Joe @buffalowins (2-4)- If the Bills come out of these next two games without two wins, you may want to start combing the head coaching candidates list. The Bills should be able to beat the Vikings/Jets, albeit, Jets looked impressive against NE. The Vikings though? You have to win this game. The Vikings are 28th in scoring and 20th in points given up. Although Minnesota has been respectable with running the football (4.5 yards a carry-11th best), their pass protection has been a mess this year as they have given up 22 sacks (2nd most in the NFL). The Vikings do have some nice receiving weapons with Greg Jennings and Cordarrelle Paterson (37 catches between them), but they only have 3 passing TDs on the season. The Bills front four should dominate the line of the Vikings. On defense, the Vikings rank 22nd in total defense (17th against the run and 22nd against the pass). They are giving up a completion rate of 66% and have 5 INTs on the season. Team have actually thrown the 6th fewest passes against the Vikings defense, but have been rushed on them the 11th most in the NFL. Overall, Minnesota just seems really blah. Of course, the Bills are kinda of blah, but not to the same degree as Minnesota. I just can’t see the Bills losing this game at home. Bills win, 20-7.
Mike Migliore @mmigliore (Record: 3-3)– Basically, if the Bills don’t win this one, all hell is going to break loose in Buffalo next week. The Bills have a recent history of losing home games they’re expected to win (see Tennessee/St. Louis 2012, Tennessee 2011, Cleveland 2009) and a loss this Sunday to a Vikings team that is basically a burning dumpster fire would certainly join that list.
I don’t think it will happen this time, but I’m certainly on guard. Buffalo’s passing game has found a bit of a groove with Kyle Orton, so I expect the offense to put enough points on the board to win provided they can get out of their own way. The defense fell apart in the second half last Sunday, but I would expect them to come back with a stout effort against a team that doesn’t have Adrian Peterson and is starting a rookie quarterback. For the record, I love Teddy Bridgewater and was calling for the Bills to trade up to get him back in May before Minnesota swapped with Seattle at the end of the first round. Hopefully, that’s not something we look back at five years from now and ask “Why didn’t we try to make that trade?” That said, I don’t see him lighting the Bills up on Sunday.
If the Bills lose, all the talk next week will be about when Doug Marrone and possibly Doug Whaley will be canned by Terry Pegula and all that talk will be justified, imo. This game has a high “BOOOOO” potential from the crowd and I can already picture the big VIKING FUNERAL headline on the front page of the Buffalo News if this game goes wrong. So, hopefully the Bills don’t let that happen. The Vikings are pretty bad, so I don’t think we have to worry. Final score: Bills 24, Vikings 7
Chris @2ITB_Buffalo (Record:1-5): The streak continues! Clearly I suck at this but I like the Bills far too much against the Vikes to bet against them this week. I’ll take Buffalo’s defense over Minnesota’s on-and-off offensive attack. Kyle Orton has stabilized the offense to an extent and I think the Bills move to 4-3 this week with a 27-17 win.
Michael @manecci: Bills – 5.5 over Minnesota – I ramble and say nothing of any value. I’ve taken some flack from some people because I’m picking these Bills games against spread. I don’t care (Joe’s note: When you win the picks championship for the site and receive a Genny cream ale 40, its going to have a Barry Bonds asterisk next to it cause NONE of us are picking with the spread!!!:P). I improved my record to 6-0 when I predicted the Patriots would cover last week. This Sunday’s game doesn’t move my needle. The Vikings stink and the Bills are better and should win easily. I have nothing more to say about this, because all I know about the Vikings is that they’re getting a new house to play football in, their star running back beat his son with a tree branch, and they play football where Prince is from. Bills 21 Vikings 10. Other games this week to bet your paycheck on: Baltimore -7 over Atlanta, New Orleans +2.5 over Detroit, and in my upset of the week Jacksonville +5.5 over Cleveland. Look for the Jags to win that game out right.
