EL BARRIO, EL FALLS – Happy Monday, everybody! As per our weekly Small Town Market Watch, the Buffalo Bills played the national Sunday night game. That meant the stores were less hectic, and more was on the shelves. Another day in small-town Buffalo. Anyway, here are the topics for today: Bills Win, Jets Lose and Giants Lose.
BILLS WIN
The BILLS are first in the AFC EAST and AFC overall. Da Bills are pretty good but this Green Bay team is not that good. The decision to trade away Davante Adams and replace him with younger receivers has not worked out. The Bills may or may not have found their new Thurman Thomas in James Cook or Devin Singletary. There has been a lot of hope for Singletary but looks to have finally improved in his play to become more of a threat. Cook seems to be developing into the other half of the 1-2 punch at RB the Bills need. The two weren’t the key to the win as it was more Josh Allen, TE Dawson Knox and WR Stefon Diggs but the improvement of the running game meant that the Packers had to keep enough men in the box. On the other side of the ball, the Bills defense remains formidable and makes plays. They had the stops to help Buffalo get out of a couple of bad interceptions thrown by Allen. They forced an interception of their own and got the stops needed to make the second one not matter. If they can keep rolling like this and secure the #1 seed in the playoffs, they will have a great chance at the Super Bowl.
J-E-T-S LOSE
The New England Patriots remain the bogeymen of NY Jets. Gang Green were outplayed in 2/3rds of the game. The Jets defense is as good as any in the league, but they can’t be expected to overcome 3 interceptions by starting QB Zack Wilson. They forced a turnover on downs, an interception and limited the Pats to a field goal. But they were constantly out there, as the offense struggled. Overall, the Pats were held to one touchdown and 5 field goals, while amassing 6 sacks and a bunch of hurries. Unfortunately, on top of the interceptions, Wilson took bad sacks, missed targets and just did not play well enough. The special teams also missed a key field goal which would have tied the game at 13-13. If the Jets are goning to try the Ray & Jamal Lewis Baltimore Ravens formula, they need to have better QB play – at least Trent Dilfer-level and flawless special teams.
GIANTS LOSE
You can only win ugly for so long… the Jints managed to lose against their former back-up and former Jets starter Geno Smith. At the age of 32, Geno is having a Kurt Warner like re-birth in his career. He is making the Seattle Seahawks’ decision to trade away Russell Wilson look brilliant as they seem to be the team doing far better. The first half was a bit of stalemate but in the second half the Giants defense failed to make key tackles and stops on 3rd down, while the offense failed to make first downs. The special teams fumbled twice. It was a poor performance in all facets of the game and just not what needs to happen to win a game. Smith, meanwhile, was clutch with his throws and using his legs to run when needed. Honestly, I can’t believe it was the same Geno. He was solid, while key players for the Giants failed to show up.
Thanks for reading and feel free to comment below. Come back tomorrow for Ben Whitney, who will have to take comfort in the NY Ranger win as the only positive.
