The Buffalo Bills and Oakland Raiders, two teams that have been mired in mediocrity for almost a decade, played what was probably the most entertaining game of the weekend in the NFL, with the Bills wiping out a 21-3 halftime deficit to win 38-35. The lead changed hands numerous times in the fourth quarter and it became obvious this was going to be one of those games that was won by the team that had the ball last. That didn’t exactly happen, but then again the Raiders almost pulled it out with a Hail Mary throw on the game’s last play. The game turned out to be a surprising shootout between 2 quarterbacks trying to establish themselves as legitimate starting signal-callers in the NFL, Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Bills and Oakland’s Jason Campbell. They both played terrific games and surely left the defensive coordinators of both teams scratching their heads after the game. Campbell was missing a couple of his regular receivers, Louis Murphy and Jacoby Ford, but managed to utilize his top weapon, running back Darren McFadden, in both the running and passing games, and connected on big throws to his unknown replacement wideouts, especially rookie Denarius Moore, who turned Leodis McKelvin inside out all day long.
Fitzpatrick had a second consecutive great game, but unlike Tom Brady and Cam Newton, who have passed the 400 yard mark twice, he has only thrown for a bit over 200 yards in racking up an impressive 7 touchdown passes in 2 weeks. The reason for Fitz’s success so far has been that the Bills have managed to have great balance between their running and passing games. Fred Jackson had another terrific game, rushing for over 100 yards again and scoring 2 TDs. C.J. Spiller also contributed some big plays in what may have been his best game as a Bill. For the second week in a row, Fitzpatrick spread the ball around among his receivers, throwing TD passes to 3 different players – Stevie Johnson, tight end Scott Chandler, and the game-winner to a guy who is fast becoming one of the NFL’s most reliable third down slot receivers, David Nelson. Nelson made the roster last season as an undrafted free agent out of Florida, where he caught throws from college legend Tim Tebow, and so far has been more successful than Tebow in establishing himself as a solid NFL player.
Defensively the Bills had a rough day, and will have to clean up a lot of things before next Sunday to avoid being carved up by Tom Brady & Co. when the New England Patriots visit Ralph Wilson Stadium. The fact is though, the Raiders have one of the biggest and most physical offensive lines in the NFL and are going to make some noise in their division this year. The Bills and Pats will enter next week’s game as 2 of 3 undefeated teams in the AFC East, and it’s without a doubt the biggest game the Buffalo franchise will be playing in years. By the way, the other undefeated AFC East team, the New York Jets, travel to Oakland next week to play the Raiders in their home opener. That should also be a very interesting contest.