Welcome to this weeks edition of 5 Questions for the Enemy Blogger. The match up brings the Buffalo Bills and former Bears Head Coach Dick Jauron to town. Our guest is Buffalo Bills Blogger Gene Battaglia. Gene Battaglia is the Bills beat reporter for NewsRadio 1180 WHAM in Rochester, as well as the gameday correspondent for Sirius Satellite Radio. He used to cover the Bills for the now defunct Shout! magazine.
Of course, in the interest of fair play there is a reciprocal post on the Bills sub-blog page with responses from yours truly.
Now on to the 5 Questions for the Enemy Blogger!
After seeing what the Bears did to the defending NFC Champion Seahawks, what will the Bills need to do to pull of an upset?
The Bills have nothing to lose this game. They're not supposed win it, right? That's dangerous. Buffalo is a young team, so in my opinion, his has the look of a "trap" game for Chicago. For Buffalo to win, they will need another turnover-free game from J.P. Losman, big special teams play, and for their redzone defense to be on.
Takeo Spikes is a huge piece to the Bills defense and if he's not in the game, it clearly shows. Will Spikes be healthy enough to play Sunday?
Actually, I respectfully disagree with the premise of your question. Angelo Crowell has done a fine job filling in for Spikes the last three games, with 2 INTs. That being said, Spikes is the leader on the defense, and right now it looks to be 50/50 if he plays. I would have thought he would have played last week against the Vikings, until he suffered a setback and did not practice on Friday. We'll see.
How much do Bills fans HATE Scott Norwood?
Not much. If you ask any Bills fan, indeed SB XXV against the Giants is the one loss that hurts the most. Norwood's kick is the play people remember, but any Bills fan can rattle off a number of plays in that
game that had they been made, it doesn't come down to Norwood:
* Andre Reed drop on 3rd and 1.
* The failure to tackle Mark Ingram on 3rd and 12.
* Bruce Smith not stripping the ball from QB Jeff Hostetler in the
endzone - a safety instead of a touchdown.
* Cornelius Bennett dropping an interception in the fourth quarter.
* Jim Kelly not calling Thurman Thomas' number more, especially on the
last drive.
If you are a Bears fan and remember any of these plays, I commend you. For Buffalo fans, it is like it happened yesterday.
It appears that the offense has some up and coming weapons such as Willis McGahee, Josh Reed, J.P. Losman, and Roscoe Parrish. What is the main area the Bills offense needs to work on to become a playoff team?
The tight end play has been non-existent. I would recommend not
covering Robert Royal or Kevin Everett, because they likely won't get
many looks. Losman is the biggest key, though. He needs to show
continued improvement, week by week.
Ok, Over or Under? Willis McGahee rushes for 100 yards?
What, no question about Dick Jauron's return to Chicago? Willis will not get
100 yards this week. But the Bills give the Bears a better game than
the Seahawks.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-05-2006 @ 10:44AM
albaNY Hawker said...
C'mon Dave...no credit as to where you got this idea from??!! Man, after the way your team bitch-slapped mine up and down Soldier field last week, you'd think you'd at least throw me a bone here!!!
Glad to see this catching on. Bluefoot would be proud.
Reply
10-05-2006 @ 12:42PM
Shady McBears Fan said...
Good call Hawk, these questions really help analyze key aspects of the week's match-up... And they're pretty funny too, especially the train comment from Dave on the Bills' page.
As far as this weekend goes, Jauron will give the Bears a run for their money. I think the players will get up for their coach much like the Lions did for Martz when they played the Rams last week.
However, the Bears are just too fast and talented on Defense to allow McGahee more than 80 yds. As Long as Rex protects the ball on offense we'll be comin' out on top. Final score predictions will come later this week, just hang in there for now.
Reply
10-05-2006 @ 11:12AM
Aaron said...
I agree with the bills blogger that the bears have to guard against a let down after the seahawk game. Young teams with talent and nothing lose can be dangerous, trick plays, going deep. I think the bears though have too many veteran leaders to have a let down though. I can't imagine bills fan's pain of watching them lose four straight superbowls, my wife's family is from the Rochester area and she said it was one of the most depressing things listening to her uncles talk about it.
Reply
10-05-2006 @ 11:33AM
David said...
Hawk, I mentioned it in last weeks edition! LOL. I shouldn't have to do it everytime. What's up with Bluefoot anyway? He quitting?
Aaron. I agree too, it is somewhat of a trap game. Here's my thing though. Lovie WILL NOT let that happen. The veterans on the team WILL NOT let that happen. Yes they could get beat...but it won't be because they took the Bills lightly.
Reply
10-05-2006 @ 1:04PM
Aaron said...
dave, I doubt it too, I don't even think a minor let down would cost the game, there would have to be a series of things to happen for us to lose, I outlined some of them on the bills blog. However, I think mark foley has a better chance to hold office again than the chances of the bears losing to the bills.
Reply