Your guide to Sunday's Bills game at the Jets

Joyce Zimmer was pregnant with a boy, the ultrasound showed, but there might be a problem.

“They called it a ‘chromosomal abnormality,’ ” she said.

The ratio between the length of her unborn son’s arms and legs to his head circumference wasn’t quite right, a higher indication that her baby might be born with Down syndrome, the OB/GYN said.

Additional testing was required to diagnose or rule out potential genetic conditions, and the doctor recommended an amniocentesis, a procedure in which he’d use a thin needle and syringe to withdraw some of the amniotic fluid that surrounds and protects the fetus. Zimmer, in her second trimester, was prepped and on the table when she decided against it, figuring the test results were irrelevant and not worth the slightest risk of miscarriage. She was having her baby, regardless.

“I don’t believe in abortion,” Zimmer said. “I’m a Christian and I just couldn’t do it. So I said I didn’t really want to go through with the amniocentesis. I knew there was a chance that there was a miscarriage with that, and I actually had a friend of mine that had a miscarriage several months before that, so I decided I didn’t want to do it. But that night, I remember praying about the situation and to be honest, a peace came over me, because I just felt God was telling me that everything’s going to be OK.”

Her son, Justin, was not only born healthy, but gifted.

Justin Zimmer, a defensive tackle for the Buffalo Bills, was promoted from the practice squad for the second time this season and played 44% of the defensive snaps in a 26-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football in Orchard Park. The reigning Super Bowl champions gashed the Bills for 245 rushing yards, but Zimmer nearly forced a game-changing fumble in the final minutes deep in Kansas City territory and finished as the highest-graded interior defensive lineman on the team, according to Pro Football Focus.

On Wednesday, the Bills signed Zimmer to a two-year contract, adding him to the 53-man roster and releasing guard Quinton Spain. The Bills couldn’t promote him from the practice squad for a third time without offering a new contract, and another team was interested in signing him, his agent, Kevin Poston, said. He declined to disclose the suitor.

On Friday, Zimmer celebrated his 28th birthday.

'My quiet assassin'

Zimmer was a tenacious multisport athlete and two-time regional heavyweight wrestling champion at Greenville High School in Michigan, then starred on the defensive line and in the classroom at nearby Division II Ferris State, where his coach could still find him working on tackling dummies 90 minutes after practice. Zimmer set single-season program records with 13 sacks and 26 tackles for loss and graduated as the school’s first three-time academic All-American.

“It was always my dream, as it is many little kids’ dreams, to go and play in the NFL,” Zimmer told The Buffalo News last week, “and when I got to Ferris State, to be honest, I had no idea if I even had a chance. But at that point I just wanted to work to get on the field … and I knew the only way was to get better at what I did.

“I’m a repetition guy. I need to do something quite a few times to get it, so I have to work as hard as I do if I want to get better. So if I know I have to work on pass rush, a certain move, I’m going to go out there and I’m going to work it as many times as I can before practice. If I know I need to work on a certain run block, I’m going to go out and work that as many times as I can before practice. Because I know that’s the best way for me to get better and improve my chances of getting on the field.”

Zimmer originally signed with the Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2016 but was a training camp casualty, released before the regular season.

He spent time with the New Orleans Saints, Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns before returning to Buffalo this offseason.

Defensive end Jerry Hughes is the only player remaining from Zimmer’s first stint with the Bills.

“He’s a beast. I call him my quiet assassin,” Hughes said. “He comes in the building early, he’s working hard and he’s just flying around trying to make plays. And that’s our makeup of the team, guys who want to hit the field, who are hungry, who want to make plays. And for Zim to go out there, every opportunity he’s got, he’s in the backfield tossing offensive linemen off, taking double teams. He’s being that force that we need him to be. So it’s fun watching him play just because of the way he prepares throughout the week. It’s always great to see someone else who’s in the building super early.”

Zimmer has played in only five career NFL games in five seasons, including two this year, the opener against the New York Jets and Monday against the Chiefs. He’s expected to contribute to the Bills’ defensive line rotation in the rematch against the Jets on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, and perhaps beyond, the 6-foot-3-inch, 300-pound bulldog continuing to defy the odds since the womb.

“We were just talking about that study a little while ago, about how your head and your arms are (supposed to be) proportionate,” his father, Larry Zimmer, said Wednesday, “and one of the knocks against Justin in his time in the NFL is that he has shorter than average arms. His arm length is only like 31 7/8ths (inches), and that’s been the knock against him. I said to (my wife) tonight, ‘Maybe way back when, they were somewhat kind of right, because his arms are potentially shorter than the average person.’

“But in the end, he’s still where he wants to be.”

‘Overwhelming power’

Poston, a major league powerbroker in the early 2000s, didn’t recruit Zimmer when he was coming out of school.

Zimmer reached out to him.

“No agents were really contacting me and I wanted to make sure I had the best chance, got good representation, so I just looked up agents,” Zimmer said. “I went on the NFLPA site and they have the certified agents, and I went down the list of pretty much everybody in the Midwest, and I sent them an email just describing myself. And there was only a couple that reached back out to me, and Kevin was the one. He showed me the most interest, he had a good track record and everything, so that’s how we got connected.”

Poston was skeptical about the kid’s claims.

“I get this email, and I’m like, ‘Oh, hell naw. He didn’t do 40 benches. No way. I’ve had Orlando Pace. I’ve had all these guys over the years. Ain’t nobody done that. So he’s lying,’ ” Poston said. “And you always get that with the 40 (yard dash time), right? ‘I ran a 4.3. I ran a 4.2.’ Yeah, OK. And they end up running a 4.5 or 4.6. All of Justin’s stuff was off the chain. So I call him. And he’s just so honest. Never lies. Just tells the truth, just like his parents brought him up.”

Zimmer was not invited to the scouting combine or Senior Bowl but demonstrated his eyepopping strength and athleticism at Michigan’s pro day in 2016.

He had the requisite size to play as an interior defensive lineman in the NFL, at 6 feet, 2 5/8 inches and 302 pounds, and impressive agility, running a 4.85-second 40-yard dash, a 4.4 shuttle and a 7.01 three-cone drill. He had a 32-inch vertical jump, a 9-9 broad jump and benched 225 pounds a staggering 44 times – 10 more reps than any prospect at the combine that year.

Equal parts brute and technician, Zimmer credits his high school wrestling background as part of the foundation for his success.

“Wrestling was a great help for my football career,” Zimmer said, echoing remarks made over the years by Bills coach Sean McDermott, a back-to-back national prep school wrestling champion in high school. “That’s actually why I did it. … Just using your hands, playing with leverage, different things like that. I was a heavyweight and I only weighed 230, 235 in high school, so I was usually a smaller heavyweight and that really helped me play with leverage. And I’m a smaller D-lineman now, and so I have to play with leverage.”

Zimmer, a linebacker in high school, had been on recruiting visits to Michigan and Michigan State and drew some looks from Mid-American Conference schools, but was widely considered too slow to play Division I football.

He became a monster at Ferris State, an hour drive from his hometown.

Zimmer redshirted as a freshman. He played defensive end for three seasons. And with a goal to make the pros, switched to defensive tackle as a senior, when he racked up 81 tackles, 26 for loss, 13 sacks and four forced fumbles.

“He had a lot of sacks for us, but they weren’t like sacks that you’d see in the NFL, where it’s a vertical pass rush and beating a tackle with quickness,” Ferris State coach Tony Annese said. “It was always overwhelming power. We knew that the overwhelming power would translate to being an interior guy.”

Zimmer packed on 30 pounds to make the transition.

