By Nick Wojton / Billswire/usatoday.com
The Week 14 meeting of the 2018 NFL season between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets will be remembered as one thing.
Josh Allen vs. Sam Darnold, episode one.
The crazy thing though, it’s not a matchup between those two since the rookie quarterbacks won’t be taking the field at the same time… at all. But there will be plenty of matchups to watch, though.
With that, here’s three key matchups to watch during Sunday’s Jets – Bills game:
Micah Hyde/ Jordan Poyer vs. Robby Anderson
As of Friday, Anderson is listed on the injury report. The wide receiver apparently tweaked his ankle this week because he was not listed on the injury report until Thursday. With his limited practice we’ll assume he’s still going to give it a go.
In Week 10 when the Bills stomped the Jets 41-10, Anderson didn’t play so he didn’t make any impact then. What Anderson is though, is a speedy option for New York. Quincy Enunwa is their bigger, possession wideout. Expect Anderson to try to take the top off of Buffalo’s secondary with Darnold throwing the ball. That leaves the responsibilities to cover him up to safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde.
Robert Foster vs. Morris Claiborne
So, it’s official. Foster is your second wide receiver for the Bills. Kelvin Benjamin and Andre Holmes are both gone. Along with Foster, Isaiah McKenzie will see some increased playing time as well, but he’s listed as questionable with a toe injury.
Foster is a speedster, because of this, expect Claiborne to be covering him, not Trumaine Johnson. He’ll likely handle Zay Jones. Foster had a chance to make a big impact in last week’s game, but Allen missed him with a deep ball when he was pretty open. Can the two connect on one of those shots this week? Between his two stints with the Bills, Foster has eight catches for 256 yards and a touchdown this season as an undrafted rookie out of Alabama. Not bad.
Jerry Hughes/ Shaq Lawson vs. Kelvin Beachum/ Brandon Shell
With a 41 spot on the scoreboard, the Bills’ offense took a lot of credit during Week 10’s win. Deservedly so as well. They played their best game of the year. But the defense had a heck of a game, too.
The defensive line specifically was a nightmare for Josh McCown that day. More specifically, Buffalo’s defensive ends were the toughest challenge for New York. Both Hughes and Lawson handled their matchups with Beachum and Shell and their stat lines were very similar as well. Both had three tackles, two solo tackles, a sack, a pass defended, and two QB hits. Hughes had two tackles for loss and Lawson had one. A repeat performance would be big, and Lawson saw a significantly higher amount of snaps than Trent Murphy last week. So monitor that, too.