Serving Bills Fans Since 1998 Home BILLS DAILY GAMEDAY PREVIEW GAMEDAY HOMEPAGE Week 8: Bills vs. Colts Preview The Bills come off a highly emotional, gut wrenching loss in San Diego and try to rebound against a Colts team that dominated them earlier in the year in Indianapolis. This game will be a good gauge on how far the Bills have come since the 42-26 drubbing they took week 2. The Bills must avoid letting down after the emotions of last week's effort. The Colts have struggled over the last month but got off of the mat to win in Kansas City last week. They have had 10 days to rest since the Chiefs game was moved to Thursday night last week. Facts and Figures Matchup: Indianapolis (3-3) at Buffalo (1-5) Date: Sunday November 4th Place: Ralph Wilson Stadium Time: 1:00pm Television: CBS Announcers: Don Criqui and Steve Tasker Spread: Colts by 5 Series: Bills Lead 34-27-1 Last Meeting: Indy 42-26 in Indianapolis Colts Offense: Rush (3rd); Pass(2nd); overall (1st) Colts Defense: Rush (24th); Pass (26th); overall (27th) Bills Offense: Rush (14th); Pass (11th); overall (10th) Bills Defense: Rush (25th); Pass (17th); overall (21st) Injury Update The Bills are getting healthier as most of the walking wounded used the two half bye weeks to get healthy. All injured players should be able to go this week with the possible exceptions of Leif Larsen and Jonas Jennings. Even Jerry Ostroski has an outside chance at returning this week. He is most likely a week away at least. The Colts may be without one of their main weapons. Edgerrin James sprained his knee against Kansas City last Thursday night and may not be able to go. He is day to day and his coach said it will be a 50-50 chance of him playing. The Colts will definitely be without starting WR Jerome Pathon who is out with a foot injury. DE Chad Bratzke is also questionable with an ankle injury, he has missed the last two games. For complete injury news throughout the week and the Official NFL Injury Report go to our Injury Page. Key Matchups DB Antoine Winfield vs. WR Marvin Harrison: Harrison had a field day the last time these two teams met. Winfield needs to do a better job this time. RB Travis Henry vs. LB Rob Morris: The Bills need to establish a running game for a chance to win this week, Henry did well in the last meeting, Morris and Mike Peterson will try to stop him. Ret. Peerless Price vs. Colts Punt Coverage Unit: The Colts are near the bottom of the league in covering Punts and Price seemed to do a better job last week in returning them. If he can break one, that would increase the chances of a Bills win considerably. LB Brandon Spoon vs. RB Edgerrin James or Dominic Rhodes: Rhodes came in last week and scampered for a long touchdown run when James went down with his injury. Regardless of who is the runner, Spoon needs to contain him in the middle. WR Eric Moulds vs. DB David Macklin: This matchup should be a huge edge for Moulds. Macklin is considered the Colts best cover guy but he has been beaten on many occasions in recent weeks. Game Plan When The Bills Have The Ball: The Bills need to run well this week to get an edge in time of possession. If they do succeed doing that, they will keep the Colts high powered offense off of the board. That makes Henry the key player of this game. It can also open up some play action which has not been a big part of the offense so far this year. When The Colts Have The Ball: They will try what worked during the first meeting that means lots of play action. They will try to fool the Bills secondary into giving up big plays. Of course, if James doesn't play that will automatically make it less effective. Manning will also try to take advantage of the Bills blitzing to beat man coverage on Harrison. Bills Daily Prediction This game is tricky to predict. The Bills are improving and the Colts have one big injury question mark regarding the availability of James. The Bills need to avoid a letdown and we think they will. They probably have more desire to win and if James is out or ineffective they can win. We may update this prediction later in the week. We picked the final score right on the button for last week's Chargers game, let's hope we get it right again this week. In an upset: Bills 27, Colts 21 Season Prediction Record: (3-3) Season Record Against The Spread: (3-3) Complete Statistical Matchup Game Analysis and Review - Coming Monday! Positional Breakdown and Grades - Coming Monday! 2001 Gameday Homepage 2000 Gameday Homepage Back to Bills Daily homepage Articles Index