Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR550.com) - Last season the Buffalo Bills had an epically bad defense. It was so bad, I could’ve run for 200 yards against them. Okay, maybe I’m getting carried away. I would’ve probably pulled a hamstring after the first 100 yards. After all I am 49 years old. The 2011 group of defenders is better, just don’t judge them on the yards they give up. With 4 straight 400 plus yards performances recorded against them, George Edwards’ group is now on pace to give up more than 67 hundred yards this season. That would shatter the existing franchise record by some 900 yards.

Yet the Bills are 4-1 because the defense has become a group of ball hawks and they have a nose for the end zone. Buffalo leads the league in takeaways(16), interceptions(12) and they’ve scored a touchdown in 3 straight games. The Bills have already surpassed their interception total for all of last season. In addition, an explosive offense is capitalizing off the turnovers. The offense has received the ball off a takeaway 12 times and they’ve cashed in with 7 touchdowns and 3 field goals. They only times they haven’t scored came in last Sunday’s game when they punted after a George Wilson pick and knelt down at the end of the game. All in all the Bills have 79 points off of 16 takes.

Eli Manning and the NFL’s 9^th ranked passing game provide the next test for the takeaway happy Bills. The New York Giants might be an ornery bunch after an inexplicable loss at home to Seattle last Sunday. Big Blue has been a hard team to figure out this season. A week one loss to a supposedly weaker Washington Redskins team was followed by an ugly win over the St. Louis Rams, a big division victory over Philadelphia and a stunning fourth quarter rally at Arizona. Then came the debacle against the Seahawks.

A Giants defense, ravaged by injuries during the pre-season gave up 28 points and more than 400 yards to the 29^th ranked offense that played without a starting receiver and then lost a tight end and the starting quarterback during the game. The secondary is the weak spot, some youth at linebacker has led to inconsistent play but the pass rush has been outstanding as evidenced by New York’s 18 sacks. The run defense is only ranked 21^st so Fred Jackson could have another big day.

Manning is having a good season but he’s being asked to carry too much of the load. He’s thrown for just under 15 hundred yards and 11 TD’s over the 3-2 start. But he’s also been sacked 14 times and has thrown 5 interceptions. The Giants, annually one of the top rushing teams under Tom Coughlin, is down at 28^th and averaging only 83 yards a game. Ahmad Bradshaw is their leading rusher with 286 yards but an injury to Brandon Jones and some off season changes to the line have hurt the ground attack. The next 2 weeks are huge for the Giants as they see games against the surprising Bills and still winless Miami Dolphins as a chance to build up steam before a difficult 2^nd half of the schedule that includes road games with New England. San Francisco and New Orleans as well as a home tilt against the defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers. Be sure to join WGR for pre- game coverage on Sunday, beginning at 8am with Jeremy White and Joe Buscaglia.