Home games (with opposing team’s 2011 record)

Jacksonville (5-11), Kansas City (7-9), St. Louis (2-14), Seattle (7-9), Tennessee (9-7), Miami (6-10), New England (13-3), New York Jets (8-8)

Looking at this schedule this is a great run of games for the Bills, especially with their non-division opponents.  The team is playing five of their eight games against team’s that had losing records last season, as well as one team with an 8-8 record.  I think the Bills has a strong shot at winning at fiver or six of those games realistically.  The only teams that I think they would have major trouble would be the Patriots and the Jets.  When you think about how well Buffalo normally plays at home this is a great start looking forward in 2012.

Away games (with opposing team’s 2011 record)

Arizona (8-8), Cleveland (4-12), Houston (10-6), Indianapolis (2-14), San Francisco (13-3), Miami (6-10), New England (13-3), New York Jets (8-8)

This schedule on the road is almost as promising as the home group of games when looking ahead.  Outside of the division games mentioned above, and the San Francisco game, none of the teams really scare me going forward.   Even looking at the Colts, who are normally a powerhouse, they have a ton of uncertainty right now.   The only other team outside New England with a winning record is the Texans and I feel like they are a beatable team.  Buffalo has a great shot at winning the majority of these games as well.

As scary as it sounds this Bills team can very realistically make a strong run at possible double-digit wins and a playoff berth if they play the way they are capable of and played at the beginning of last season.

That, or they will just finish 6-10 and I’ll be depressed and disappointed once again.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced at his annual State of the NFL address this week that every NFL team will be on prime-time next season at least one time.

Along with the traditional Sunday and Monday night games, many of these team’s games will be on the NFL network with Thursday night prime-time from week two to week 15.  This is an expansion from this past season when the Thursday night games only ran from week 10 to week 16.

NBC will also continue to broadcast the Thursday night season opener, and also gain a Thanksgiving night game in 2012.

This looks like a huge positive for the league and their fans.  While this will have an affect on the length of time teams have off between some games overall it seems like a plus.  For fans of a team like the Bills, who aren’t on national television very often, this will be a great chance to watch their team play.

As an NFL fan I see no downside to this new plan, and hope to see even more prime-time games in the future.

One of Fitzpatrick’s favorite targets during his time in Buffalo has been Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson.  Johnson is coming off a strong 2011 campaign that saw him catch 76 balls for 1,004 yards and seven touchdowns.

As great as he as been for Buffalo the last few years it is very important that Buffalo management make the right move this off- season, as the star receiver will be a free-agent for the first time in his young career.

GM Buddy Nix has announced that signing the receiver is a  top priority and that the team wants to have him back.

With that said, Johnson on the other hand is taken a less direct, more hands-off approach to the new deal.  The receiver told buffalobills.com recently that he is letting his agent do the work on the contract.  He also added that he doesn’t need or want to know every little comment or detail it takes to get the deal done.

As the Bills come off a season that saw a promising 5-2 start falter to a 6-10 finish they are looking to do anything they can to keep their better players in house, and get a full season worth of winning under their belt.

With Fitzpatrick locked in for the long-term resigning Johnson could create a promising duo for years to come.

The change comes under the guidance of new defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt, who will begin his first year in that position for the Bills this upcoming season.

The change will be a different approach from what the team has done its first few years under head coach Chan Gailey, who originally implemented more of a 3-4 hybrid scheme.

Gailey mentioned to buffalobills.com on Monday that there were a few main reasons that the change is being made.   On top of the team having trouble stopping the run the past few years, the team’s current player personnel as well as Wannstedt’s familiarity with the system were other deciding factors.

Looking forward this seems to be a good move for a Bills team where two of its stronger defensive players are bigger defensive lineman Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus.

Following consecutive seasons with a defense ranked 32nd and 28th against the run there are not many ways to go but up.  For the Buffalo Bills and their fans they are hoping this change gets the team headed in the right direction.

According to ESPN.com, Fitzpatrick agreed to a six-year deal with the Bills worth $59 million–which includes $24 million guaranteed. Fitzpatrick was in the final year of his previous deal and was making $3.195 million in base salary, but this new deal also gives the quarterback a $10 million signing bonus.

After a breakout season in 2010, many wondered if Fitzpatrick was a one-hit wonder and they should consider using the third overall pick from April’s draft on a quarterback–which they obviously didn’t since they used the pick on Marcell Dareus. Considering Buffalo is off to a 4-2 start this season and Fitzpatrick has already thrown for 12 touchdowns–it looks like this is the right move for an organization anxious to reach the playoffs for the first time since the 1999 season.

Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for RantSports.com/NFL,  where he writes and edits NFL content for RantSports.com.

Merriman, 27, has had recurring issues with his Achilles and reportedly flared up during Thursday’s practice in Buffalo.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter would confirm the Achilles injury of Merriman on Twitter before the Bills game in New York against the Giants and is back in Buffalo.

Follow me on Twitter, Dawgfather_76

At first, it seemed like Buffalo was in for another long game as New England wasted no time jumping out to a 21-0 lead thanks to three touchdown passes from Tom Brady (one to Wes Welker and two to Rob Gronkowski). With this type of start to the game, it was difficult not to think this would finally be the game where the Bills collapsed after two impressive wins to start the season against the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders.

Instead of letting New England run away with the win, Buffalo slowly worked their way back into the game by scoring 10 points before halftime and 17 points in the fourth quarter–including the game-winning field goal as time expired–for their first win over New England since the 2003 season. It may not have been pretty considering the Bills’ defense allowed Brady to throw for 386 yards and four touchdowns, but they made up for it with four interceptions–the same amount Brady had for the entire 2010 season.

Nobody could have predicted the Bills would be sitting on top of the AFC East with a 3-0 record heading into Week 4–especially since they only recorded four wins all of last season. It’s still early in the season, but it appears the Patriots and New York Jets may have a surprise contender in the AFC East.

Think about it, if the Bills can beat the all-mighty Patriots–why can’t they win the division?

Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for RantSports.com/NFL,  where he writes and edits NFL content for RantSports.com.

After two impressive victories over the defending AFC West champion, Kansas City Chiefs and an up-and-coming Oakland Raiders team, the upstart (2-0) Buffalo Bills now get to face the reigning 2010 AP NFL Most Valuable Player, New England quarterback Tom Brady and the high-flying (2-0) Patriots.

The Bills are coming off an improbable Week 2 38-35 comeback victory over Oakland, punctuated by a six-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to wide receiver David Nelson with 14 second left.  Buffalo trailed 21-3 before scoring on each of its five second-half possessions.

Fitzpatrick would finish the game by completing 28-of-46 passes for 264 yards and throw three touchdowns.

Buffalo wide receiver Steve Johnson would catch a seven-yard pass, Johnson would finish with eight catches for 96 yards and tight end Scott Chandler would have a six-yard touchdown pass, Chandler would finish with two catches for 16 yards.

Bills running back Fred Jackson would rush for 117 yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns, including a 43-yard touchdown run.

For the Patriots, Brady is just playing on a level near his NFL record-setting 50 touchdown season of 2007.

With Brady’s 423 yard, three touchdown performance in a Week 2 35-21 win over the San Diego Chargers, Brady has passed for an NFL-record 974 yards in two games and is currently on pace to demolish Hall-Of-Fame quarterback Dan Marino’s single season passing record of 5,084 yards set in 1983—by 2,436 yards—with 7,520

Brady is also on pace to break his own record of 50 by throwing 56 touchdowns in 2011.  Despite Brady’s record-setting blaze, the Patriots may be in for a stiff challenge against the upset-minded Bills due to key areas of concern.

The first area that should worry the Patriots is their horrific pass defense which is currently ranked 31^st in the NFL thru two games, New England gives up an average of 381.0 yards a game. New England also gives up the second most average of total yards a game at 479.0

While it may be acceptable to give up 378 yards to Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, it is really disturbing to give up 416 yards to embattled Miami Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne.

The second area of concern for New England is injuries, as starting center Dan Koppen is out with a broken fibula and tight end Aaron Hernandez is out 2-4 weeks with a knee injury which could cause pass protection and offensive flow issues for Brady.

With the current rash of injuries to New England, the Pats must effective protect Brady from the Bill’s hybrid 3-4 defense.

The third area is that it is no secret that certain NFL teams—such as the New York Jets—have figured out a way to stop Brady and that is to get direct pressure on him from up the middle.  Brady has had issues with teams that mainly run 4-3 defenses—as witnessed in the New York Giants Super Bowl XLII upset—over the Patriots

While the 2010 Cleveland Browns do not run a 4-3 defense under former defensive coordinator Rob Ryan—now in Dallas—Cleveland was able to successfully disrupt Brady’s timing and keep him off of the field—with long time-consuming drives—during a Week 8 34-14 upset.

The Detroit Lions—a 4-3 defense— manhandled Brady into a forced fumble and one interception in a 34-10 blowout in a week 3 pre-season game.

If Buffalo has any hopes of going to 3-0, they must rush Brady from up the middle, get in his face and disrupt his timing.

