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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
James Johnson

Kevin Wildes puts Bills on upset alert vs. Jags due to weird curse associated with Mannings

The Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to success and their game on Sunday will feature one of the league’s worst teams against one of the best. In fact, the Jags came into this week as 14.5-point underdogs (and still are), and most football analysts don’t think the game will be competitive.

However, Kevin Wildes of “First Things First” believes that the Bills’ and Jags’ game has upset potential and listed it in the show’s upset alert segment. In a nutshell, he said it was three reasons for the Bills to be alarmed, including Lawrence being due for a standout game (doesn’t seem he’s watched much of him) and the Bills potentially starting the game off slow as we saw last week against Miami.

However, the last reason was rather interesting and had nothing to do with performance or ability on the field, but was more of a superstitious reason. Wildes pointed out that every player who has appeared on ESPN’s ManningCast has lost the game that follows, and last week, one of those players was the Bills’ own Josh Allen.

“Last little point, and I believe in this,” Wildes said. “The Manning curse, not the Madden curse, not the Sports Illustrated curse, the Manning curse. Every time a player goes on the ManningCast that player loses the next game. Kelsey didn’t even know he’s playing. Russ, Gronk, Stafford, and Brady. Well guess who was on last week Jenna? Josh Allen. Not the Josh Allen from the Jaguars, the Josh Allen from the Bills.”
So, thanks to the Mannings, yes, Wildes is saying there is a chance.
For the Jags remotely to have a chance, they will need running back James Robinson, who is currently questionable with a heel injury. They could use him to not only be their primary source of offense but to limit the time of possession on the Bills’ end as the Jags’ secondary is not suitable to keep Allen from going off on offense.
It would also help if the Jags can get a key special teams play or two from Jamal Agnew, which is what helped them stick with the Arizona Cardinals. If they get these two things with a bounce-back performance from Trevor Lawrence, the Jags would at least have a shot at pulling off the upset of the season.
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