“When somebody tells you that they put on 30-some pounds in a summer, the first thing everyone thinks is he did steroids,” Larry Zimmer said, recounting when his son met with NFL scouts at a regional combine in Houston. “They had him in a room and asked him about the weight gain. They were grilling him. And he rattled off, ‘On this day, I lift this. On this day, I lift this. I eat so much this, this and this.’ And he gave them his whole routine, literally out of his head. And they excused him after that, and our liaison to the NFL was in the room. One of the scouts looked at the liaison and said, ‘That kid’s got his (stuff) together. He knows what he’s talking about.’ ”

‘A little hand from heaven’

Justin spent the summer after college working out at the Michael Johnson Performance training center in McKinney, Texas, where he met veteran defensive line coach John Blake, who helped him break into the NFL with the Bills.

“I really don’t know if I hadn’t met Coach Blake if I would have gotten an opportunity,” Zimmer said. “There weren’t a ton of teams that called me after the draft. There was Buffalo, and they offered me a little bit as an undrafted free agent, and I think there was one other team.

“Coach Blake was a big part of why I ended up here.”

Blake was the head coach at Oklahoma from 1996 to ’98, when Rex Ryan was the Sooners’ defensive coordinator. But he had been out of the sport for years after resigning his job as an assistant coach at North Carolina in the midst of an NCAA investigation in 2010.

Zimmer was one of only two defensive linemen training at the Texas facility with Blake in 2016.

“I spent a ton of time with him, got to know him really well,” Zimmer said.

Blake was hired to join Ryan’s staff as the defensive line coach in Buffalo four days before Zimmer showed out at Michigan’s pro day, and after Zimmer went undrafted, Blake insisted the Bills sign the rookie free agent.

“It was a perfect situation,” Zimmer said.

But Zimmer was released before the start of the regular season.

He found his way back this summer, signing with the Bills in August, just weeks after Blake suffered a heart attack and died at his home in Dallas. He was 59 years old.

“It’s sad in a sense,” Frank Zimmer said. “Coach Blake has passed on and it’s kind of weird that Justin ends up in the very spot that Coach Blake pulled for him to get there.”

“It’s almost like Coach Blake had a little hand from heaven,” Joyce Zimmer said.

'Brings that nastiness'

Justin Zimmer had an opportunity to play in the Bills’ season-opening victory against the Jets because starting defensive tackle Star Lotulelei opted out of playing this season due to Covid-19 concerns and former first-round pick Vernon Butler missed the game with a hamstring injury.

Zimmer played 16 snaps, recorded four tackles and dropped Le’Veon Bell behind the line of scrimmage.

He was again activated to play against the Chiefs on Monday, this time taking the place of 2018 third-round pick Harrison Phillips, who tore an ACL last season but was a healthy scratch.

Zimmer recorded six tackles, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit and with the Bills trailing by six points with just more than five minutes remaining, ripped the ball from the grasp of Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire at the Kansas City 31-yard line. It was called a fumble on the field but overturned on review, after replays showed the running back’s knee hit the ground a split second before losing the ball.

“Justin really stepped up and gave us quite a bit,” defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said, “especially being able to put some pressure on the quarterback and help us some in the run game, as well, so I thought he really did a good job, and he did a good job when we played the Jets earlier in the season when he had a chance to play also.”

Zimmer has played 48 snaps for the Bills this season, a small sample size that’s produced curious results. PFF assigns him a run defense grade of 60.8, best among all interior defensive linemen on the team. But his tackling grade of 29.1 is the lowest.

Essentially, Zimmer is physically where he needs to be on a given play, and a strong blocker capable of eating space and bursting into the backfield, but he’s struggled with tackling to this point.

Perhaps that’s a byproduct of his short arms, just the way he was made.

Perhaps it’s a byproduct of his relative inexperience in the Bills’ aggressive scheme.

But he’s proved capable of making a difference.

“He fits in with our unit like a glove,” Hughes said. “Eager to learn, but at the same time brings that intensity, that nastiness, that dog that we like as a defensive lineman. Every time we cut on the tape, we know what Zim’s about. We know what Justin’s going to do. You see him in the weight room, you see how he carries himself throughout the building, which is great for a lot of our young guys to see. It doesn’t matter how many years you’ve been in this business – be a pro, take care of yourself and the football gods will always take care of you.”

When the Bills run: Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll got right to the point Monday when asked about the struggles of the rushing attack. “I’ve got to give them better plays,” Daboll said. That would be a start, but it’s not the only problem plaguing the running game right now. Far too often, Devin Singletary is met by a defender behind the line of scrimmage, leading to negative plays or minimal gains. Singletary, too, has seemed to lack decisiveness at times, so blame can be equally shared. The Jets rank 20th in the league against the rush, but the Bills haven’t gone up against a murderer’s row of running defenses lately and still struggled to get anything going. EDGE: Jets.

When the Bills pass: Josh Allen’s performance against the Kansas City Chiefs raised some red flags. Allen went just 14 of 27 for 122 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. His accuracy from the very beginning of the game was a problem. It seemed through the first month of the season that games like that were behind Allen, but evidently not. The challenge will be to make sure that was an aberration – not the start of a trend. The Jets rank 23rd against the pass. Expect a healthy dose of Stefon Diggs with John Brown out with a knee injury. Diggs continues to lead AFC receivers in catches (42) and receiving yards (555). EDGE: Bills.

When the Jets run: Old friend Frank Gore is the starter, but the expectation is the Jets will give rookie fourth-round draft pick La’Mical Perine as much or more work. Perine gained 27 yards on seven carries last week against the Dolphins. At 0-6, the Jets should be turning things over to younger players. Rookie left tackle Mekhi Becton, the team’s first-round draft pick, is expected to play after he missed the past two games with a shoulder injury. The Bills could really use Matt Milano, but the linebacker is questionable with a pectoral injury. EDGE: Bills.

When the Jets pass: While the Bills are dealing with significant injuries, including in their secondary, where cornerback Josh Norman is out and fellow cornerbacks Tre’Davious White and Cam Lewis are questionable, the Jets are getting healthier. Quarterback Sam Darnold is expected to return after missing the last two weeks because of a shoulder injury, and he might have his intended starting group of wide receivers for the first time. Jamison Crowder is questionable with a groin injury and rookie Denzel Mims needs to be activated from injured reserve. If that happens, it could pose some matchup problems for the banged-up Bills. EDGE: Bills.

Special teams: Corey Bojorquez is putting together a heck of a season. The Bills’ punter ranks third in gross punting average, at 50.8 yards. Punt returner Andre Roberts would like nothing more than to reach the end zone for the first time this season against his former team. The Jets are expected to have a new kicker after Sam Ficken suffered a groin injury in practice Wednesday and is listed as doubtful. If he can’t play, New York would call up Sergio Castillo from the practice squad. Castillo’s lone NFL experience came in the 2014 preseason, so his sticktoitiveness should be commended. EDGE: Bills.

Coaching: It’s hard to believe Adam Gase is still employed as the Jets’ head coach. From the outside, Gase looks totally in over his head, but perhaps Jets General Manager Joe Douglas is playing chess while the rest of us are playing checkers. By keeping Gase, Douglas increases the chances of the Jets finishing with the worst record in the league and a chance to draft Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Well played, Joe. Bills coach Sean McDermott has faced a bit of adversity the past couple of weeks. He’s had to deal with a run of injuries and a defense that has gone in the tank. He’s likely had some serious work to do in the locker room, too, after the team cut former starting guard Quinton Spain. The Jets, then, are the right opponent at the right time for McDermott, giving him an opportunity to get the Bills back on track. EDGE: Bills.

Prediction: Bills 35, Jets 13.

Welcome to this week's Bills Mailbag. We'll tackle questions on the team's injury situation, Brandon Beane's contract, the lineup changes and plenty more. Let's get right to it ...

ATV3 asks: Is this season an aberration for Bills injuries, or are the injuries more noteworthy this season because of the key players impacted?

Jay: I’d say this season simply falls more in line with what is normal. The Bills enjoyed a remarkable run last season when it came to avoiding injuries. It’s possible the condensed offseason and lack of preseason games could play a part, too, but that’s not a guarantee, either. The issue is the Bills have had certain positions hit with multiple injuries at the same time. That’s very difficult for any team to overcome.

Luigi Mike Speranza asks: Have read several comments recently recommending that Brandon Beane gets a contract extension, which assumes that he wants one. I hope so, too, but the larger question is do you think he wants one?

Jay: I have no reason to believe he wouldn’t want one. It’s cliché, but there are only 32 GM jobs in the NFL, and Beane has one of them. Why would he want to give that up? It would be one thing if Beane had a falling out with coach Sean McDermott, but their working relationship is solid. Beane has constructed a quality roster that has a good chance to win the AFC East for the first time since 1995. He seems to genuinely enjoy living and working in Buffalo. Terry and Kim Pegula have provided the Bills with everything Beane and McDermott have needed. I’d be stunned if Beane wanted out.

Pike asks: Now that the coach benched Trent Murphy, how about shaking up the running backs by starting and featuring T.J. Yeldon until Devin Singletary or Zack Moss proves themselves better?

Jay: Don’t hold your breath. Going back to last season, the Bills didn’t put in Yeldon even when veteran Frank Gore was struggling mightily over the second half of the year. Last week, the team went back to Moss after he missed three games with a toe injury and made Yeldon inactive. I’d be in favor of giving Yeldon more work, but offensive coordinator Brian Daboll does not seem like he shares the same opinion.

John Bodensteiner asks: Any way to find out what the Bills’ record is for Sunday Night Football, MNF and TNF over the past 20 or 30 years? I bet they’ve only won about 20% of those games. They just don’t do well in the spotlight.

Jay: Going all the way back to 1970, the Bills’ record in prime time is 33-46. That includes the losses this year to Tennessee and Kansas City, although it’s debatable if the 5 p.m. start against the Chiefs should count.

John Rine asks: Since the middle has been so porous, my thoughts are about running a 5-6 alignment. This alignment would force the offensive line to keep at least the tight end in to block or force it to match up one on one.  With six defensive backs to handle the pass coverage and also add to the run support, I feel it would help close up that BIG hole in the 10-20 area. Your thoughts?

Jay: That would be unconventional. I don’t see it happening. If the Bills get Matt Milano back from injury this week – he's listed as questionable – it’s a good bet he will be in the lineup for every snap along with Tremaine Edmunds. In that case, the Bills would either run their traditional 4-3 defense with A.J. Klein at the other linebacker or, as is more often the case, run a nickel defense with three cornerbacks and two safeties. Given how banged up the team is at cornerback, another possibility is to use a three-safety look with Dean Marlowe joining Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde.

Wimbly asks: Just wondering what happens to the Bills if Biden/Harris ban fracking? If Terry Pegula can’t earn money fracking, are the Bills moved to a more lucrative location in two years?

Jay: The Pegulas don’t have to worry about that, because Joe Biden has said he does not plan to ban all fracking – and when has a politician ever gone back on his promises? That concludes the political portion of this week’s mailbag. (The Bills aren’t moving in two years.)

Jake in Buffalo asks: Is Jake Fromm going to see any live snaps so we can get a sense as to whether we need to sign Josh Allen or have our quarterback of the future on a rookie deal?

Jay: This isn’t, um, Jake Fromm, is it? Of course Fromm’s not going to play right now. The Bills are 4-2 and lead the AFC East. Allen was playing like an MVP candidate for the first month of the season. Yes, he’s taken a slight step back the last couple of weeks, but not nearly enough that a quarterback change is even remotely on the radar. Fromm has been away from the team during practice as a Covid-19 precaution. The only way I see him taking the field this year is if there are major injury issues to Allen and backup Matt Barkley.

Peter D. Lussier asks: What was our yards-per-rush average when Jon Feliciano was playing versus the games he hasn't played?

Jay: The Bills averaged 4.4 yards per carry last season as a team. This year, they are at a woeful 3.8 yards. That drop-off can’t be solely attributed to Feliciano’s absence, but it’s definitely a factor. That’s why it will be big for the line when Feliciano is able to return from surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle.

Ed Helinski asks: It’s obviously apparent that guard and defensive tackle play is seriously underperforming and the Bills have been exposed by several teams. What things or moves need to be done to correct these messes?

Jay: As mentioned above, the return of Feliciano could be a big part of the corrections. After that, the team will have to hope Cody Ford can return quickly from his knee injury. He is out for Sunday's game against the Jets. If those two things happen, the interior of the line could be solidified. At defensive tackle, the team made its in-house move this week, promoting Justin Zimmer from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. Zimmer played well last week against the Chiefs and likely earned himself some more playing time moving forward.

bk asks: Quinton Spain mysteriously cut, two healthy inactive players to send a message, two 15-yard penalties against the Chiefs – two losses make things seem worse, but is there a culture/discipline problem with the Bills?

Jay: I wouldn’t say so. It can be argued that the decision to cut Spain and bench Trent Murphy and Harrison Phillips sends two clear messages to the locker room. No. 1, everyone needs to be rowing in the same direction. It’s fair to wonder if Spain was doing that after being benched. The “foot soreness” he reported before the Tennessee game seemed to come up out of nowhere. No. 2, performance, not paycheck, matters. Murphy has the fifth-highest cap hit on the team this year, but wasn’t getting it done as a pass rusher, so benching him sends the right message. As for the penalties, you’re absolutely right that those were inexcusable. I’m willing to accept that they were a result of frustration, which is understandable given how the defense has performed. If it becomes a pattern, then it might be more of an issue.

Karen Sniadecki asks: Why do we never hear directly from Tre’Davious White? He seems to be a talkative guy ... yet we get no direct give/take? I realize he’s not alone in this regard, but what gives?!?

Jay: We do hear from him pretty frequently. His last video conference call was Wednesday. Because of Covid-19 restrictions, reporters aren’t allowed in the locker room at the moment, so that means some players aren’t interviewed as frequently as they might be in a normal year. The Bills have done a nice job making a good deal of players available after practice and especially after games, but there are examples where fans haven’t heard from specific players as often as they might have simply because of a lack of access.

Rick McGuire asks: Why is it that we never see the Bills’ special teams try and block a punt? Seems they always rush about 5 yards and stop. A blocked punt can swing momentum in a game fast. Look how the game vs the Patriots last year changed after New England blocked that punt and returned it for a touchdown.

Jay: It does feel that way, doesn’t it? The Bills’ last blocked punt was nearly four years ago – Nov. 7, 2016 by Jerry Hughes against Seattle. Special teams coordinator Heath Farwell faces a choice when lining up for a punt return. Does he want to be aggressive and try for a block or set up a return for Andre Roberts? Given that Roberts is second in the league, averaging 14.7 yards per return, it’s easy to see why Farwell might be inclined to set up the return more often than going for the block. It’s also been a while since the Bills have had a punt return touchdown, too. Marcus Thigpen took one back 75 yards against the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 14, 2014.

Louis Stromberg asks: We’ve made it to Week 7! In honor of such, please rank these sevens: Seven Nation Army, Seven Pounds (the movie or the unit of weight), sevenfold, seventh heaven (the show or the heaven), the seven deadly sins. BONUS: Seven Costanza.

Jay: 6. The seven deadly sins. I’m just glad I didn’t have to power rank these. 5. Seven Pounds. As you can probably guess, I haven’t seen the movie. 4. Sevenfold. Not the band, right? Just the multiplication? 3. Seven Costanza. Any Seinfeld reference is going to do well in my power rankings. 2. Seven Nation Army. Hard to imagine anything bumping this from the top spot, but … 1. Seventh heaven. The highest level of heaven should be No. 1 on any power ranking. Thanks for all the questions this week!

Here are three matchups to watch when the Bills visit the New York Jets on Sunday.

