Oakland vs. Buffalo

             The Oakland Raiders and the Buffalo Bills are two teams that are on the rise and should contend for a playoff spot for years to come. Although it will be tougher for the Bills per the AFC east being a much better division, they are both blue coller teams that don't get much respect but are a competitive in most of the games they play. This is why I belive this weeks matchup between the two should be a hard fought close game, with the Bills ending up with the W.

             Offensively, I give The edge to the Bills. Ryan Fitzpatrick is a much better Quarterback than Jason Campbell. This is the first year Fitz has been the unquestioned starter to begin the season in his entire NFL career, and as his week 1 performance may indicate he continues to become a better QB with every game he plays, numbers don't lie and after one week he has the best QBR in the league. The same can not be said about Campbell and although his team did win in week 1 it was not because of him. If the bills can contain the run and force Campbell to (try) and beat us on his own with a lackluster receiving core, there is no doubt the Bills will prevail. I do give credit where it is due and Darren Mcfadden is a beast, but one man can not beat us on his own and we will game plan to contain him and not let him run wild like he did in denver. Fred jackson is a very good under rated RB and C.j. Spiller is the most gifted and skilled player on our team even though he hardly plays he is a threat to go all the way no matter where he is on the field, if the bills ever truly utilize his skills he could make us a lot better on O.  Our receivers are better than the raiders who have one of the worst receiving units in the league although probably the fastest. Steve Johnson is a stud and David Nelson is a very good young receiver, Donald jones may not be a true #2 WR but with opposing defenses focused on all our other offensive threats incuding Roscoe Parrish who I did not mention, he can fly under the radar and make some plays for us like his week 1 TD.  Our offensive line may not be good, but I don't think they are bad either. Eric Wood and Andy Levitre are both very good Lineman and our tackles are the biggest flaw, all in all we only allowed 1 sack in week 1 which is not to shabby for (the worst O-Line in the league) or so i hear. I did not mention Brad Smith yet but expect him to pick up some key first downs for us out of the wild wing.

                Defensively I see Both teams as equals. The Raiders D-line may be one of the best in the NFL but the Bills also have a very Good D-line themselves. Houston/Seymour/Kelly/Shaughnessy should be a tough matchups for Our young O-line But Dareus/Williams/Edwards are also very big and physical and have the potential to be one of the best D-lines also. I give the slightest of edges to the Raiders here but only because they play a 4-3 and we play a 3-4, I give a slight edge to our linebackers Merriman/Barnett/Davis/Kelsey over Groves/Mclain/Wimbley. So all together comparing both teams front 7 I see them as equals talent wise. In the secondary I see equal talent also. With Mcgee out, Mckelvin must step his game up and be the CB we expected when drafting him in the first round in 2008, I think he is finally ready to be a decent CB and could potentially end up staying our #1 CB. Florence is a very under rated player who has what it takes to be starter and Aaron Williams will be a very good player for the Bills and as our nickle corner he should get important reps on the field to improve his overall skill set. As we all know the Raiders will miss nnamdi and i honstly do not know much about Routt or Johnson. Jairus Byrd is a great FS as is Michael Huff and George Wilson and B. Scott are both solid as is T. Branch. Overall Both defenses are decent and I don't think either one is significantly better than the other.

                   The game is in Buffalo so we do have the home field advantage and the Raiders are coming off a short week and travling all the way across the country to the east where they have notoriously not played good. The last time the Bills and Raiders played the Bills squeaked out a 1 point victory 24-23. look for the Bills to win this game 24-17 or something like that.