Kevin Mawae wasn’t surprised that the Bills last week limited the Giants to their lowest rushing output at home in nearly 50 years.
“Those guys are huge on their defensive line,” Mawae said. “They can stop anyone when they have a good day. You can’t move them.”
And while it didn’t help that the Giants’ offensive line was woefully inexperienced, Mawae believed the main reason was Buffalo’s defense.
“They took advantage of some things last week, but that really wasn’t the point,” the center said of the defense the Jets will face when they play the Bills in Orchard Park tomorrow. “The way all of them are playing right now, it doesn’t really matter what you do, you have to work even harder than you normally do. They’re tough against anybody.”
Despite Buffalo’s meager 5-7 record, its defense is ranked third in the league and the expected frigid weather undoubtedly will make it more difficult for the Jets.
“They’re playing better now than they have all year,” Herman Edwards said. “They were hot at the beginning of the year and they’re back to that now.”
Mawae singled out big defensive tackles Sam Adams and Pat Williams as the cornerstones of the powerful unit.
“They are just run-stuffers and run-stoppers,” Mawae said. “The two of them just take up so much space. No matter where you try to push them, they don’t go anywhere. So we have to come up with a good scheme to beat them.”
* Bills QB Drew Bledsoe, whose status for tomorrow’s game had been iffy earlier in the week because of some concussion-like symptoms from a helmet-to-helmet hit by Giants DT Keith Hamilton last week, practiced full yesterday and will play. “I feel good and I’m ready to go,” Bledsoe said yesterday. “The last two days I’ve felt fine.”
* Bills coach Gregg Williams said yesterday that he might activate No. 1 draft pick Willis McGahee for the game. Williams said he’ll make a “game time” decision on whether to play the former University of Miami RB, who has been practicing since Nov. 5.
* Curtis Conway has played markedly better with Chad Pennington at QB and while he insisted his improvement is the result of a greater comfort with the offense and not just Pennington, he continues to be wowed.
“He’s an amazing quarterback,” Conway said. “Chad’s in a class by himself. I’ve had some pretty good ones, but I’ve never had a guy that young be as good as he is.”
* Sam Cowart practiced yesterday despite a sore knee and said he is playing well, even if others don’t think so. “I’m playing a different position in a different defense than I did in Buffalo [last year],” Cowart said. “That’s why I don’t have as many tackles.”
Edwards said the linebacker was playing “fine,” but that the learning process remained in effect, since he was still mistakenly leaving gaps open because he continued to play like a MLB instead of an OLB. “He’s getting better,” Edwards said.
* The Jets waived safety David Young and signed RB Johnathan Reese from the practice squad. Young made seven special-teams tackles on the season. Reese, who played at Columbia, rushed for 117 yards during the preseason . . . Edwards said the team hadn’t received any of the racist hate mail that some other NFL teams had received.