Bills D vs. Jets O on third downs. The Jets’ offense is last in the NFL on third down, converting 30.2%. The Bills’ defense has slumped to 30th on third downs, allowing 53.5%. The Bills held the Jets to just 3.5 yards a carry in the opener, and there’s no Le’Veon Bell to deal with this week. He’s in Kansas City. The prospects look good for getting the Jets into a bunch of third-and-long situations. And the Jets’ offensive line is struggling with injuries and cohesiveness. This should be a game for the Bills’ edge rushers to beef up their numbers.

Jets WRs vs. Bills CBs. The Jets’ wideouts have been banged up all season. Big rookie Denzel Mims, the second-round pick from Baylor, might make his debut after missing the first six weeks with hamstring issues. Breshad Perriman, the big free-agent signee from Tampa, has just nine catches and has missed three games with an ankle injury. He might be back. The Bills played more man coverage than usual in the first meeting and they blitzed 38%, more than usual. Leslie Frazier didn’t fear the Jets passing game in the first meeting. “Everyone’s playing man against us,” Jets coach Adam Gase said this week. “We have to win our one-on-one matchups.”

Bills OTs vs. Jets edge rushers: Tackles Dion Dawkins and Daryl Williams are off to strong starts. The Jets’ cornerbacks aren’t awful. But the edge rushers are not special. Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams needs to manufacture pressure by bringing people from the back seven to join the four- or five-man rush. Tarell Basham is the Jets’ best edge rusher. He will rush from either side but goes a bit more over right tackle. Williams managed him well last time. If the Bills’ protection edges are solid, Josh Allen will be able to move the chains, as he did in the opener.

Here are my five takes on the Buffalo Bills’ game Sunday against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.

1. There can be no other outcome besides a lopsided victory.

Never mind that it’s way too early to say that anything, including an AFC East championship and even a Super Bowl run, would be off the table if the Bills barely pull out a win … or … dare we say it, lose. Whether the Bills like it or not, that’s going to be the overwhelming sentiment.

A three-game losing streak would set off alarms. When that third loss is against a winless opponent that seems to be trying its best to lose, those alarms go from annoying to deafening.

It’s fair to say the Bills don’t belong in the discussion as one of the NFL heavyweights, because they’ve been knocked out by two, the Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs. But they sure as heck should be far superior to the Jets, who they beat in their season-opener and who could very well be one ugly loss away from saying goodbye to coach Adam Gase.

Now, they must show it by being the team that delivers that beat-down.

2. OK, defense, it’s time to prove talk of a forthcoming improvement is real.

Micah Hyde and other members of the Bills’ D say there’s no need to panic, that the unit is “very close” to getting back to what it was last year when it ranked third in the NFL in total yards and second in points allowed.

Right now, it is a long way from that.

Even with cornerback Josh Norman out of the lineup with a recurrence of the hamstring issue that sidelined him at the start of the season, and with linebacker Matt Milano questionable with a pectoral injury, the Bills have no excuse for another poor defensive showing. The Jets’ offense ranks last in the league in scoring and second-to-last in yards.

Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds gets some slack for playing with a bad shoulder. However, coach Sean McDermott acknowledged Friday the Bills need more production than they’ve been getting from Edmunds since making him a first-round draft pick in 2018.

Asked about Edmunds’ tentativeness on the field, McDermott told reporters, “I think it just starts with understanding and clarity for him in being decisive more than anything. You’ve got to be decisive. At the end of the day, it may not always be perfect, but this is not a perfect game. There’s certain times when technique’s involved, there’s certain times when it’s recognition, there’s other times when you’ve just got to blow things up.”

McDermott added, “Tremaine’s aware of it and he’s working hard right now to improve his game.”

3. OK, Josh Allen, it’s time to silence the rekindling criticism about your accuracy and overall quality of play.

Understandably, the current focus is on how much Allen has struggled the past two weeks. He has misfired. He has looked uncomfortable. He has pressed. In short, he has managed to make those of us (yes, I am pointing at myself) touting him as an early NFL MVP candidate look foolish.

Nevertheless, Allen isn’t the sole cause for the offense not performing with the same dominance it showed through the 4-0 start. Coaching must take some of the responsibility, too. Opponents have a six-game book on how to defend Allen and the rest of the Bills’ playmakers. It was and still is crucial for offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey and the rest of the offensive staff to do their part to stay a step or more ahead of the competition.

It was fully expected that defenses would figure out ways to try to reduce the impact of Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley and John Brown, who will miss Sunday’s game with a knee injury. But it also is fair to expect counter moves to get them open, especially against the Jets, whose blitz-happy defense will create plenty of opportunities to exploit one-on-one coverage.

Look for Allen to do a lot of running, just as he did in the earlier game, because defenders will either be selling out to get after him or have their backs turned to him while running with receivers. The difference this time, though, is that he must do a better job hanging onto the ball, which he lost twice in the Bills’ 27-17 victory against the Jets on Sept. 13.

4. OK, Devin Singletary and Zack Moss and the offensive line, let’s get the running game in gear.

The Bills’ inability to move the ball on the ground with any sort of effectiveness is an embarrassment.

It could simply be a function of a lack of talent in the backfield and on the line. The Bills didn’t exactly give Singletary or Moss a vote of confidence with their flirtation with Le’Veon Bell before he signed with the Chiefs.

There also is nothing that the line has demonstrated so far that indicates it can consistently get sufficient push for the run. Monday night’s loss against the Chiefs, whose big and powerful O-line manhandled Buffalo’s defensive front, provided a stark reminder of what the Bills lack in the way of run-blocking.

5. OK, Sean McDermott, it’s time to restore the discipline that has been lacking.

Against the Titans, it was nine pre-snap penalties.

Against the Chiefs, it was personal fouls by Tre’Davious White and Jordan Poyer for a shove and a tackle out of bounds on the same series.

McDermott has to get a handle on this. His message of putting the team ahead of individual concerns must be reinforced, assuming it has gotten through in the first place.

The frustration of the consecutive losses can’t make its way onto the field Sunday, or that unthinkable scenario – a loss against the worst team in the NFL – could become a bit more thinkable.

• • •

Game details

TV: CBS. Announcers: Greg Gumbel (play-by-play), Rich Gannon (analyst).

Radio: Bills Radio Network. Buffalo-WGR 550 AM; Toronto-Fan 590 AM; Rochester-WCMF 96.5 FM and WROC 950 AM; Syracuse-WTKW 99.5 FM and WTKV 105.5 FM. Announcers: John Murphy (play-by-play), Steve Tasker (analyst).

Series history: The Bills lead, 63-56.

Bills injury report: Out: WR John Brown (knee), LB Tyrel Dodson (hamstring), G Cody Ford (knee), TE Dawson Knox (calf), CB Josh Norman (hamstring). Questionable: CB Cam Lewis (wrist), LB Matt Milano (pec), CB Tre’Davious White (back).

Jets injury report: Doubtful: G Alex Lewis (shoulder), K Sam Ficken (right groin). Questionable: QB Sam Darnold (shoulder), OT Mekhi Becton (shoulder), WR Jamison Crowder (groin), OT George Fant (knee), OT Chuma Edoga (calf).

Point spread: The Bills are an 11.5-point favorite at vegasinsider.com.

Did you know: The Bills lead the NFL in offensive third-down conversion at a rate of 56.2 percent.

Next: The Bills get their first crack at the Tom Brady-less New England Patriots next Sunday at Bills Stadium.

Micah Hyde will tell you that as poorly as the Buffalo Bills’ defense has played the past two weeks, and for much of the season, it’s not far from returning to the impressive form it showed through most of 2019.

How close?

"Very close, very close,” the veteran safety told reporters on a video call Thursday.

With the NFL trade deadline a little more than a week away, there has been considerable speculation about the Bills needing to make a significant move to shore up their defense. Hyde doesn’t see the need for panic in the form of wholesale changes.

As far as he's concerned, the Bills have the necessary ingredients to come out of their tailspin after back-to-back losses to Tennessee and Kansas City, and continue on the promising path that began with a 4-0 start.

