Distractions dominate Bills in preparing to host Cardinals

SHORT-TERM MEMORY: Bills cornerback Stephon Gilmore is looking forward to putting behind his performance against the Jets.

Head coach Mike Mularkey officially named Willis McGahee the team’s new starting tailback, supplanting Travis Henry. “We had one thrown the other night and he didn’t catch it”. I suspect we’ll see a lot of quick-hitting plays – perhaps a few more screens, and giving some of his players the opportunity to gain yards after the catch. “Although every game’s important, and we approach them that way, you never want to hurt the team or hurt yourself worse”.

Seattle Seahawks running back Thomas Rawls is also listed as doubtful for the team’s games against the 49ers with a shin injury that has completely limited his ability this week. It is the key to unlocking the passing game outside the numbers, which is really his strength as a pocket passer. If he can not get it going in the running game he is still a threat in the passing game, which is what makes that more unsafe to defenses. But Ryan truly believes Lynn can step in and get a sputtering offense on track. The Cardinals will be the first of four games the Bills will play against the NFC West. Simply, that is just not the case that the Bills will be dealing with.

Sammy Watkins’ surgically repaired foot got stepped on during a walk-through earlier this week, Bills coach Rex Ryan revealed Friday.

“We’ve been beat (by) six points in both games”, Bills coach Rex Ryan said. If he is on the field, he commands attention from the defense.

Buffalo’s defense will absolutely need to put pressure on Carson Palmer or else he will be able to pick out any of his targets, and we all know how unsafe Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd can be in the open field. Buffalo’s front line isn’t good enough to generate pressure alone, not good news to a secondary facing a Cardinals pass-catching troika of Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, and John Brown.

He earned the award at the expense of the Bills defense. Complicating matters even more is the fact that Darby has a hamstring injury, and there’s at least a chance he won’t play. “It was the toughest conditions I’ve ever played in”.

The Cardinals racked up 416 yards offensively. This is the first time the teams have met since Week 8 of the 2004 season. On the other hand, the Bills staff will likely be coaching for their jobs over the final stretch of the season and they’d certainly like to have the team’s most skilled offensive player out there during that pursuit.

While the Bills thrived in the poor weather conditions, the Cardinals struggled managing just a shade over 200 yards of total offense, including just 101 passing yards for Arizona QB Josh McCown. Opposing defenses have been able to get to Carson Palmer through the first two weeks of the season, and Humphries has been a big reason for it.

He admits that this game means more to him than usual, and he has been in the ears of the Bills’ special teamers on what to expect. If he can get in the backfield against the pass as quickly as I think that he can with this matchup, he can be the driving force of some turnovers and shortened fields for the Bills.

Arizona is 12-1 ATS in their last 13 road games against a team with a losing home record and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games in September while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall.