By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun and Olean Star Senior Sports Columnist
When the Jets host the Bills Monday night at Metlife Stadium in the Meadowlands (ABC-TV, Bills Radio Network, 8:20), there will be a lot of moving parts.
Start with the fact that New York has changed coaches, firing Robert Sahleh and replacing him with defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich taking over as head coach. Ulbrich then demoted Nathaniel Hackett from offensive coordinator to QB coach and promoted Todd Browning to OC.
Meanwhile Ulbrich’s defense has been cited as one of the NFL’s best.
Then. of course, there’s 40-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers who, after a 2-1 start, has lost two straight games — 10-9 at home against Denver and 23-17 to Minnesota in London — and played poorly in doing so.
Then there’s the Bills’ own quarterback, Josh Allen, who, after a 3-0 start, has struggled the last two games with questions raised about his health after hard blows to his head in each of those starts.
In a story by Tyler Dunne on his Go Long web site, neuroscientist Chris Nowinski strongly suggests Allen not play tomorrow night after taking a hard head hit in a failed trick play at Baltimore and another late in last Sunday’s loss at Houston.
Then there’s the Bills’ lack of productivity from its tight ends and wide receivers.
IN SHORT, Bills coach Sean McDermott and Allen had a lot to answer about in their press conferences this past week.
“It’s an unfortunate part of our business,” McDermott said of Saleh’s firing. “We’re aware of the coaching change and we’ve got to focus on our team and the pieces we can control.”
To which Allen added, “When a team fires their coach, you’re not sure how they’re going to react to that … my sense is that they’re going to be prepared to go on Monday night.”
As for the Jets defense, which ranks second in fewest yards surrendered in the NFL season and tied for fifth least points given up, McDermott allowed, “They give most people problems … a really good, talented defense. It starts up front for them like most good defenses and they’ve got high draft picks scattered throughout the entire defense, so we’ll have our hands full.”
To which Allen added, “They play really hard-nosed football, their front end is really talented, they’ve got some talented players on the back end as well and a really good linebacker duo.
“They’re a tough defense to play against … No. 1 establishing the run and making sure that we try to commit to that and No. 2 being smart about where the football is going and how quickly we get it out of our hands.”
WHEN IT came to Rodgers, McDermott was effusive.
“A Hall-of-Famer, a really good player … incredibly smart, incredibly gifted and does a great job running their offense,” he said. “There’s more to the challenges than with him being an elite thrower … there’s the mobility and the mental part of the game. I just have so much respect for his game, what he’s been able to do over the years and how he’s done it. He’s as good as there is.”
As for his own quarterback’s recent struggles, McDermott said of Allen, “You go through a season and it’s never a straight line, the path to success, you’ve got to manage the ebbs and flows of the season and sometimes it’s a reminder ‘Hey , this is the way I have to go about it and do my 1/11th.’ I know Josh is as competitive as there is and we have full confidence in him and know he’ll get to doing that.
“We all press, it’s a competitive business, but being self-aware is important. He’s just so good and I love it when he’s in his head-space of both, ‘Hey, I can still be me and do this and keep myself upright and living a bit less sore, week-to-week … that’s when I think he’s really at his best.”
He added, “Once in a while, you lose your way a little bit and you’ve got to find it and go back to ‘What have we done well and why have we done so well… try to get back to some of that and how can we grow with the personnel that we have.”
BUT BUFFALO’S problems with lack of production by its tight ends and wide receivers is hard to deny, though it makes McDermott a bit defensive.
“I have tremendous confidence in the tight end and wide receiver room and tremendous confidence in Joe Brady (offensive coordinator) and our offensive staff it’s the collaboration and integration of all that stuff …each of us doing our jobs … understanding what our job is on that particular play and that we execute it to the highest level of detail.
“The thing about offensive football is it’s really about execution, not that defense and special teams isn’t. But all it takes is for one person (on offense) not to execute their job not at the highest level and a play can break down … the other 10 are doing it at the level we need them to do it at.”
WHEN IT comes to his own struggles, Allen concluded, “We’ve shown it before … we had a great training camp and the group of guys we have in this room are special …they work hard, they’re smart football players and I’ve got a lot of trust in these guys.
“We’re going to keep our heads down and focus on the process rather than the results. I know the results haven’t been great the last couple of weeks … but that’s why we play … to test our strengths against their strengths and find out what our weaknesses are and continue to work on them.”
He added, “We’ve been talking about ‘everyone eats’ but sometimes there are people who are left out and you want to continue to incorporate them in your offense. We know that, Joe knows that, the whole team knows that … just getting the guys the ball in open space and it starts with me. This week finding ways to sustain drives, being better on third downs, staying out of those third-and-long situations … protecting myself, not taking sacks and getting the ball out of my hand as quickly as possible.”
THE BILLS got a surprisingly encouraging injury report.
Defensive tackle Ed Oliver (hamstring) is the only player out against the Jets while four others — wide receiver Khalil Shakir (ankle), running back James Cook (toe), nickel back Taron Johnson (forearm) and defensive tackle Auston Johnson (oblique) — are questionable.
Still, McDermott conceded, “We certainly have a big challenge in front of us in New York against a Hall-of-Fame quarterback and a really good defense.”
Pollock’s Prediction: Jets 23, Bills 20