“I think the personnel that we have, guys that we have on this defense, it's not the players,” Hyde said. “We've just got to go out there and really dial in and focus. We don't need to ship guys out, bring you guys in or something like that. I think that as long as you remain calm, everybody takes a step back and really looks at themselves in the mirror and realizes what more can they do – stop making the same mistakes and learn from each and every game – we'll be fine.

“But we've got to continue to practice it. We have our walk-throughs for a reason, guys are meeting separately for a reason, just to try to get this thing figured out so that when Sunday comes or Monday or, shoot, Tuesday night ... once Tuesday night comes, we’ll be ready to go.”

The Bills can only hope rescheduled games, such as their Tuesday and Monday night encounters with the Titans and Chiefs, respectively, are behind them. In front of them is Sunday’s clash with the 0-6 New York Jets and a schedule that gets increasingly difficult.

At some point, Hyde said, the Bills need to find their defensive identity and get back to the level of a year ago when they ranked third in the NFL in total yards and second in points allowed. After six games, the Bills’ defense is 23rd in the league in total yards and 21st in points allowed.

“I know it’s Week Seven, but you’re always trying to find your identity as a defense and you want to continue to get better,” he said. “Obviously, that wasn't the case the last couple weeks. We felt like we left some plays out there, but finding an identity on defense is huge. And we're still trying to do that. And with guys that are in and out of the lineup, and all that, not creating excuses, but we've got to find that rhythm to be able to get off the field on third down, tighten up in the red zone, just stuff that we've been doing here in the past for so long.

“I think every season is different. In ’17, we went on that three-game skid where we couldn't stop a soul. We saw the light and we found it after that, and I think that's when we found identity. I feel like we're still trying to find it in this defense. Trust me, we're working every single day to try to do that.”

In the latest edition of One-on-One Coverage, The Buffalo News spoke with Hyde by phone about the Bills’ defensive struggles and what’s needed to fix them, the sting of losing two in a row, Tre’Davious White’s contract extension and Hyde’s thoughts on Josh Allen and some of his other teammates.

Buffalo News: After your 4-0 start, is it fair to say this team might have gotten caught up in its success and lost some focus in the last two weeks?

Micah Hyde: We got off to a hot start. We had a little bump in the road going down to Tennessee. I'm definitely not creating excuses or anything like that, but just not really knowing who you're playing, what day you're playing on, all that stuff that just kind of threw a wrench in the shuffle. It was just kind of weird.

Now, like I said, I'm not creating excuses. I'm just saying the last couple games, we had short weeks preparing for some very good opponents. We just didn't play well. And, so, we're trying to get back to the basics this week and try go to New York and get (win) No. 5.

BN: You’ve said the defense’s identity changes year to year. If it’s something you will know when you see it, what will you be seeing?

MH: I'll be seeing basically players that are able to make the calls before the coordinator or the head coach, whoever's making the calls, are able to make them. So, for example, first-and-10, you have your base calls, you know exactly what you're supposed to do, you're playing fast. Second-and-long or second-and-short, you know what your calls are, you're playing fast. Third down ... you know your bread-and-butter plays that you're going to run and know what they're going to run and how you can beat them. That's playing in a rhythm, that's playing fast.

I think that a defense, especially late in the season when you know what calls throughout the season have worked, when you dial them up, your hair's on fire, you're flying around and you're having fun. That is a defense that's playing in rhythm.

BN: Why isn't it possible for the defense to have the same identity each year?

MH: Players change, defenses may change, some calls that worked two years ago might not necessarily work this year just because you're playing different offenses and just different types of teams. And the league's kind of transitioning into, obviously, a pass-heavy league, but with tight ends that are no longer down in the three-point stance. They're kind of more standing up. They can be spread out and the calls that you made four years ago aren't necessarily working now. So, stuff may change, and due to that, your identity may change.

BN: How difficult have these past two weeks been, especially for the defense?

MH: I think you always deal with adversity each and every season. If this was all the adversity that we had to face this season, I'd be happy because it's coming early against some good opponents. But at the end of the day, I just step back and kind of see what I can do better, what this defense can do better. And everybody's kind of seeing what they can do to help out this team.

I don't think there's any frustration. Frustration hasn't even started to set in my mind. I think it's just more about that it kind of encourages you to come out there and get another opportunity. And that’s what we have this week.

BN: What do you do to address what’s going wrong within your position group?

MH: Each and every week, guys meet with each other. With the DBs, you meet a lot together. We'll have dinner sometimes and watch a little film. Same thing this week. Guys try to pick each other's brains, see what they see with this next opponent and just do everything they have do to correct the mistakes that we've made in the last couple games.

BN: How do you avoid not overlooking the Jets, who you've beaten once this season and are heavily favored to beat again?

MH: This is the NFL, and we understand that they have very good players. It doesn't matter in this league about records. And I'm really not just saying that. I feel like, even in '18, our record didn't indicate how good we really were. We lost some ballgames early, got blown out, didn't really know our identity. Then, late in the season, we felt like we were playing pretty well.

We were playing against some good opponents; we just couldn't finish the game. The same thing holds true right now. Whether they're put in as an underdog or not, we've got to go out there and we've got to compete. We've got to find a way to win games. I don't care if they are undefeated or they haven't won a game yet, they're going to be ready to play.

BN: Tre'Davious White gets the big contract extension. What does that mean to the secondary as a whole?

MH: I hope he cashes some of us out, too, so the rest of us can get a little bit (laughing). No, I think it just goes to show what type of player, what type of guy he is. He's the type of player that an organization can build around and, obviously, they showed that. But I've just been happy to play with him and in this secondary for the last couple years. It's been remarkable what we've been able to do.

Tre White steps in as a first-round pick and rookie. That's hard to do. He was matching people his rookie year and he had some ups and downs. I think corners in this league, you've got to learn from your mistakes and he's definitely done that. Then you have me and Po (fellow safety Jordan Poyer) coming from other teams. I played a lot of ball in Green Bay, special teams and defense, but was never really that guy that I envisioned myself being. And the same thing for Po. Po coming off injuries and playing on some bad teams. He wanted to win and when we got here, we all just said, "Hey, this is an opportunity and let's make the best of it.”

Obviously, we added some great additions to that, so to see guys like Po and Tre'Davious get paid, it's awesome to see. It just shows the hard work that we've all put in together and that we're going to continue to put in together.

BN: Let’s do a little two-minute drill here. Going to give you a name and you to give your takeaways. Josh Allen.

MH: Beast. Competitor. I’m happy for him.

BN: How about his ability to overcome his struggles of the last two games?

MH: He’s the same old Josh. He wants to compete. I’m not worried one bit.

BN: Stefon Diggs.

MH: Man, he’s a dog. Played us in the past. He's one of those guys that he's going to make plays and you've just got to try to contain him.

BN: Cole Beasley.

MH: Unguardable one-on-one. Another guy I've played against in the past. You get a one-on-one, he's going to find a way to get open. So, if I was Josh, I would just stare at him.

BN: Josh Norman.

MH: He brings an edge to our defense. Obviously, he says that he could play a lot better, we all say that we can play a lot better. But he just brings that edge when he's been out there, just punching out the football (against the Raiders) and trying to create turnovers. That's what he's done in his history, in his past and that's what he's always going to try to do.

Here is how The News' sports writers see Sunday's Bills game at the New York Jets. 

Vic Carucci

Is this really a question? Come on. No contest here. Those back-to-back losses against Tennessee and Kansas City notwithstanding, the Bills are still a good team. The Jets are beyond awful.

The main priority for the Bills is to keep a two-game slide from becoming a spinning, flipping crash off the side of a mountain. That's what a three-game losing streak would be with a loss to the Jets as the third defeat. The Bills can't let that happen and I expect they won't.

