It's Saturday, which means that it's prediction day here at Buffalo Rumblings. Tomorrow afternoon, the Buffalo Bills will look to milk a little momentum out of their most recent overtime victory by extending their winning streak on the road against the Carolina Panthers. Carolina, however, has some momentum themselves, as they've won two straight games and are looking to re-establish their dominant home field advantage (minus a playoff loss, the Panthers were 8-0 at Bank of America Stadium in 2008).
Joining us in our prediction festivities is Jaxon from Cat Scratch Reader. His prediction - which has been on the record since Wednesday - and mine are after the jump. Yours will be in the comments section.
Jaxon's game prediction (read the full analysis here):
This could very easily be the week we reach .500. The Bills are battered and bruised, but also showed a lot of heart winning in OT against the resurgent Jets. We are a team who lives by the run, and dies by the run, and they will need to show up this week. On paper we have all the advantages in this matchup, however, we had all the advantages against Washington and Tampa also and the game was closer than I care to remember.
That being said, I think more of the team comes together this week in Charlotte. With a chip on their shoulder to show the hometown crowd that they can come back from their horrendous start I think they play with a vast amount of fire and emotion. Last week I called the game 28-10 Panthers, it was 28-21. So, I might not be as overly confident as last week with my prediction. I think it will be a hard fought game, but with a battered LB corps the Bills can't stop double trouble. Panthers 24, Bills 17
My prediction:
I mentioned last week that the Bills didn't match up well with the Jets because the Jets are a run-oriented, physical football team. I was right. New York ran for 318 yards, and the Jets knocked Trent Edwards out of the football game. Only the kind generosity of Mark Sanchez allowed Buffalo to leave the Meadowlands with a much-needed victory. Carolina is eerily similar to New York - run-oriented, physical and with a very mistake-prone quarterback. Buffalo doesn't match up well with Carolina, so I'm sticking to my guns.
I started the year out 4-0 in predicting Bills games. I've predicted incorrectly in each of the past two weeks - I took them to beat Cleveland (whoops), and I took the Jets at home last week (double whoops). I'll happily continue to pick against them if it means the team's winning streak continues as well. Panthers 31, Bills 17
Your predictions, as always, are encouraged in the comments section.