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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 37-14 win over the New York Jets.
Offensive Player of the Game
Well, hey now - this is a much more pleasant subject than it was last week. EJ Manuel, coming off a poor performance and playing a defense that forced him into 23 incomplete passes and eight sacks in Week 3, was as sharp as he's ever been as a pro, completing 20-of-28 passes for 245 yards with two touchdowns - and he didn't have any help from the running game, either. T.J. Graham and Marquise Goodwin deserve some props in the discussion, as well, making big plays with top wideouts Stevie Johnson and Robert Woods out of the lineup.
Defensive Player of the Game
On a day where the defense paved the way to victory, there are plenty of options here. The three big ones: Kyle Williams had two sacks (he now has a career-high seven of them) and a forced fumble that led to a 17-0 Bills lead; Jairus Byrd picked off two passes and recorded a sack in the best performance of his shortened season; and Da'Norris Searcy continued his strong campaign with a third quarter pick-six that put the Bills up 34-7. That's not even the complete list of players worthy of discussion here.
Turning Point of the Game
Buffalo was able to take a 10-0 lead after an offsides on the Jets allowed a fourth-and-one conversion to extend a drive. Williams' strip-sack gave the Bills the opportunity to extend that lead to 17-0. After the Jets cut the lead to 20-7 with a touchdown on their opening drive of the second half, Manuel orchestrated a two-play, 83-yard drive, hitting Graham for 40 yards and Goodwin for a 43-yard touchdown to make it 27-7. Those are the most obvious plays; a more subtle one might be Marcell Dareus' big hit on Geno Smith on the opening drive of the game, which started Smith's downward spiral.
Goat of the Game
The Bills had no running game whatsoever; Fred Jackson managed to gut out 34 yards on 12 carries, but C.J. Spiller was a complete non-factor, held to six yards on 13 carries. Not much else went wrong for the Bills, though Brian Moorman muffing a snap and punting a ground ball out of bounds was fairly memorable. Mercifully, that play did not hurt the Bills in the long run.