They'll waste little time taking charge against a team that could very well go winless this season and roll to their biggest victory of the season, which could very well lead to Adam Gase's firing as soon as Sunday night. Bills, 33-10.

Jay Skurski

The Bills need to send an Edible Arrangements over to the NFL’s scheduling office. They couldn’t have asked for a better opponent to face riding a two-game losing streak.

The Jets are a dumpster fire right now. Buffalo hasn’t swept the season series against New York since 2015, but should do so with ease this year.

The Jets are allowing nearly 31 points per game. Conversely, they are scoring just 12.5 per game. Adam Gase is a dead man walking as head coach.

The Bills have a big opportunity to get right on both sides of the ball. If they don’t … well, let’s not even consider that, because it’s too scary even for Halloween season. Bills, 35-13.

Mark Gaughan

I hate laying 13 points in any game. In general, I like to take the underdog on double-digit spreads because I think the underdog covers between 55% and 60% in those situations. There are exceptions to my rule, like if the underdog is decimated by injuries or if it’s late in the season and the team has run for the bus. The Jets have failed to cover all six games this season. They have lost by double digits in five of six games. The other was a nine-point loss to a Denver team quarterbacked by Brett Rypien.

The Jets are due for a cover. The Bills are due for a bounce-back. The season opener between the teams was wider than the 27-17 score indicated. The Bills held a 31-15 edge in first downs.

Another decent handicapping principle is identify the two worst teams in the league and pick against them as much as possible. Yes, that principle conflicts with the double-digit spread principle sometimes. Hey, if handicapping was an exact science, Las Vegas hotel suites wouldn’t be $600 a night. Bills, 27-13.

Jason Wolf

Had the Bills beaten the Titans and/or Chiefs, this week’s trip to play the winless Jets might have been a trap game, with the Patriots, Seahawks and Cardinals on deck. Instead, it’s a prime opportunity for the defense to fix what ails it.

The Jets’ offense ranks 30th overall and is last in the NFL in scoring (12.5 points per game), average passing yards (171.3), third-down conversion rate (30.2%) and in the red zone (23.08% touchdown percentage).

Frank Gore, now the Jets’ lead back after Le’Veon Bell was released, is managing just 3.3 yards per carry, which ranks 43rd out of 45 players who carry the ball at least 6.25 times per game.

Sam Darnold might return after missing the last two games with a shoulder injury, but he was terrible through four games, completing less than 60% of his passes while throwing three touchdowns to four interceptions.

Buffalo handles its business. Bills, 24-10.

Rachel Lenzi

The Bills can’t afford a loss against an AFC opponent, but given the Jets’ lackluster season so far, that possibility seems faint. Don’t expect the Bills to let this game turn into a back-and-forth contest, after they got trampled twice in six days. 

The Jets are arguably the worst team in the NFL, and they don’t have the same diverse cast of offensive options that the Chiefs or the Titans have. Actually, there’s nothing that stands out about the Jets, other than the fact that they’re in the basement of several statistical categories on either side of the ball – including an NFL-low seven touchdowns.

About the only areas where the Jets could pose any type of threat are on the pass rush, with 18 sacks this season, and in the secondary, where they have seven interceptions … but have given up 1,570 passing yards.

If there’s a bounce-back game to be had by the Bills, the meeting with the Jets comes at a perfect time. Bills, 28-7.

The Gase Watch continues in New York where the job status of the Jets' coach is being closely monitored. As NFL.com put it: New York is at the point at 0-6 this season in which it is not only struggling, it's making the game look like a chore.

The decision to fire Gase is not that simple, though, as the Jets are currently the frontrunners in the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes. However, if they let Gase go, the Jets just might blow their golden ticket.

The only time the Jets started a season 0-6 was in 1996 when they finished 1-15. 

While this 13-point spread appears to be a stretch for the Bills, the fact of the matter is they are 4-1 against the spread as double-digit road favorites dating back to 1990. They’re also 9-1 against the spread as road favorites when coming off consecutive losses.

However, it’s not in our DNA to lay double digits on the road in division games – despite the fact that the Bills are 9-3 against the spread the past two seasons. 

Prediction: Bills over Jets by 10.   

Marc Lawrence previews the NFL from a Vegas perspective. You can follow him online at Playbook.com or @MarcLawrence.

More than 100 million voting-eligible Americans did not participate in the 2016 election.

With this year’s election now less than two weeks away, both current and former members of the Buffalo Bills are doing their part to reduce that staggering number. NFL Votes is a league-wide initiative that is intended to support voting and civic engagement among NFL fans, players, club and league personnel through voter education, voter registration and voter activation. One of the NFL legends most active in the cause also happens to be arguably the greatest player in Bills history – Hall of Fame defensive end Bruce Smith.

During a wide-ranging conversation with The Buffalo News on Thursday, Smith explained why voting is such a deeply personal matter for him.

“It means that I have conducted my civic duty and I have recognized all of the sacrifices that have been made through civil rights, through the sacrifices of those who have paved the way and given me the opportunity to be able to vote, because there was once a day that I didn't have this opportunity,” he said. “Women weren't allowed to vote at a certain point in time. African-Americans were not allowed to vote. It would be doing a disservice to all those who have come before me who have laid their lives down on the line to grant this opportunity and who fought for minorities to have the right to vote. So that's why I'm so engaged.”

Smith admits that he wasn’t always as passionate about the issue. When he was a young man playing in the NFL, he lived in a bubble, mostly unaware of the struggles of those around him. Now, at 57, he views things differently.

“I think that once you get outside of that bubble, particularly if you go back to your own hometown, you see these things firsthand and you see the injustices, you see the disparities in education and healthcare, the social injustices. One would have to be blind not to see what is taking place,” he said. “When you get caught up as a young man in life and trying to be successful … you just don't understand how significant politics is. There is a movement that is taking place. It's taking place with all races, all genders and it is so critical that whatever party you decide to vote for, that you take into account, this election is going to shape the rest of your life and it's going to shape, pretty much, the life of the next generation, so you need to vote like your life depends on it. And if you don't think your life depends on it, vote like you think your grandkids or your children – their lives depend on it.”

This year’s election comes at a challenging time in American history. The ongoing Covid-19 crisis has caused immeasurable pain – both in the loss of nearly 215,000 American lives and the ongoing economic devastation caused by restrictions put in place to deal with the pandemic.

A national reckoning on race relations has also been started following the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, among others.

“The divisiveness that this country is in right now, I have to reflect back to the ’60s when I was a little kid, and it's as bad, if not worse right now,” Smith said. “So we have to act. We have to vote. We have to treat people better. We have to love one another. We have to root for one another. But in this climate that we're in right now, it's just so depressing and disappointing. You add Covid on top of it, and I'm not surprised that there are folks that are in a bad place.

Smith has been appalled by the deaths of Arbery, Taylor and Floyd.

“Having a 26-year-old son, it really hits home every time he walks out of the door,” he said. “What bothers me the most – it doesn't matter how much education you have, how wealthy you are. Racism is real. It impacts each and every one of us, whether you're white or black, to be quite honest with you.

“It has really set me back on how I view a lot of things in life and just gave me a different perspective on how I want to approach life. Obviously, I've tried to treat people the way I would want to be treated. Greet them with a smile, be engaging, be someone that's approachable. Don't judge a man by the color of his skin, but the content of his character. These are things that resonate within me and I always walk around with a smile and so forth, but there hasn't been very much to smile about here as of late. It's been an eye-opening experience and I think we all need to be engaged – people of all races – because this is something that, if we all band together, we can make a difference in the outcome and the future of the United States and our communities.”

The fact that 100 million eligible Americans didn’t vote in the last presidential election is an alarmingly high number.

“For me, and maybe there are those that had their own reasons, but if you choose not to vote, there should be no complaints or conversations regarding what's right or what's wrong with the country,” Smith said. “There are some who have historically thought that their vote doesn't matter, or it won't make a difference. That couldn't be further from the truth.”

