It's that time of the week again: Brendan Harrington, Matt Warren and I are planning out tonight's Buffalo Rumblings Podcast, in which we'll be breaking down yet another Buffalo Bills game, and we're looking for your feedback from yesterday's 27-20 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Offensive Player of the Game
Despite an ugly early interception, EJ Manuel was involved in all three Bills touchdowns in the win, so he's someone to consider. The team's running backs (Fred Jackson had 88 yards, C.J. Spiller had 68, and Frank Summers had 30 with a touchdown) in the win. Robert Woods was in sync with Manuel all day, hauling in five passes for 82 yards with a score. Buffalo's offensive line played some of its best football of the season in the second half, as well. It's nice to have options here, isn't it?
Defensive Player of the Game
A lot went wrong for the Bills defensively - Jordan Todman, for example, became the latest obscure running back to explode onto the scene against Buffalo with 153 yards from scrimmage, 109 of them on the ground - but they did make plays when needed. Aaron Williams recorded his fourth pick of the season to set up a field goal, then forced a Denard Robinson fumble at the goal line to negate a Jags touchdown in one of his best performances of the season. Nickell Robey forced and recovered a fumble just prior to halftime to set up a crucial field goal, and also recorded a sack. Stephon Gilmore recorded a last-minute interception to seal the win. Kyle Williams, Marcell Dareus, Jerry Hughes and Manny Lawson all recorded sacks, as well. Again: options.
Turning Point of the Game
There was not an awful lot of ebb and flow to this game, and one would think that the Bills' 17-0 run in the second quarter was the turning point of the game. Then again, things were not set in stone until Gilmore's late interception...
Goat of the Game
Nate Hackett might deserve some mention here. He helped the Bills' offense turn itself around by going back to a power running game and utilizing play-action off of it, but his screen-heavy game plan early helped set the stage for some of Buffalo's worst offensive football of the season in the first quarter. Jairus Byrd also struggled a bit on Sunday, taking a bad angle on Ace Sanders' 12-yard touchdown pass. We're certain that you can come up with some other candidates here all on your own, so have at it.