Here is how The News' sports writers see Sunday's game between the Buffalo Bills and Arizona Cardinals:
Vic Carucci
All of a sudden, the perception of the Bills has changed.
Whatever doubts that surfaced during the 2-2 stumble after the 4-0 cruise were mostly erased in Sunday's victory against the Seattle Seahawks. Josh Allen and the Bills' offense went back to being unstoppable. The Bills' defense made top MVP candidate Russell Wilson look ordinary.
That is the kind of stuff that can take a team to the Super Bowl. And that's the kind of stuff that should allow the Bills to win their fourth game in a row.
Kyler Murray is dynamic, but the Bills' defense has demonstrated it can deal with a quarterback who has exceptional mobility. The Bills' offense also should find success against a D with vulnerabilities against the pass and run. Bills, 31-24.
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Jay Skurski
The Cardinals provide another big test for the Bills, but the bigger challenge for coach Sean McDermott may be keeping his team mentally on track. With a bye week ahead, it would be easy for the team to check out a bit early. At 7-2, the Bills are in a great shape in the AFC East race. It would be easy to check out a little early against an NFC opponent. The reality is, a loss here wouldn't be the end of the world. It's OK for me to say that, but McDermott would never agree – nor should he. The performance by Josh Allen and the passing offense last week against Seattle likely did wonders for the group's confidence. Allen should have another big game. The bigger question centers on whether the defense can keep Kyler Murray in check, particularly when it comes to the Cardinals' second-year quarterback running the ball. Expect the scoreboard operator to be busy again this week. Bills, 34-27.
At 7-2 for the first time since 1993 after defeating the Seattle Seahawks 44-34 Sunday at Bills Stadium, the Buffalo Bills put themselves back in the conversation of being one of the league's elite teams. See photos, analysis and more from the game.
Mark Gaughan
This could be a game where the last team with the ball wins. I think the Bills match up well with the Arizona defense. The Cardinals have better cornerbacks than Seattle. But Arizona lost its best edge rusher, Chandler Jones. The Cardinals have played a lot of man coverage and blitzed a lot the past three weeks. Will they want to stick with that vs. Josh Allen? If they do, I think the Bills win. On the other side, I see the Bills trying to prevent big plays with zone coverage. I don't see the Bills blitzing as much this week as they did against Russell Wilson. That was out of character for the Bills, and Kyler Murray is a more dangerous runner. Murray is brilliant, but he's not as great as Wilson, yet. I think the Seahawks are a little better team than Arizona, even though the Cardinals beat them. This is a gravy game for Buffalo, since it's an NFC foe. Bills, 36-35.
Jason Wolf
The Bills are going to need their pass rush to treat Kyler Murray like they did Russell Wilson, finding ways to consistently pressure the second-year speedster and create turnovers without allowing him to take off running.
That game plan hinges on the Buffalo offense again jumping out to a quick lead and continuing to pour on points throughout the game. But expect a more balanced attack than last week, when the Bills didn’t bother to run while going after the Seahawks’ historically terrible pass defense.
Arizona has a middling pass defense and below average run defense, meaning we should see plenty of Devin Singletary and Zack Moss while Buffalo works to grind out long scoring drives and keep the Cardinals’ offense on the sideline. Bills, 30-27.
Rachel Lenzi
The Bills are carving their path towards winning the AFC East title. They could be on their way to owning the NFC West, too, as they’ll face the third of their four opponents from that division.
Josh Allen played an inspired game against the Seahawks, and he’ll continue that momentum in Arizona. Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, however, is finding his stride, which will make this an intriguing matchup on offense.
Defense is what makes this game even more intriguing. The Cardinals are a middle-of-the-road defensive team that have allowed an average of 22.5 points per game. While the Bills managed to smother Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, he still threw for 390 yards. What ultimately turned the game in the Bills’ favor was that the defense forced four turnovers. The Bills' defense has to play with that same tenacity against Murray and the Cardinals. Bills, 34-30.