The presidential election has understandably dominated headlines, but it’s not the only one being contested. In many ways, elections at the state and local level are of as much or greater importance to an individual’s day-to-day life.

“We need to become more educated about who we're voting for, who and what they stand for and we need to hold them accountable and make sure that while they're on the campaign trail, the promises they make are the ones we hold them to,” he said. “I have not seen our country in this bad of shape in my lifetime, whether it be the educational disparities, the healthcare disparities, social injustices, racism and economic disparities – and then you add Covid on top of that, it's going to take a long time for our country to recover. We have to start with making our vote count for leadership that will make a difference.”

As part of their participation with NFL Votes, the Bills held a team-wide voter registration drive to make sure all players and staff are properly registered. Among current players, defensive end Jerry Hughes has taken the lead in pushing the importance of his voting, tweeting out to his 44,000 Twitter followers information about polling places and registration deadlines.

“A lot transpired over the past four years. A lot of people are upset at the way that the country is being ran, at the way that the governing powers are handling things, so that's a way to solve all of that, to fix any confusion or any displeasure by any Americans is for us to go out and vote,” Hughes said. “We have our liberties. We have our rights. This is our democracy in which we can go out there and pick who we want to be our candidate. … If we have any problems with how anything is being handled, you can vote. You can vote for your congressmen, judges, whoever is in the senate, you can do that.”

As a team over the summer, the Bills identified three key issues that players wanted to devote their time to – voter registration, census awareness and Internet access for less-fortunate kids in the Buffalo City School District.

Coach Sean McDermott has been pleased to see how his team has followed through on each of those issues.

“It's highly important for our nation,” McDermott said. “To be committed to being involved in our community at the local level – being involved at the national level as best we can – but starting at home, I'm proud of the guys for making that one of their top initiatives.”

Buffalo Bills players and coaches have done their best to wrap cushions around what happened the past two weeks.

No one expected to go 16-0. It’s all part of the ups and downs of a season. Don’t panic. Stay the course. We have what it takes to fix this.

Sorry, fellas. That just isn’t going to fly.

Nothing can soften the blow of the massive gut punch from back-to-back losses against the Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs.

The lingering effect is a revised perspective on all the giddiness that once filled the autumn air in Western New York.

1. Any suggestion the Bills belonged among the AFC’s elite because of their 4-0 start and offensive dominance in those games has been blown away like a wind gust taking out a pile of leaves.

2. Sunday’s game against the New York Jets looms a whole lot larger than it did before the Bills took the field Monday night.

As pitiful as the 0-6 Jets are and as much as they’ve proved they’re the worst team in the NFL and perhaps all of sports, they are what stands between the Bills and the chance to end a two-game losing streak.

A third consecutive loss wouldn’t technically kill the Bills’ chances of winning the AFC East or making another wild-card playoff appearance, but it would feel as if that’s where this season was headed. After Sunday, there are no more gimmes on the schedule.

Then, there is the nightmare of becoming the first victim of the Jets, who seem on the verge of firing coach Adam Gase and are making almost no effort to be even semi-respectable. It would be nearly impossible for the Bills to live that down. The boys in Vegas have good reason to make Buffalo a 13-point favorite. A close victory, with the Bills being hurt by the same issues that have surfaced the past two weeks, won't cut it.

The Bills are, without a doubt, in a must-win-big position. Or, perhaps more accurately, they’re in a you-can’t-even-fathom-the-thought-of-losing spot.

Either way, the situation calls for something upon which the franchise could routinely rely in its Super Bowl glory days. On those rare occasions the Bills would hit a rough patch in the early 1990s, they always managed to come out of it because their big-time players would rise to the occasion and perform as, well, big-time players.

Jim Kelly. Bruce Smith. Thurman Thomas. Andre Reed. Darryl Talley. Cornelius Bennett. They would deliver and the Bills would be back on track for another long postseason run.

There’s no need for a reminder here that four of those guys have bronze busts in Canton and no one on the Bills has barely done enough to earn a pocket on a Hall of Fame jacket, let alone induction. The point is that if you’re a team that’s supposed to be good – and the Bills’ 4-2 start and victories against the 4-2 Los Angeles Rams and 3-2 Las Vegas Raiders would seem to qualify them as such – then you should have the players capable of stepping up when it is needed the most.

That means you, Josh Allen. And you, Tre’Davious White. And you, Stefon Diggs. And Jerry Hughes. And Micah Hyde. And Jordan Poyer. And, you, too, Devin Singletary.

“Most definitely,” White told reporters in a video call Wednesday. “It comes back to when the opportunities present themselves, you’ve got to make the plays. That’s just plain and simple.”

White gets it. The huge contract extension he received in the summer took a situation like this into account. Forget about all those defensive lapses the Bills have had before and during their two-game skid – the lapses that allowed the Rams to escape a 25-point hole, the inability to pressure or contain Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, the tissue paper-like resistance there was for Chiefs rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

There can be none Sunday. The Jets are bad in all phases. The Bills must make sure the downward spiral continues.

“When we get the opportunities, when the ball is in the air and it’s a 50-50 ball, it’s on us to come down with it in the secondary,” White said. “Or, if it’s a one-on-one block, with guys on the D-line, we’ve got to win those one-on-one matchups. If it’s one-on-one with the back and the linebacker, we’ve got to win those one-on-one matchups.

“When you’re on the field on Sundays in the NFL, it’s about winning your one-on-ones. We haven’t been doing a good job of winning our one-on-ones. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board and try to see where pretty much we can put ourselves in a position to make the play. That’s definitely something to think about.”

Allen has a lot to ponder as well. For four weeks, he was a central figure in the conversation about NFL MVP. Now, the talk is about how he has reverted to his old inaccurate ways and losing his cool under the intensified national spotlight.

Allen is as accountable as any player in the team, if not the entire league. When things go wrong, he accepts full responsibility. When they go right, he readily shares the credit.

But as with White, Allen is keenly aware of the circumstances facing him and his teammates.

“Yeah, it’s the saying, ‘Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games,’ ” he told reporters. “We’ve got to show out. But again, it’s not a week-by-week basis. Every game, you’ve got to find a way to show up or else you have a chance to lose that game, a la the last two weeks. We’ve got to find ways that our guys step up and make plays for us and, like I said, it starts with me.

“I think doing my part sometimes is doing less, allowing myself to trust my teammates around me and taking the check down when possible and not trying to force things down the field. I’ve got to go out there and make the right decisions, make the right throws, allow our guys to catch the ball in space and make some plays for us. I think it’s not as simple as it sounds but it’s doing my job, whatever is asked of me and making the right decisions.”

Sean McDermott understands the importance of Allen and others at the upper end of the roster doing what is expected of them Sunday.

The coach, though, is careful not to put all the burden on them. That would be in clear violation of his one-eleventh mantra.

“It’s a team approach, too,” McDermott told reporters. “You can’t just hinge on one or two players or what have you. If you want to put it on anyone’s shoulders, put it on mine. I’ve got big enough shoulders. That’s the role of the head coach. Outside of that, it’s what can we do better as a football team? And it’s got to be a team-first approach and we’ve got to hang together.

“Listen, the reason why you see grown men cry when they hold that (Lombardi) trophy at the end of the year is because it’s hard. It’s hard, man, to get to where you’re trying to go. It’s never easy. When we were 15-1, in my career at one point, it wasn’t easy then, either. So, we’re 4-2 right now and that’s in the past. What we can control is what’s ahead of us, our attitude, our effort, our energy, our preparation. And we’re going against a Jets team that certainly has struggled this year at times, but they’re a good football team with talent on that roster. And we’ve got to earn the right to win this week as we’re moving forward here.”

White, for one, is buying into the coach’s message. To him, the path to where the Bills want to go doesn’t require a perfect or even near-perfect record.

