BIlls Chargas

It is 10:57 AM. and for some reason I am sitting on my computer and not at One Bills Drive yet. Yes, I am embarrassed and should be.

Today is the biggest home game for the Bills since 2004. A win today and the Bills are officially in the conversation as one of the favorites in the entire conference...after all, the Chargers were everyones pre season super bowl pick.

The line right now at the MGM is "Pk." The Chargers have been favored the majority of the week but the money has been on the Bills so far...which makes sense. How can a team that is 4-1 coming off a bye week be underdogs to a team who is 3-3, played a game Sunday night, and has to travel through three time zones during the week to play a 1:00 game on the east coast? No idea...but I still wouldn't bet on the Bills -1, +1, Pk or anything.

The game today will come down to two things in my opinion: Trent Edwards and Donte Whitner.

The Chargers offense this year leads the NFL in points per game with 29.7. This despite the fact that their star running back has been slowed down by his infamous big toe all year. Philip Rivers is tearing apart the NFL through the air...almost 1500 yards passing, 14 touchdowns and only 4 picks. The Bills are going to be without their number one corner and number one defensive end (although we all know Schobel is the equivalent of a number 3 at best, he sucks) but hopefully not having Chambers and having LT banged up still will offset this. The fact is...Edwards can't afford to turn the football over...and I have enough confidence in him not to do that. If we give the Chargers short fields, they will score in bunches. If JP Losman was playing in this game, I would predict a 20 point win for San Diego simply because he can't sustain a drive, convert a first down for his life or not turn the ball over...our D would be on the field for 45 minutes. Edwards can have a break out performance today...the Chargers pass D is ranked 31st in the league...and it is ranked that high because they fortunately were able to play the New England Patriots last week or else it would be dead last. If this game is a shootout, I think Edwards can keep up...although that type of game definitely does not favor us.

As far as the defense goes...last week makes everyone a little bit worried. We will need to pressure Rivers...we didn't touch Kurt Warner last week I don't think and he is the easiest QB in the league to force into mistakes. The biggest concern though is Antonio Gates. This dude always tears us apart. In 2005, Gates had 5 for 77 and a TD, in 2006, Gates had 7 for 90 and a TD. It is going to Donte Whitner's job to cover this dude and a top 10 pick safety should be able to do so. If Whitner struggles against Gates he will kill us all day, kind of like Jason Whitten did last year, and every good tight end we face for that matter. It is about time Whitner takes a step forward and no better opportunity than this.

The Bills need big plays from the Special Teams. Thankfully Roscoe Parrish will be back but the Chargers have a returner as good as Parrish in Darren Sproles. McKelvin needs to bust a kick at some point...he nearly had one against Oakland but somehow got tackled by Sebastian Janikowski. No advantage for either team here I would guess...

The Bills will be the talk of the conference this week if they can come up with this win. Today begins a stretch of 6 straight games vs the AFC...and after today the Bills have 3 in a row, 2 of which on the road, against teams in their division...today is HUGE...Bills take it in a laugher...34-13...you heard it hear first.