Tag: DaQuan Jones

Bills at Ravens: 3 key matchups in Week 4

#Bills at #Ravens: 3 key matchups in Week 4:

The Buffalo Bills will visit the Baltimore Ravens in their upcoming Week 4 game.

Even with it being an AFC showdown, it will still be the games, within the game, that will make all the difference.

Here are three key matchups to watch during Sunday’s Bills-Ravens meeting:

Bills’ DaQuan Jones, Rodger Saffold ready to face former team, the Titans

#Bills’ DaQuan Jones, Rodger Saffold ready to face former team, the #Titans:

DaQuan Jones and Rodger Saffold are going to feel a little different than anyone else in the Buffalo Bills locker room ahead of facing the Tennessee Titans.

On Monday, Buffalo welcomes their former team to Orchard Park.

Both of them are handing their feelings in different ways.

Saffold feels a bit more personal about it.

Not only did he sign with the Bills after spending the past three years with the Titans, the way the first two weeks of the schedule lined up–how could he feel any different?

Tennessee is the team he earned his Pro Bowl status with. The Los Angles Rams is the team that draft him. That’s how his Buffalo career begins.

“Kind of like–(the schedule) was almost built for me. Back-to-back like that,” Saffold told the Bills radio show.

Also signing in Buffalo this spring, Jones spent 2021 with the Carolina Panthers. But from 2014 to 2020, he was in Tennessee.

Despite that, Jones is trying to be on the opposite end of the spectrum.

“I’m not really a sentimental guy,” told the team’s website. “My wife brings it up to me all the time just about Tennessee. I’m like, ‘Hey! Don’t overthink it. It’s not that big of a deal.’ So, people let me know what kind of game it is, and what kind of game it’s gonna be. But I’m just a mental guy… In my mind, I’m going to do what I’ve been doing.”

While perhaps not the flashiest of players on Buffalo’s roster, both Jones and Saffold will play key parts against the Titans.

Jones will anchor the middle of a defensive front that’s trying to slow down All-Pro running back Derrick Henry.

Saffold will be part of an offensive line attempting to contain defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons.

Plus, because both know the Titans on a very close level, they’re all too familiar what their opponents are capable of. Regardless of what their own feelings are, this pair will be taking Buffalo’s upcoming opponent seriously.

“Because I have so much respect for those guys, because I know the identity of the other team, because I know how these guys play, that’s all the motivation I need,” Saffold said.

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Every Penn State player on an NFL opening day roster in 2022

Here is every former Penn State plater on an NFL roster to start the new NFL season in 2022.

The start of a new season in the National Football League is here and there will be a good amount of Penn State flavor throughout the league this season. Penn State will have the eighth most players on an NFL opening day roster this season with 34 players appearing on an NFL team’s 53-man roster to start the season (plus two additional players on injured reserve and another on the physically unable to perform list). In all, Penn State claims 44 players are on NFL rosters to start the year with the inclusion of practice squad players.

That includes nine players who were on the Penn State roster in 2021, including wide receiver [autotag]Jahan Dotson[/autotag], defensive end [autotag]Arnold Ebiketie[/autotag], and safety [autotag]Jaquan Brisker[/autotag]. Dotson is one of four Penn State players on the Washington Commanders, the most of any NFL franchise to start the season.

Former kicker [autotag]Robbie Gould[/autotag] continues to be the elder statesman of the Nittany Lions football family in the NFL. Gould, of the San Francisco 49ers, is entering his 19th season in the NFL.

Here is a look at every Penn State player on either an NFL team’s 53-man roster or practice squad at the start of the 2022 season.

Buffalo Bills 2022 training camp preview: Defensive line

Breakdown on the #Bills new-look defensive front from @jdiloro:

Buffalo Bills 2022 training camp kicks off on July 24th. With camp just around the corner, Bills Wire will examine the Bills roster position-by-position. We’ll analyze the new additions and departures to each position group, and provide a glimpse into the future for the team.

Next up is the defensive line unit.

New Bills players who can have immediate impacts in 2022

New #Bills players who can have immediate impacts in 2022:

Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane has been active throughout the offseason, adding fresh talent and new faces to help elevate the team’s roster.

The Bills have become a breakout squad in the NFL thanks to Beane’s roster building and the player development of the coaching staff.

Still, hurdles remain between Buffalo and a Super Bowl championship. And adding players who figure to contribute towards overcoming the obstacles that remain is just what Beane has been doing this offseason.

The GM has been busy in free agency adding veteran pieces like Von Miller and prospective first-year contributors through the NFL Draft like Kaiir Elam.

The additions have been met with fairly good reception by fans and the media, with one ESPN analyst even going so far as to say that the Bills 2022 NFL draft class will make the biggest impact.

With that here is a look at which new players could have an immediate impact for Buffalo in 2022…

Ranking the Bills’ biggest offseason additions

Ranking the #Bills’ biggest offseason additions (via @jdloro):

The Buffalo Bills made several impressive moves to bolster their already potent roster.

The team added a superstar and plenty of depth pieces to round out the roster. The Bills rebuilt their defensive line via free agency while using the draft to fulfill specific needs. It appears that general manager Brandon Beane had another strong offseason in building up the roster.

With all of these moves in mind, here are the top-five offseason additions for the Bills from this offseason, ranked:

Bills’ DaQuan Jones on run-stuffing role: ‘It’s all mental’

#Bills’ DaQuan Jones on run-stuffing role: ‘It’s all mental’

The Buffalo Bills’ defensive line is highlighted by Von Miller, some young players on the edge with him like Greg Rousseau, and an emerging Ed Oliver.

But DaQuan Jones could be the most important factor of them all. Like Miller, he joined the Bills via free agency this spring.

The 30-year-old isn’t a flashy guy in the trenches like the previously mentioned ones. Think more like Star Lotulelei.

The Bills let Lotulelei go earlier this offseason. He was the under-the-radar player in the middle often defended by teammates and coaches as a space-eating player that allows others to make plays.

That’s now Jones.

In order to handle that responsibility, Jones doesn’t worry about the physical parts of the game. He revealed that being in the right place at the right time is what it’s about.

“It’s all mental. You get that mindset of knowing what you have to do. Stopping the run is all mental,” Jones told the Buffalo News. “You can try to be the most physical person in the room and try to go out there and bang, bang, bang. But if you don’t know what’s coming and how to stop it, it’s not going to matter.”

In 2021, the Bills defense ranked first in overall defense. The big reason for that was their top-ranked pass unit.

Buffalo’s run defense was middle of the pack at 13th. Games against the New England Patriots in tornado winds and the Indianapolis Colts’ Jonathan Taylor were a few examples of the Bills struggling against the run on defense.

Not to mention another domination from the Tennessee Titans and Derrick Henry, who Buffalo faces again next season like the Patriots.

Turning this all around won’t only fall on Jones in the middle, but he’ll play a factor.

Anticipation for Jones is high from at least one person already: Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. He sees a place for Jones on the defensive front with the likes of Oliver and Jordan Phillips en route.

“Being able to get a guy like DaQuan Jones, I mean, having him in there lining up with Ed and Jordan, I think it bodes well for what we’re trying to do up front,” Frazier said via video conference.

Along with Jones and others on the D-line, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds will also be under the microscope against the run. With the additions in the secondary the Bills made, it’s expected that side of things defensively will continue to churn out production.

It could fall onto the run defense to push the Bills to the levels they want to go in 2022.

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