TORONTO — The pressure will be on the Buffalo Bills to create their own buzz Thursday night

when they meet the New York Jets in the Rogers Centre.

The Bills realize they are giving up true home-field advantage in the nationally televised

game against their AFC East rivals.

"You certainly have to get the crowd into it and give them something to cheer about," said

receiver Lee Evans. "Come out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, make plays, get them on

your side and hopefully carry that momentum into the fourth quarter."

The Bills did not have a home-field edge when they played Miami in Toronto last year. The

crowd was split about 50-50 in terms of cheering for each team. In fact, it would be more

accurate to say it was 30-30, with about 40 percent of the crowd not particularly rooting for

either side.

It didn't help that the Bills played one of their worst games of the decade, losing, 16-3.

The Bills' players were lethargic from the opening play.

"Definitely, we want to get the crowd on our side," receiver Josh Reed said. "It seemed when

we played there last year that whoever made a play, it didn't matter what team it was, the

crowd was cheering. I'm not really sure they were into us and us making big plays. It wasxleg

just like they were just happy to be there and to have a football game."

The importance of the game for the Bills' organization goes beyond the NFL standings. The

Jets (5-6) have lost six of their last eight and would need to win out to have any chance of

earning a wild card berth. The Bills (4-7) are coming off a convincing win over Miami and

could give interim head coach Perry Fewell another on-field vote of confidence by beating the

Jets.

In the bigger picture, the Bills are trying to create a buzz in Toronto over the five-year

series of games here, which runs through 2012.

The Bills are getting an average of $9.75 million a game for the eight games in the series, a

total that's well more than double what they gross for a game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

The Bills would like to give their Canadian business partner, the Rogers Corp., a good show

so that they can grow their brand over the next three years of the series.

Sponsors had difficulty selling out the two games in Toronto last year (one in the

preseason). The stadium seats about 54,000. Announced attendance last year for the

regular-season game was 52,134.

In April, organizers increased the number of tickets priced at less than $100 (Canadian

currency), from 4,700 last season to 11,000. The top ticket price will be $275.

As of Wednesday night, tickets still were available in the two lower price ranges —

$155 and $99 — via Ticketmaster. The $99 seats are in the upper deck. Two tickets

together were not available for the two highest price categories — $275 and $185.

Just how many tickets Rogers Corp. had to gobble up to make the game a sellout is not known.

However, the Rogers Corp. is probably not losing money on the deal, even if conservative

estimates are used. If they sold 35,000 of the 40,000 available non-premium seats at about

$175 per ticket, they would get $6 million in revenue. If they sold half of the VIP seats at

about $500 a package it would be $3.5 million in revenue. That's not counting other revenue

sources.

Still, the Bills want to make their product attractive.

A good performance Thursday night wouldn't hurt.

The Bills' offense faces a challenge in putting forth an entertaining game.

The Jets' defense ranks No. 2 in the NFL. New York is 13th against the run and second

against the pass.

In beating the Jets on Oct. 18, the Bills got six turnovers and still needed to go to

overtime to win, 16-13.

Jets coach Rex Ryan is known for sending a dizzying variety of blitzes at opponents.

"It's tough because it's on a short week, especially with all the stuff they do on third

down, all their pressure packages," Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. "Really the more

you study and the more you try to figure it out, sometimes the more confused you get because

they send different combinations of guys.

"It's really hard to figure out exactly what's going on all of the time. So it's a matter

of getting us in the right protection and getting the ball out quick to our guys on the

outside."

The Jets lost their best run stuffer, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, to a season-ending

knee injury in the game against the Bills. They have not fallen apart against the run. In the

last four games, their opponents' per-rush averages are: 3.0, 3.2, 4.3 and 2.3. New York still

ranks seventh in the league in rush average allowed (3.9).

"They are tenacious up front," offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said. "There's not a ton

of standout names, but they are all very good players across that front seven. Like I said,

we're going to have our hands full throwing the ball and running the ball so it's a great

challenge."

The Jets are holding opponents to just 55 percent completions, the third best total in the

league. Cornerback Darrelle Revis is having a Pro Bowl season.

"They'll lock Revis on the best player, and they'll usually double the other guy with a man

technique," Van Pelt said. "So both [receivers] will have their hands full, no question. But

we've challenged them, we've watched a ton of film on them, and we know what to expect."

The Bills' passing game ranks only 26th in the league. But Buffalo has had its two best

passing games of the year the past two weeks. Fitzpatrick threw for 297 yards at Jacksonville

and 246 yards against Miami.

"I think the biggest difference is the comfort level with the guys I'm playing with:

Terrell [Owens], Lee [Evans], Josh [Reed]," Fitzpatrick said. "Just knowing the different

adjustments, the way they're going to run their routes and making sure they're running them

the way that I expect them to be run."