Buffalo has the defensive personnel to best pressure Brady in a hybrid 3-4, tough running game with Jackson to keep the Pats off the field and the speed at wideout in Nelson and Johnson to attack the Pat’s defense.

They also have the most underrated QB in the NFL in Fitzpatrick.

This Patriots-Bills matchup will come down to which defense can stop the opposing quarterback down in the clutch, with the Patriots issues in the secondary along with the losses of Koppen at center and Hernandez at tight end, not even a 600-yard passing game from Brady may be enough to help New England on Sunday.

Prediction : Bills 41 Patriots 37

This game was an offensive shootout.  The reason this game was high scoring was mainly because of the flawless offensive line play by both squads.  Neither team allowed a sack, both teams were run blocking well, and there were great zone blocking footwork when watching these offensive lineman keep defenders in check.

Even though Oakland’s offensive line set the tempo, quarterback Jason Campbell, running back Darren McFadden, and rookie wide receiver Denaryius Moore set the tempo in this contest.  McFadden had a combined 143 total yards and 2 total touchdowns.  McFadden also had 20 carries for 72 rushing yards and 7 receptions for 71 receiving yards  Denarius Moore had 5 receptions for 146 receiving yards.

The only players on Oakland’s defense who stepped up are middle linebacker Rolando McClain who recorded 10 total tackles, 7 solo tackles, and 3 assisted tackles.  McClain was the only defensive player who should be proud of his performance.  Another player who looked solid was corner Stanford Routt who managed to intercept Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick had another monster fantasy game.  He didn’t top his week performance against the Chiefs, but he surprisingly played well.  Buffalo won 3 of their 4 games in 2010 when Fred Jackson ran for over 100 rushing yards.  Jackson has rushed for over 100 rushing yards in each of the last two games.

On defense safety Jaryius Byrd and middle linebacker Nick Barnett stepped up providing the veteran presence on the Bills defense.  Byrd had 10 total tackles, 8 solo tackles, and 2 assisted tackles.  Nick Barnett had 14 total tackles, 7 solo tackles, 7 assisted tackles, and caused Darren McFadden to fumble the football.

If one defensive player on Buffalo deserves a game ball its Nick Barnett.  Byrd would get an honorable mention with his 8 solo tackles.

The Oakland Raiders go to 1-1 and the Buffalo Bills start 2-0.  Next week the Buffalo Bills host the New England Patriots.  This is the first significant game for Bills fans in a long time.

Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick would go 17-of-25 for only 208 yards, and toss four touchdowns, two of them to tight end Scott Chandler and one to wide receiver Stevie Johnson.

Chandler— whom the Chiefs seemed to have no answer for—would finish the game with five catches for 63 yards and Johnson would finish the game with four receptions for 66 yards receiving.

Buffalo was also able to get their explosive running back duo of Fred Jackson and C.J Spiller involved as they would both combine for 25 carries and 128 yards.  Spiller would score on a nine-yard touchdown run to provide the exclamation point in the rout.

With the Bills now at 1-0, they have a good chance to improve to 2-0 when the Oakland Raiders travel east to western New York.

Oakland defeated AFC West rival Denver 23-20 on Monday Night Football, must travel 2,288 miles east to play a riled-up Buffalo team playing in its home opener.  West Coast teams traveling east on a short week is never a good thing, and ever fewer are successful.

For the Raiders to win this game—and improve to 2-0— they must continue to run the ball effectively and get pressure on Fitzpatrick.  The Raiders rushed for 190 yards—150 of them by running back Darren McFadden—allowing Oakland to dictate the tempo of the game on the ground.

Oakland’s defensive line will be a tough task for Buffalo’s offensive line on Sunday, as the Raiders defense would sack Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton five times—two of them by defensive tackle Richard Seymour.

Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell also hopes to get untracked early in 2011 at Buffalo, Campbell had a modest performance by going 13-of-22 for 105 yards.  Campbell would throw one touchdown pass —a three-yard reception—to fullback Marcel Reece and rush for one on a one-yard run.

This game has all the makings of a back-and-forth shootout, with both teams having playmakers on offense and good defenses.  Buffalo has a dangerous gunslinger at quarterback in Fitzpatrick who is not shy airing it out, while Oakland has a formidable running attack led by McFadden and Michael Bush.

The deciding factor in this matchup could be the Raiders secondary which no longer has shutdown cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha to discourage Fitzpatrick from going downfield while Oakland has to contend with the explosive vertical threat of Johnson.

Fitzpatrick is no Orton and you have a West Coast team traveling east on a short week.

Prediction:  Buffalo 24 Oakland 20

Follow me on Twitter, @RobertCobb_NFL