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Week 3: Bills vs. Broncos Preview Denver Broncos
The Bills continue their tough opening stretch of games as they head to another tough place to play in Denver. The Bills are coming off of an inspiring victory over Minnesota in overtime and the Broncos have continued their impressive run with two victories over NFC powerhouses to start the season. This game matches the Bills number one ranked offense against the Broncos number one ranked run defense. It will be a tall order for the Bills but they come in with a lot of confidence.


Facts and Figures
Matchup: Buffalo (1-1) at Denver (2-0)
Date: Sunday September 22, 2002
Place: Invesco Field
Time: 4:05pm
Television: CBS
Announcers: Kevin Harlan, Randy Cross, Beasley Reece
Spread: Broncos by 9
Series: Bills Lead 18-12-1 (1-0 in playoffs)
Last Meeting: Broncos 23-20 OT in Buffalo (1997)
Broncos Offense: Rush (8th); Pass (T-29th); overall (24th)
Broncos Defense: Rush (1st); Pass (24th); overall (11th)
Bills Offense: Rush (22nd); Pass (1st); overall (2nd)
Bills Defense: Rush (26th); Pass (20th); overall (22nd)


Injury Update

The Bills continue to be a healthy team. They had a few players suffer minor dings against Minnesota but they all received early week treatments and the entire team is back practicing for this week's game.

The Broncos are also relatively healthy as they escaped the 49ers game without any new significant injuries. They were without starting left guard Lennie Friedman who missed that game with a thumb injury. Backup WR Kevin Kasper also missed last week's game with a rib injury.

For complete injury news throughout the week and the Official NFL Injury Report go to our Injury Page.


Key Matchups

WR Peerless Price vs. CB Deltha O'Neal: Price is coming off of a career game and is lined up against a solid corner in O'Neal. The Bills will need another quality performance out of Price to have a chance. Asking him to match last week's stats is unrealistic however.

WR Eric Moulds vs. CB Denard Walker: After looking at the game films from the Vikings game, the Broncos may decide to put more people on Price, if that happens Moulds may be up for a big day.

CB Nate Clements vs. WR Rod Smith: Smith is the biggest receiving threat for Denver, if Clements can shut him down the Broncos may become one dimensional with a running attack.

LB London Fletcher vs. Denver RBs: Denver has a trio of players who can run the ball, Fletcher will need to stop the big gains to keep the Broncos honest.

RB Travis Henry vs. LB Al Wilson: If the Bills can establish a running game that will go a long way in pulling off the upset. However, the Broncos linebackers led by Wilson are very strong and it could be a long day for Henry.

Game Plan

When The Bills Have The Ball: The Bills struggled against the run last week and face the top run defense in this early season. Expect the Bills do the same thing they did last week... live through the right arm of Drew Bledsoe and his host of talented receivers. The Bills will pass early and often which will hopefully open up the running attack later in the game.

When The Broncos Have The Ball: This will be the opposite of when the Bills are on offense. The Broncos run the ball better than they pass with talented backs, Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, and Clinton Portis. Look for the to attack the Bills on the ground and then open up the pass with some play action.


Bills Daily Prediction

The Bills come into this game on a real high with confidence from actually finding a way to win a football game. The Broncos are off to an incredible start and may look past the Bills a bit. That isn't likely however since they play lowly Baltimore on Monday night next week. The Bills won't be out of many games this year with Bledsoe at the controls and this one won't be much different but the Broncos are just too good: Broncos 27, Bills 21


Season Prediction Record: (2-0)
Season Record Against The Spread: (2-0)

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