch has continued to be a workhorse back for Buffalo, which is something that a team with a young starting quarterback needs. Lynch is averaging 76.2 yards a game and leads the team in touchdowns with four with most of this production coming from some very hard running. He still is underutilized in the passing game.
It has taken a bit of time, but Lee Evans is starting to appear again in the Buffalo passing attack. Edwards originally was not throwing the ball as much as a team’s No. 1 wide out would like an openly admitted that he would prefer Losman at quarterback.  However, the duo was able to connect five times against the Ravens and Evans had a season-high 98 yards and now leads the team in total receiving yards with 211.
Edwards spreading the ball around and concentrating on throwing to the open receiver has also seen more production out of the tight end position. Robert Royal and Michael Gaines both have nine receptions this year with Gaines having the lone receiving score for the Bills.
Slowly but surely, it seems the Bills defense is finally starting to recover from injuries. The returns of Keith Ellison and Coy Wire have re-strengthened Buffalo’s linebackers.  Ellison retook his spot on the weak side while Wire becomes the topic back-up across the board. John DiGiorgio has played well enough in Paul Posluszny’s absence to remain the starter in the middle.
The return of Anthony Hargrove has helped add some extra kick to the pass rush. His continuing presence on the field should help opening things up more for Buffalo’s best pass rusher Aaron Schobel, who still only has 1.5 sacks on the year. John McCargo still remains the defensive tackle with the biggest upside.
The situation in the defensive backfield seems to have stabilized itself. Terrence McGee leads the team with nine passes defended while Jabari Greer has turned out to be a bit of a pleasant surprise opposite of him while Ashton Youboty still battles the injury bug. In Jim Leonhard’s absence, George Wilson has stepped up admirably well. The former practice squad wide receiver took an interception for touchdown in his first career start against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football.
With the team being able to move the ball better offensively, Rian Lindell has had more chances to kick field goals as he is seven for nine on the season. Brian Moorman continues to boom his punts for 45.4 yards per boot and has landed a third of his kicks inside the 20-yard line. McGee and Parrish both are potent on their kick returning abilities.
The Match-Up
Expect to see higher statistics from Edwards this week after putting in a good effort against Baltimore last week. He and Evans are starting to get some chemistry together while maintaining the trend of throwing to the open receiver.
With the loss of Jonathan Vilma for the remainder of the year, look for Lynch to be able to find increased running room in the New York defense although Lynch wasn’t exactly the “Jet Killer” like Willis McGahee is.
If Chad Pennington can avoid the mistakes he made against the Bills earlier this season, we could see another big day out of Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery. Buffalo’s pass defense has improved, but they are still no where close to being great.
Thomas Jones will find it harder to run on the Bills with the injury returns after a banged up Buffalo squad held him to just 35 yards earlier this year.
In terms of intangibles, it will be a case of momentum vs. disparity with Buffalo coming off its win over the Ravens and the Jets currently on a four game skid. Coincidentally, the last time these two teams clashed the shoes were on the other feet with the Bills being winless and New York had just come off a victory over Miami. It turned out to be a fairly even match-up with the home team (Buffalo) walking away with the win. Thus in this sense, the Jets will have the advantage which is buffered as well by the fact that this will be Edwards first NFL career start on the road.
However, I think the biggest “X-factor” comes down to Pennington. With Kellen Clemens waiting in the wings, either Pennington will either sink or swim this week as it looks like his job is on the line on a weekly basis. Pennington should be able to swim in the choppy water of the Hudson River as he as proved to have a higher quarterback rating at home than on the road. So thus, it looks as the stars are aligned for a second Jets win.