It has to start with winning the AFC East, which the Bills lead. Beating the Jets would enhance that cause.

“So you get yourself in the playoffs, that’s all you want,” White said. “Win your divisional games. Get into the playoffs and get into the dance and let the chips fall where they may. We’re still in a good spot.

“There’s no panic. We have the players here and we have the answers here, so I feel like we’re going to be fine.”

Sunday will go a long way toward determining if that’s truly the case.

Here’s a big thing serious football fans are missing by not being able to sit in Bills Stadium this season: The ability to focus on a specific player and watch him work his craft/do his job play after play.

You can’t do it from your living room.

One Bills player who’s worthy of every-down attention is Cole Beasley. The 31-year-old receiver is a man of 1,000 moves. It’s amazing to watch the variety of ways he jukes, feints and manipulates defenders in getting open.

This week The News asked Beasley: Does he usually plan every move or is a lot of it in-the-moment improvisation?

“It’s definitely things you think about and you work on,” Beasley said. “Sometimes you improvise and things happen. What I try to do is I try to marry up other routes I’m running and make them look the same.

“So I’ll use a route that I run on a different play. I’ll fake like I’m doing that route to get open on a different one,” Beasley said. “It’s about using what you’ve put on film against them sometimes.”

A staple route of every slot receiver is the “whip” or “pivot” route, the underneath route on which the receiver pivots to the inside or outside. Beasley got open against the Chiefs on a shallow cross (Josh Allen misfired on the pass) by faking a pivot route to the outside with a subtle hesitation move.

Here's the play:

“On that one, a lot of guys know that I run a lot of escape routes or return routes, where I come back out after I go in,” Beasley said. “So I’ll use that sometimes to help me get open on other routes. It’s trying to marry everything up and making it look the same so they can’t get a read on anything.”

Former Patriots receiver Wes Welker caught 903 passes in his career, and I’ll bet 100 of them were pivot routes. (You pivot off your right foot when breaking to the right sideline and off your left foot when breaking to the left sideline, and vice versa when breaking to the middle of the field.)

Here's a Beasley catch on a pivot route vs. the Jets in the opener. The Jets were in Cover 2, and the linebacker was no match for Beasley underneath:

“Even though I’m running the same route, there’s 1,000 different ways they can play it, so I’ve got to come up with 1,000 different ways to run it against 1,000 different coverages,” Beasley said. “A lot of time on task helps a lot. There’s not really any coverage they’re going to give me that I haven’t seen before at this point in my career. So I have answers for what they’ll do to try to take that away. Sometimes it’s just knowing when to do your job so that you can eat up two defenders for another route. You’ve got to know when it’s your time to win and when it’s not. You’ve got to react to different things they give you. I’ve kind of learned that over my career just watching film and doing one-on-ones.”

Welker, who played from 2004 to 2015, is 5-foot-8 3/4 and 195 pounds. Beasley is 5-7 7/8 and 174. Welker is one of the receivers Beasley studied after he entered the NFL in 2012.

“I watch guys that run routes similar to what I do,” Beasley said. “I‘ve watched a lot of Welker. I’ve watched a lot of [Danny] Amendola. But the ones I like watching the most are Amendola and [Cooper] Kupp because they do a lot of things similar to how I do it.”

Amendola, the former Ram and Patriot, now is with the Lions. He has 559 catches in 12 years. The Rams’ Kupp, in his fourth year, tied for the NFL lead in catches from the slot last year with New England’s Julian Edelman.

“Then Doug Baldwin was one,” Beasley said of the former Seahawk, who had 493 catches. “Then I talk to him all the time, from the Chargers, Keenan Allen. I watch him a ton, too. Even Jordan Reed, the tight end. We all run routes kind of similar with how we release and attack defenders. Those are guys I like to watch.”

Here's Beasley beating Texans linebacker Benardrick McKinney on the pivot route vs. zone coverage in the wild-card playoff game in January:

Beasley, in his ninth year, has 414 career catches. He’s third in the NFL in catches from the slot this year with 26 (out of 28 total). He’s on pace for 74 catches. He had 67 last year, and his career best is 75 in 2016.

The 30,000-foot view: If the Jets wind up with the No. 1 pick in the draft, Sam Darnold’s tenure as the team’s franchise quarterback likely will be over. Darnold is an elite talent. It’s not his fault the Jets’ offensive cast isn’t good enough. If Darnold and Josh Allen traded places, the Jets and Bills would be in roughly the same positions they’re in right now. However, the Jets are facing yet another franchise reboot. Coach Adam Gase is sure to be out. General Manager Joe Douglas, who didn’t hire Gase or draft Darnold, will be picking the next coach. If the winless Jets get the No. 1 overall pick, they will earn the right to draft Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, who is in the Andrew Luck category as far as franchise QB prospects go. The Jets could trade the No. 1 overall pick for a massive draft haul and keep Darnold. But the financial implications favor trading Darnold and drafting Lawrence. Darnold is due to make $4.6 million next year, the fourth year of his rookie contract. The fifth-year option on Darnold’s deal will cost the Jets about $25 million for 2022. If the Jets draft Lawrence, he will get a four-year contract worth about $36 million. That’s what Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow got this year. So it’s four years at $36 million vs. two years at roughly $30 million, with the need to give Darnold a giant new deal at some point during or after the 2022 season.

Big loss at DT: The Bills have had trouble running against the Jets’ stout defensive front. The last four meetings, Bills backs have averaged 3.5 yards on 66 carries vs. Gang Green. But the Jets have lost some pieces. Big Leonard Williams was shipped off to the Giants last October. On Monday, the Jets traded stout nose tackle Steve McLendon to Tampa Bay for a 2022 sixth-round pick. It was a fire-sale move. McLendon is 34 but he’s still a handful. The move allows the Jets to give more playing time to 25-year-old Folorunso Fatukasi, a 318-pound sixth-round pick from 2018. Is he good enough to be a starter? The Jets traded McLendon in order to find out.

“He’s been tough at the point of attack, very reliable,” Gase said. “He’s tough in the run game. I think his energy level and the way he plays down-in and down-out, for a big guy it’s hard to find guys like that.”

No. 3 vs. No. 9: Jets 303-pound defensive tackle Quinnen Williams was drafted third overall last year. He has two sacks and eight pressures this year. The Bills’ 287-pound Ed Oliver was picked ninth overall. He has one sack and 11 pressures. Oliver is a 3-technique defensive tackle. Williams is a 3-technique who sees some time at defensive end on the three-man line and a bit at the nose tackle. Here’s how Gase evaluated Williams on a call with The News this week. His answer could apply just as well to Oliver.

“I think the thing we constantly are relaying to him is it’s about consistency,” Gase said. “The best players in this league are the guys who are really a nightmare game in and game out. I think he’s had games where you see him really be disruptive in the backfield, whether its run game or pass game. It might not translate to sacks, but it’s forcing the quarterback to move. In the run game, it’s making the running back change direction. It’s all about that consistency of every game. Teams feel you. I think that’s part of the developmental process of young players, especially up front. ... The more you see, the quicker your reaction time gets. Things speed up for yourself. You identify things quicker. That’s all we’re looking for from him. Keep improving, keep recognizing things, keep building that library of stuff and find ways to play faster.”

Stats for the road: Gase is 30-41 as a head coach. His teams have 32 losses by double digits. (That’s 78% of his defeats!). They have had 26 losses by at least 14 points. ... Gregg Williams has ranked among the top seven defensive coordinators in blitz rate each of the previous six years, according to Football Outsiders. But he has been more judicious since the start of 2019. The Jets blitzed 30% of passing downs last year, no doubt in part because of their slew of injuries and depleted roster. They’re about 30% this year, too. Williams blitzed Josh Allen on 13 of 52 dropbacks (25%) in the opener, according to News charts. Allen handled it well, hitting 6 of 9 passes for 53 yards, plus a good scramble and two defensive penalties on the Jets.