Bills at Jets
The Buffalo Bills will not only have a new head coach but also a new quarterback when they visit the New York Jets on Sunday. The Bills fired Rex Ryan during the week and announced that former first-round draft pick E.J. Manuel will be under center in the season finale for both teams.
Ryan's firing appeared imminent but the veteran coach's exit seemed hastened after the Bills suffered a gut-wrenching 34-31 loss to Miami in overtime last week. Ryan, who went 15-16 in his two seasons at Buffalo, took the blame for his defense allowing Jay Ajayi's game-changing, 57-yard run in overtime while his team had just 10 players on the field. The Jets will start Ryan Fitzpatrick again at quarterback in looking to snap a two-game losing streak. Fitzpatrick takes over for Bryce Petty, who has made five starts on the season and left with injuries in three of them, including last week when he suffered a shoulder injury in a 41-3 loss to New England.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, CBS. LINE: Bills -3.5. O/U: 42.
ABOUT THE BILLS (7-8): The decision to bench Taylor, who threw for 3,023 yards with 17 touchdowns and six interceptions, appears to be a financial one and not the call of interim coach Doug Whaley. Manuel has played sparingly since entering the league in 2013, throwing just six passes this season, and he may be without running back LeSean McCoy (1,257 yards rushing, 14 total touchdowns), who missed practice during the week due to an illness. Top wide receiver Sammy Watkins, who battled through for a foot injury to post season highs of seven catches for 154 yards last week, also is listed as questionable.
ABOUT THE JETS (4-11): Fitzpatrick went 24-for-34 for 374 yards and a touchdown as the Jets knocked off the Bills 37-31 in the second game of the season to gain a bit of revenge for their loss to Buffalo the previous season that knocked New York out of the playoff picture. Since then, Fitzpatrick has become more a punch line, completing 55.8 percent of his passes with 17 interceptions on the season. And, many of New York's top skill position players are all questionable -- running backs Matt Forte and Bilal Powell are battling knee injuries and wideout Brandon Marshall has a slew of injuries that may sideline him for the finale.
EXTRA POINTS
1. New York snapped a five-game losing streak to Buffalo with its win earlier in the season but is just 1-6 at home.
2. Buffalo leads the league in rushing with an average of 170.8 yards a game. If McCoy is unable to go, Mike Gillislee (537 yards rushing, 7 touchdowns) would get the start.
3. The Jets have lost six of their last seven games and are last in the NFL at minus-23 in the takeaway department.