The Buffalo Bills (1-1) head to FedEx Field to take on Washington (1-1) in their third game of the preseason. The Friday night matchup will feature two of the best cornerbacks in the league -- Washington's Josh Norman and Buffalo's Stephon Gilmore both enter the upcoming season looking to lay claim to the "world's best cornerback" title.
Bills vs. Washington 2016 live stream: Start time, TV schedule and how to watch online
The starters from Buffalo and Washington will get extended looks in their Week 3 preseason matchup.
Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
Norman, who joined Washington as a free agent this offseason, stirred the pot earlier this week when he told reporters, "I'm the best cornerback on Earth." There was immediate backlash, including Broncos wideout Demaryius Thomas tweeting out a photo of the Super Bowl ring that he won against Norman's Panthers last season, even if Norman might be right.
And then in the lead-up to this week’s game between Buffalo and Washington, Gilmore got in on the action, too. Gilmore, a former first-round pick, never had a reputation for being brash, but he’s been talking a big game recently. The cornerback told his performance coach, Jeremy Boone, that he wanted to be the game’s best.
“Without any hesitation — any hesitation, [Gilmore] said, ‘My mission is to be the No. 1 corner in the NFL.’ ... He paused, he said, ‘Not the No. 1 zone corner, I want to be the No. 1 shutdown corner in the NFL.’”
The comments weren’t directed at anyone, but coming off Norman’s proclamations to the media, Gilmore appears to be angling to join the fray of elite, outspoken defensive backs.
Those high expectations for Gilmore are great news for the Bills given the injuries elsewhere on defense. Star defensive lineman Marcell Dareus is expected to miss the first four weeks of the season and first-round pick Shaq Lawson will likely be out even longer. Additionally, this year's second-round pick, linebacker Reggie Ragland, is going to miss the season after undergoing surgery for a torn ACL a couple weeks ago. Given the oft-questionable condition of the FedEx Field turf, Buffalo will be hoping to just get out of this game unscathed to some degree.
So the Bills will need their secondary to step it up given those absences in the front seven, and nobody will play a bigger role in that than Gilmore. He’s going to need to be the shutdown corner that he says he is. Luckily there are some positive signs, such as Pro Football Focus rating the Bills as the best team through Week 2 of the preseason. That may not mean much once the real games begin, but it doesn’t hurt.
How to watch
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: FedEx Field, Landover, Md.
TV: WKBW (Buffalo), NBC4/CSN (Washington)
Announcers: Andrew Catalon, Steve Tasker (Buffalo feed), Kenny Albert, Joe Theismann (Washington feed)
Online: NFL Game Pass
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