The Bills have placed 23-year old DT Torell Troup on the Injured Reserve List, ending his season due to a back injury. Troup played in 6 games for the Bills this year and he had 8 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss.  He has now played in 21 games in his first two years with the Bills and he had 31 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 2 tackles for a loss.  Troup hasn’t shown much in his first two years with the Bills.

No one doubts 25-year old WR Steve Johnson’s talent.  But, he needs to quit acting like a fool so much because it often backfires and the Bills have to pay for it.  His whole celebration last Sunday making fun of Plaxico Burress and then flying around like a Jet,  cost the Bills 15 yards, which certainly aided the Jets in the game.  Johnson has played in 11 games for the Bills so far this year and he has caught 54 passes for 622 yards (11.5 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  He has now played in 43 games in his first four years with the Bills and he has caught 148 passes for 1,807 yards (12.2 avg) with 17 TD grabs.  Johnson has the talent to be one of the best WRs in the league, but he needs to start acting his age instead of his shoe size.

The Buffalo Bills gave the Jets a real fight today in New Jersey, before falling a tad short.  Ryan Fitzpatrick was outstanding as he completed 26 of 39 passes for 264 yards with 3 TD passes and 0 INTs.  He also carried the ball 5 times for 34 yards (6.8 ypc) in this game.  C.J Spiller had a rough game as he carried the ball 19 times for 55 yards (2.9 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 15 yards (5.0 avg).  WRs Brad Smith (4 rec, 77 yards), Stevie Johnson (8 rec, 75 yards) and David Nelson (5 rec, 47 yards) each caught 1 TD pass apiece today.  TE Scott Chandler also had a solid game as he caught 6 passes for 50 yards (8.3 avg) in this game.  The Bills finished up with 86 yards rushing on 28 carries (3.1 ypc) and they also completed 26 of 39 passes (66.7%) for 250 yards as they had possession of the ball for 36:11.

The defense didn’t play too good today for the Bills.  LB Nick Barnett (8 tackles), CB Drayton Florence (4 tackles, 3 passes defensed and 1 interception) and CB Leodis  McKelvin (1 tackle and 1 fumble recovery) led the way for the Bills on D in this game.  The Jets finished up with 138 yards rushing on 23 carries (6.0 ypc) and they also completed 17 of 35 passes (48.6%) for 180 yards in this game.  The Bills are now 5-6 on the season.

The Buffalo Bills will try to right the ship in New Jersey this weekend in a re-match with the Jets.  The Jets beat the Bills 27-11 in Buffalo just three weeks ago and it started a tailspin for them.  The Bills have lost three games in a row by a combined score of 106-26!  The Jets have lost two games in a row since beating Buffalo in which they have been outscored 54-29.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Bills have the ball:  The Bills need to come out trying to run the ball in this game.  C.J. Spiller will be getting the start instead of Fred Jackson, who is out for the season due to a broken leg.  Spiller should be able to handle a pretty heavy workload as he hasn’t been used much so far this year.  The Jets are giving up 116.9 yards rushing per game and 4.0 yards per carry, so running the ball seems to be like a good game plan.  The Jets’ probably have the best secondary in the NFL and Ryan Fitzpatrick had fits against them the first time around.  WR Steve Johnson will likely be matched up against CB Darrelle Revis, so Fitzpatrick might have to throw to someone else.

When the Jets have the ball:  The Bills’ secondary is in shambles right now, so the Jets might actually come out throwing the ball this Sunday.  Mark Sanchez is likely going to have a lot of time to throw the ball this Sunday.  The Bills’ have solid safeties and they are going to have to help the corners in dealing with WRs Plaxico Burress and Santonio Holmes.  The safeties can’t overplay the WRs though or Sanchez will just flip the ball to TE Dustin Keller.  The Jets’ RBs (Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson) are banged up right now, which will likely hamper their running game quite a bit.

PREDICTION:  JETS 24, BILLS 13

The Buffalo Bills have claimed 27-year old RB Tashard Choice off waivers from the Redskins.  Choice has played in 7 games so far this year for the Redskins & Cowboys and he has carried the ball 34 times for 82 yards (2.4 ypc).  He also has caught 12 passes for 73 yards (6.1 avg) so far this year.  Choice has now played in 55 games in his first four years in the NFL and he has carried the ball 256 times for 1,146 yards (4.5 ypc) with 8 TD runs.  He has also caught 65 passes for 499 yards (7.7 avg) in his NFL career so far.  This is a nice pickup for the Bills as Choice is a pretty solid RB.

With Fred Jackson out for the season, 2nd year RB C.J. Spiller will be the new featured back in the offense the last six weeks of the year.  Spiller has played in 10 games (5 starts) for the Bills so far this year and he has carried the ball 21 times for 115 yards (5.5 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 15 passes for 82 yards (5.5 avg) so far this year for the Bills.  Spiller was a first round pick in April, 2010 by the Bills and they saw him as Fred Jackson’s eventual successor….so it’s his time to shine now.  Rookie Johnny White will be expected to give Spiller a break when he needs one.  White played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Bills so far this year and he has carried the ball 10 times for 32 yards (3.2 ypc).  He also has caught 1 pass for -3 yards this year.

The Bills have lost 30-year old RB Fred Jackson for the rest of the season with a broken leg.  Jackson played in 10 games (9 starts) for the Bills in 2011 and he carried the ball 170 times for 934 yards (5.5 ypc) with 6 TD runs.  He also caught 39 passes for 442 yards (11.3 avg) for the Bills this year.  Jackson has now played in 66 games in his first five years with the Bills and he has carried the ball 817 times for 3,794 yards (4.6 ypc) with 16 TD runs.  He has also caught 175 passes for 1,535 yards (8.8 avg) with 4 TD grabs so far in his career with the Bills.  This is a HUGE loss for the Bills as Jackson was by far the best offensive skill player on the team.

The Bills have signed 27-year old WR Derek Hagan.  Hagan played in 6 games for the Raiders earlier this year and he caught 11 passes for 114 yards (10.4 avg).  He has now played in 65 games in his first six years in the NFL and he has caught 96 passes for 1,083 yards (11.3 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  Hagan will give the Bills a solid WR with good hands.

The Bills have placed 23-year old WR Donald Jones on the Injured Reserve List, ending his season due to an ankle injury.  Jones played in 8 games for the Bills this year and he caught 23 passes for 231 yards (10.0 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He has now played in 23 games in his first two years with the Bills and he has caught 41 passes for 444 yards (10.8 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  This is going to hurt a little bit for the Bills as Jones was starting to step up this year.

28-year old QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has been awful since signing the big contract extension he got.  In the last three games, Fitzpatrick has completed 55 of 101 passes (54.5%) for 546 yards with 2 TD passes and 7 INTs.  The Bills have lost all three of those games, by a combined score of 106-26!  Overall this year, Fitzpatrick’s numbers are still solid.  He has played in 10 games for the Bills so far this year and he has completed 210 of 330 passes (63.6%) for 2,285 yards with 16 TD passes and 14 INTs (82.4 QB Rating).  Fitzpatrick has also carried the ball 32 times for 89 yards (2.8 ypc) so far this year.  They need to get Fitzpatrick back on the right track as 27-year old Tyler Thigpen isn’t too good.  Thigpen has played in 2 games for the Bills so far this year and he has completed 1 of 5 passes (20%) for 6 yards without a TD pass or INT (39.6 QB Rating).