With little experience playing in these conditions, Mark Sanchez threw five interceptions. All of a sudden, Jets fans were rethinking the “Sanchize” tag.

With no passing game, the Jets turned to their running game and dominated the line of scrimmage in a record-setting performance. Jones and Washington combined for 309 yards, including Jones’ career high of 210.

Despite dominating in the ground game, the Jets offense was unable to score in the second half. Buffalo would win in overtime on Ryan Lindell’s 47-yard field goal.

The Jets are at the bottom of the pack in the wildcard race and have a lot to play for. With AFC East contenders New England and Miami both coming off losses, hopes for grabbing a playoff berth grow brighter.

This time around the Jets and Bills meet in Toronto at the Rogers Centre. Fortunately for Sanchez, the Rogers Centre has a retractable dome roof. Still, don’t expect a lot of deep passes from the rookie.

Buffalo’s defense has one huge strength: defending the pass. Their twenty-one interceptions rank them 2nd in the NFL. This is all thanks to their outstanding safeties.

Free safety Jairus Byrd, a contender for defensive rookie of the year, has snagged eight picks, two of which came against New York.

Byrd is tied for the league lead with Darren Sharper and will surely continue at his present pace if the Jets do not respect his playmaking ability. Schottenheimer will call a conservative game against this defense.

He will choose to work Buffalo’s corners on underneath routes and stay away from passes down the field.

Back up strong safety George Wilson has solidified a starting role and grabbed three interceptions himself. He can also get it done in the box and has racked up 72 tackles to go along with two sacks.

Wilson is a tough, instinctive player but lacks the burst to handle man coverage. If the Jets can get him matched one-on-one on a receiver they will have an advantage.

The Bills have been banged up all year and will have Byrd at less than 100%, if he goes at all. Byrd has been limited in practice with a groin injury and is listed as questionable.

Standout CB Terrence McGee has been bothered by a knee injury all season and is listed as questionable as well. With all the injuries in the secondary, one would think this would be a great game to attack this group but with Sanchez’ accuracy problems, Rex Ryan will keep his pass attempts limited to 15-20, if possible.

McGee will likely be matched up against Braylon Edwards who has a significant height advantage over the Bills’ corner. McGee gives away six inches so Schottenheimer should call Edward’s number on fade routes near the goal line.

The Bills’ best run-stopper is middle linebacker Paul Posluszny, who is the team’s second leading tackler with 69. Posluszny is a hardnosed player who likes to attack the line of scrimmage but despite his toughness, he makes more plays with speed and quickness.

At 6-1, 238 he is small for the position and can be engulfed by bigger linemen. The Jets will have an advantage in the run game if they can get their big guards on him. He is an excellent fit for the Bills’ 4-3 defense because of his speed so the Jets must overpower him with size.

The Bills’ best pass rusher is defensive end Aaron Schobel who usually saves his best games for the Jets. He leads the team with six sacks and should provide a challenge for D’Brickashaw Ferguson. But with few other legitimate pass rushers, the Jets can help Ferguson with RB’s and TE’s chipping Schobel at the line.

Former Jaguar defensive tackle Marcus Stroud, all six feet six inches and 310 pounds of him, is the wide body most defenses need to plug the middle but Stroud has been injury prone and inconsistent since coming to Buffalo.

Nick Mangold had a lot of success against Stroud in their last meeting primarily because of the Jets’ play calling. They ran a lot of stretch plays and Thomas Jones broke off some big runs hitting the cutback lanes.

Mangold washed Stroud down the line, as did the rest of the Jets’ offensive line, and Jones had some huge holes to run through when the Bills over-pursued. Although Buffalo may make adjustments, their over-pursuit represents a weak spot for them to this point.

As a counter, the Jets should have success attacking the Bills’ edges. With starters Kawika Mitchell and Keith Ellison out with injuries, the Jets have a decided advantage over Bryan Scott and Chris Draft who are better suited to back up roles.

This game projects to be a low scoring affair with the performance of both defenses factoring into the game’s outcome. But the Jets’ have a clear advantage in the trenches and should be able to control the line of scrimmage.

The Bills will stack the line to force Sanchez to beat them so he must convert some key third downs to get the Jets on the board. But do not expect Ryan to take many chances with his young signal caller.

He will have Schottenheimer call safe plays with a lot of check downs rather than risking balls being thrown up for grabs in what should be a close game.


Keys

- Avoid Jairus Byrd, period.

- Attack. Attack. Attack. Buffalo struggles to stop the run so pounding the ball with Thomas Jones will be critical.

- Attack Buffalo’s corners with underneath routes.

- Take advantage of Braylon Edwards’ size advantage over Terence McGee and throw fade routes to him near the goal line.

- When running inside, leverage the size advantage of Moore and Faneca and get them locked up on Posluszny.

- Attack the Bills’ edges. Bryan Scott and Chris Draft are reserve players and may not be able to hold up against consistent run action.


Written by Dave Evans