Bills Vs. Josh Jacobs: Who’ll Stop the Run Against Raiders?
If the Buffalo Bills want to bounce back with a win on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, they have to stop last year's rushing champion Josh Jacobs.
Jacobs ran for 1,653 yards last season and gave fits to teams week after week. Now, he'll be tasked with doing that to a Bills team that surrendered 172 yards on the ground in Monday night's loss against the New York Jets.
"Physicality at the point of attack is important for us," coach Sean McDermott said via the team's website. "Use of our hands to get off blocks and defeat blocks and then tackling overall, I think that's going to be important as we continue to move throughout the season here."
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Jacobs struggled in his debut, managing just 48 yards on 19 carries against a stiff Denver Broncos defensive line. … though Vegas was able to secure a 17-16 win.
Meanwhile, in Buffalo … The Week 1 performance from the defensive line was very uncharacteristic compared to last year. In 2022, the Bills ranked fourth in the NFL in rushing yards allowed, trailing only the Tennessee Titans, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens. However, no team struggled more to defend the run in the openers than the Bills.
Granted, Jets running back Breece Hall's 83-yard run was an outlier, but the team still needed to improve on that aspect of the game.
If the Bills can't find a way to clean it up this week, they could face an 0-2 hole to begin the season for the first time since the 2018 season. Buffalo and Las Vegas kick off at 1 p.m. on Sunday inside Highmark Stadium.
