The Buffalo Bills (1-1) host the Denver Broncos (2-0) this weekend, as Buffalo looks to bounce back from an ugly 9-3 loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 2. The Broncos are coming off of a game in which they lit up the Dallas Cowboys, 42-17.
David Hurlbut of ‘The Morning Huddle’ on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 spoke with Jay Skurski, a writer for The Buffalo News, to preview this AFC matchup.
Skurski first offered some insight into the rebuild process first-year head coach Sean McDermott and General Manager Brandon Beane are engineering.
“It’s definitely their plan to rebuild their roster with the players that Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane want,” Skurski said. “It was a very big surprise that the Bills traded [Sammy] Watkins. I mean, he is ultra-talented when he’s healthy. The problem is that he has not been healthy enough in his career.”
Watkins suffered a foot injury last season and missed a total of eight weeks. For McDermott, the offense will be looking to get running back LeSean McCoy going against the Broncos as he is now their primary offensive weapon.
McCoy averaged 5.4 yards per carry last season – good for third in the NFL. His former teammate in Buffalo, Mike Gillislee, led the league at 5.7 before moving on to New England in the offseason.
Last week the Broncos shut down the top rusher from 2016, Ezekiel Elliott, to the tune of just eight yards on nine carries. In forcing Dak Prescott to try and beat them through the air, Denver forced Dallas to play into their greatest strength – pass defense. Asking Tyrod Taylor to do the same could be a tall order for Buffalo this Sunday.
“It still has to be LeSean McCoy,” Skurski said when asked what would be the key to Buffalo picking up a win against Denver. “That is the key to this Buffalo offense. They are a run-first team who needs to establish the ground game and they do have a good offensive line in Rick Dennison, their offensive coordinator.”
Dennison, Denver’s offensive coordinator the previous two years, will be very familiar with the Denver personnel.
“LeSean McCoy has to run better and the hope then has to be that backs the Broncos off a little bit and maybe opens up some space for the passing game,” Skurski added.
The Broncos’ “No Fly Zone” is coming off a game in which they had two interceptions. Aqib Talib returned a pass he intercepted in the end zone 103 yards in the final minutes of the game against the Dallas. If the Buffalo Bills have any chance of getting their run game going, they have to be strong upfront and they need McCoy to be on his game.
Listen to Sorry – this audio content is no longer available., including his thoughts on how Sean McDermott is being embraced in Buffalo, in the podcast below.
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Catch The Morning Huddle with David Hurlbut every weekday from 6a-7a on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.
