Buff enough
SURPRISING TEAM TO WATCH
The first quarter of this NFL season is complete and not without its share of surprises — the 0-4 Giants, Bills and Rams at 3-1, the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots struggling at 3-2? Some things have remained the same, such as the Browns and 49ers struggling at 0-4. Here is a look at our High Five to watch for Week 5:
It’s funny how things turn out in sports. Before the season, there was speculation that the Bills, like the Jets, were tanking to position themselves for a high draft pick so they could pick a top quarterback.
There were reports that the team was trying to part ways with quarterback
Tyrod Taylor, they let Pro Bowl caliber cornerback Stephon Gilmore and linebacker
Zach Brown go in the offseason and traded away receiver Sammy Watkins and cornerback Ronald Darby.
Well, look who’s in first place in the AFC East at 3-1 with a chance to go to 4-1 with a game Sunday in Cincinnati against the 1-3 Bengals?
The Bills are one of the surprises of the league right now for two reasons: Their defense is ranked No. 1 in the league and Taylor has played very well. What must former coach Rex
Ryan be thinking right now, watching the Bills defense ranked No. 1? Ryan, who was fired after last season in favor of Sean
McDermott, used to love bragging about the ranking of his defenses.
Ryan is now gas-bagging on TV and watching the Bills yield an NFL-low 13.5 points per game entering Sunday against a Bengals team that is averaging just 16 points per game.
The Buffalo defense has yielded only one passing TD while intercepting six. Bengals QB Andy Dalton has six touchdowns and no interceptions in his past two games.
Taylor completed 77 percent of his passes and two TDs in a Week 3 win over the Broncos. Then he averaged 9.1 yards per attempt and had a 106.7 rating in an upset victory over the Falcons last week.
Most importantly, Taylor and the Bills have not turned the ball over since the opening drive of the season, when Taylor threw an INT to the Jets. The Bills are 3-1 for the first time since 2011 and are seeking to be in first place entering Week 6 for the first time since 2008.