The Arizona Cardinals face the Buffalo Bills in a tough road matchup to open the season. Both teams have questions entering the season. The Bills have a remade receiver room and a remade secondary.
The Cardinals added talent to what was a terrible defense in 2023 but still have major questions with the pass rush.
To prepare for the game, Bills Wire managing editor Nick Wojton takes us behind enemy lines, answering a few questions and making his predictions for the game.
QB Josh Allen
Is Josh Allen really overrated?
I don’t think he’s overrated at all. From a Buffalo perspective, watching him week in and week out, you’ve just got to take the bad with the good. While Allen certainly does turn the ball over a lot at times, he more than makes up for it with all the points he does put up. It outweighs his giveaways by a lot, he just hasn’t won the ‘big one’ yet and that’s hard to do when you’re living in a world where Patrick Mahomes exists.
No Diggs, Davis
How do you think the offense will look this year with no Stefon Diggs/Gabriel Davis?
The Bills had plenty of big plays down the field with that duo. Davis just made a lot of money out of it with the Jacksonville Jaguars. While they will continue to come in 2024, I’m expecting them to be of a different variety. Buffalo’s offense is now setup to be one where Allen gets the ball out of his hand quicker so he can let his playmakers do the work. He’s still Josh Allen at QB and he’s still going to take his shots, but there will be opportunities for those around him to make the splash players this year.
The defense
What are you most excited about and most worried about on defense?
I’m looking forward to seeing how this pass rush unfolds, specifically Von Miller. He was still the same old Von before his ACL injury and he just did not look good when he returned last season. Now two years removed from that huge injury, the Bills are hoping he’s back to his best and that’d be a huge boost. The worry will sit with Dorian Williams, a.k.a. Matt Milano’s replacement. Milano is a fantastic defender and easily Buffalo’s best. He could miss the entire season due to a bicep injury.
Matchups
Which matchups are you most looking forward to seeing?
It’s probably the low-hanging fruit, but Marvin Harrison Jr. against Keon Coleman. OK, two wide receivers won’t face each other head-to-head, but there is a lot of hope riding with these two rookies and seeing what production Coleman has out of the gate compared to Harrison will be a fun watch in a potentially high-scoring game.