Brad Gelber (@BradleyGelber) 3-3- If you read my weekly piece, you know that I really don’t take much away from the Patriots game other than the Bills are now at .500. I don’t think the season is over & I don’t think doomsday has once again arrived. All that being said, I like the Bills in a bounce back game here. An Adrian Petersonless Minnesota team doesn’t scare me at all especially with Teddy Bridgewater at QB. I think the Bills make a statement here that the Patriots are a weird, singular phenomenon that they can’t seem to overcome. Final score: Bills 27, Vikings 13
Brett Ludwiczak – @BLeez17 – 1-5- If I was smart I would just pick against the Bills the rest of the year since when I pick the Bills to lose they win and when I pick them to win they lose. Sadly for the rest of Bills fans out there I’m not smart. I’m counting on the Bills to bounce back after the tough loss to the Patriots last weekend. Hopefully the Bills can get Spiller and Fred Jackson in gear to provide a little bit of a spark on offense to take some of the pressure off Kyle Orton. Buffalo 23 Minnesota 14
Sean @seancorleone (is 2-4)- The Bills lost to the Patriots. Again. At what point does this nonsense end? I can’t help but to feel extremely dejected after this loss given what this means to the Bills potential playoff hopes. The Bills have now lost 3 of their last 4 games, with all three losses coming to AFC opponents, which doesn’t bode well early on in regards to tiebreak scenarios when it comes to making a run at a wild card spot. As far as the division goes, the Patriots are now at 5-2 after squeaking by the Jets and are undoubtedly in the driver’s seat. On the bright side, New England’s schedule gets a bit harder starting next Sunday. New England’s next 6 games are a gauntlet, and what we absolutely need is for either Chicago or Denver to beat the Pats before they hit their bye week. That is definitely plausible, but none of it will matter if the Bills don’t take care of business on their end. Buffalo needs to start stringing some wins together, and it all starts this week against the Vikings. Minnesota will be coming to town with a rookie QB leading the way, and this will be Bridgewater’s first career start on the road. Last week, Teddy got beat up by a Lions defense that currently leads the league in sacks, and if that game was any indication of things to come, I’m expecting the Bills defense to have similar success. Let’s face it, this is a game that the Bills must win, and they should. The Vikings just aren’t very good right now, and losing to them would be a complete failure. The Bills are the better team here, but that doesn’t really matter because let downs can and will occur in this league; especially when you’re a Bills fan. For some reason, I’m more nervous for these next 2 games than I should be, but I’m not going to get crazy here and predict a loss this week. I just don’t see it happening. I better not be wrong. I’m predicting that the Bills will take care of business and head into their game with the Jets with some boosted confidence. Final score, Bills 34 Vikings 13
Mike Tracz @mtracz (Record: 3-3)- The Vikings have no business winning this game simply because they’re a terrible team. In each of their four losses they’ve scored 10 points or less and have lost by at least 11, and they have two wins only because the teams they’ve beaten are even more terrible (St. Louis, Atlanta). Adrian Peterson’s suspension means the fearsome one-two punch of Matt Asiata and Jerick McKinnon will face a Bills defense that has given up 86 or less yards on the ground to every opponent they’ve faced. So yeah, good luck with that. This is a game that a team on an apparent march to 8-8 like the Bills seem to be ought to be winning, and the only way I see them not capitalizing on a bad opponent at home is through self-destruction via turnovers and/or penalties. Final Score: Bills 24, Vikings 13
Rich (@RDotDeuce, 2-4 record): At this point, you probably shouldn’t trust my predictions, as I’ve gone down in a blaze of glory post Houston. But, this next five game stretch (Minny-Jets-KC-Miami-Jets) leading to Browns game HAS TO be a 5-0 sweep. If they want to make the playoffs, it’s darn near the only way. Beating New England, Green Bay or Denver in December?….yeah. Anyways, I think the banged up Minnesota line, coupled with the ball actually going to Watkins, Spiller, Jackson and Woods will allow for a lot of success down middle of the field. Orton is averaging 300 yards a game so I think he will be blindingly average enough to lead to a 27-17 Bills win.
Frank @fgif (3-3): Minnesota isn’t good this year, but Buffalo often struggles with players they haven’t seen much of. Regardless of the staff, players like Bridgewater and Asiata routinely roll this club. It’s a huge plus that Rudolph won’t be on the field. Buffalo holds on to a scary close one. Bills 20, Vikings 16
Mike Monaghan (@lifewithmikey52, 2-4) The Vikings have no passing attack, they have no running attack, and even if the did, they wouldn’t be getting much against this run D. The Bills know this is a must win, the start of a stretch of games where they should be favored and/or expected to win over the next 6 weeks or so. Tomorrow will be a big day for the Bills D forcing 5 turnovers, Orton won’t have gaudy numbers because he won’t need to. Fred goes over 100 yards with a score and Sammy Watkins scores twice. Bills win big 41-17.
Luke Wachob @lukewachob (2-4) – Patriots games are always frustrating and it’s tempting to overreact to those losses. But the Vikings are not the Patriots, and while I wish Teddy Bridgewater were on our team, he’s no Tom Brady. He’s a rookie in his first road start, up against a fearsome pass rush and a defense that hasn’t let teams get anything going in the run game. On the offensive side of the ball, I’m begging the Bills to stop trying to run straight up the middle behind the NFL’s worst guards. There have been way too many third and long situations for Kyle Orton to overcome the last few weeks. I’d like to see Buffalo pass to set up the run this week, and start to build a new identity under their new QB. That may be asking too much, but in a home game against a rookie QB, I think I can at least call for the win. Bills 30, Vikings 16
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