Buffalo Bills GM Russ Brandon’s recent weekly interview on WGR radio took an unexpected twist. Brandon complained about the abundance of teams coming off extra rest, via bye week or Thursday night game, playing against the Bills. He stated, “We certainly have talked to the league about this, because it’s been disappointing where teams are coming off a bye or a long week…This (Sunday) is the second time we’re playing the Jets coming off a Thursday night game and now we’re playing them coming off a bye. We lead the league in amount of games coming off of extra time or a bye week. It is a very, very tough job what they have in scheduling with all the different things that go into the formula and the stadium commitments and TV schedules, but it’s certainly something that needs to be addressed.” In the 2013 season, the Bills will play three teams coming off of their bye weeks and three teams coming off of Thursday night games. It’s a total of six games against teams with extra rest. The next closest team is the Atlanta Falcons with four such games. The Bills are a team that has played many hard hitting, defensive, physical football games this season. Extra rest can play huge advantages and change the result of close games of that nature.
Since he is a first year NFL head coach, it is expected for Doug Marrone to be outmatched in the coaching department. However, the extra preparation time for opponents is a big factor in coaching match ups. That said, while playing teams with extra rest is a disadvantage for the Bills this season, so are the many poor draft choices in the past, the quarterback injuries, and overall lack of talent on the roster.
