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Next up on the Buffalo Bills’ schedule is a trip down to Nashville to face the Tennessee Titans. The Bills are 3-1 and coming off a close loss to the New England Patriots while the Titans are 2-2 after a convincing win over the Atlanta Falcons. Here’s what we’re looking at as we head towards game day.
The #Bills (and a lot of fans) are heading down to Nashville this weekend to take on the #Titans. Here are three big headlines to get you ready for the road trip. #BuffaloBills #BillsMafia #GoBills #NFL #NFL100 pic.twitter.com/B7oz77GTC8
— Buffalo Rumblings (@BuffRumblings) October 4, 2019
Josh Allen’s health
The Bills’ starting quarterback exited the Patriots game early in the fourth quarter after a nasty blow to head from DB Jonathan Jones. Matt Barkley finished up the game under center. In Sean McDermott’s post-game press conference he announced that Allen is in the NFL’s concussion protocol. On Wednesday and Thursday Allen participated in individual drills—indicating that he is in step four of the five-step protocol. If Allen cannot play against the Titans it will be Matt Barkley starting with Davis Webb behind him. The Bills proved last year that they could win with Barkley, but the 2019 Titans don’t look to be as bad as the 2018 New York Jets were.
Rushing attack
The Bills’ offense has been more pass-oriented this season than in past campaigns, but they still rely on the run game. They currently are in the top ten in yards, attempts, yards per carry, and rush offense DVOA. The Titans do not have the league’s greatest run defense by any measure, but it looks like they may have figured something out last week when they held the Falcons to just 58 yards on the ground. Luckily the Bills have Frank Gore AKA “15K Frank” in the backfield. With just 249 yards between him and third place all-time in rushing yards, he’s sure to be motivated to make a dent in the Titans D.
Offensive line
One of Josh Allen’s competitors for the worst performance against the Patriots was his offensive line. They allowed Allen and Barkley to be sacked five times and were called for eight penalties (two on Dion Dawkins, two on Mitch Morse, one on Ty Nsekhe, and three on Lee Smith) (I’m including Lee Smith because he’s primarily used as a blocker). They need to be better than that. They’ll have their work cut out for them again this week as they face a Titans’ defensive line ranked fifth against the run and eighth against the pass by Football Outsiders.