BY: JOE KONZE JR
Playoff berth? Check. AFC East division title? Check. A season sweep over the New England Patriots? In progress.
After a 49-18 AFC East championship-clinching victory on the road over the Denver Broncos last weekend, the Bills are set to take on the New England Patriots tonight at Gillette Stadium in a primetime Monday Night Football matchup with a chance to sweep the Patriots for the first time since 1999.
The Patriots are coming off of a 22-12 loss to the Dolphins last weekend, and have officially been eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in over a decade.
For the Bills, they are currently battling for the No. 2 seed in the AFC. With a Pittsburgh Steelers win over the Indianapolis Colts yesterday, the Bills are now the No.3 seed and will have something to play for tonight against the Patriots and Week 17 against the Dolphins.
They can fall as far as the fourth seed in the AFC Playoff picture with consecutive losses in Week 16 and Week 17.
With a crucial game against New England, here are a few things to look out for in tonight’s matchup.
Foxborough Flashback:
The last time the Bills won a game at Gillette Stadium was Oct. 2, 2016, against a Tom Brady-less Patriots team. The Buffalo defense stood tall and blanked New England 16-0. It was the second time the Bills had won a game in Foxborough in 16 games.
Tyrod Taylor completed 27-of-39 passes for 246 yards and 1 touchdown and kicker Dan Carpenter kicked three field goals en route to a victory.
He said it:
Like most players, as they gain experience and gain confidence and get more familiar with the system and the defenses that they see, they improve. He’s done that. Again, it’s a well-balanced team. They have a lot of good players at a lot of positions and they utilize him in multiple ways, so yeah, they are hard to defend. He’s done a good job of orchestrating it and being a key playmaker in the offense.
Bill Belichick on Josh Allen
Key Matchup: Stefon Diggs vs. J.C. Jackson
For the second time this season, the Patriots will be without Pro Bowl cornerback and NFL Defensive Player of The Year Stephon Gilmore. But don’t be fooled. J.C. Jackson is more than capable of sliding into the No. 1 cornerback role and shadowing Diggs tonight.
The third-year cornerback was left off the Pro Bowl roster when it was announced last week but has excelled this season when defending the pass. Currently, Jackson is second in the NFL with eight interceptions.
For Diggs, he is coming off back-to-back 100-yard performances. Against the Steelers, he hauled in 10 receptions for 130 yards and 1 touchdown and followed that up last weekend with 11 receptions for 147 yards.
Diggs was held without a touchdown in their last matchup but still caught six passes for 92 yards. Jackson intercepted Allen on a poorly thrown ball.
Will Diggs stay hot and give Jackson all he can handle? Or will Jackson’s Pro Bowl snub fuel him to lock down one of the best receivers in the NFL?
This will be a toe-to-toe battle all night.
King of the AFC
Josh Allen continues to establish himself as an top-tier offensive threat of the NFL.
This past week, Allen won his sixth AFC Player of the Week award of his career, and his fourth of 2020, following his impressive performance in a 48-19 victory over the Denver Broncos.
Allen scored four touch total touchdowns, two on the ground and two through the air. He also added 359 total passing yards and completed 28 of his 40 passes. He also became the fifth player in NFL history to have over 350 passing yards, two rushing and two throwing touchdowns in a single game.
This season, Allen has completed 68.7 percent of his passes for 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns. His impressive play has helped guide the Bills to their first AFC East title since 1995, and he shows no signs of stopping.
Lemme see if you can run it, run it
Buffalo’s rushing attack was highly effective in its first matchup with the Patriots this season.
Devin Singletary had 14 carries for 86 yards and Zack Moss added 14 carries for 81 yards and two touchdowns.
The New England Patriots have allowed 185 or more rushing yards in four of their last nine games including 186 yards against the Los Angeles Rams and 250 yards against the Miami Dolphins.
Although the Bills have relied heavily on Josh Allen’s arm this season, they could establish a strong ground attack tonight against New England.
Predictions:
A wise man named Andrew Baines Bernard once said, “It is on like Genghis Khan wearing Sean John in Bhutan!” For over a decade, the Patriots have dominated the Buffalo Bills between the white lines. With a chance to sweep the Patriots for the first time since 1999, it’s the Bills’ turn to lay the smackdown on the Patriots who have bullied them for over a decade. Josh Allen is coming off of an impressive performance against the Denver Broncos, a performance that earned him his fourth AFC Offensive Player of the Week award of the season (sixth of his career), the defense has turned the corner and is playing playoff-caliber football, and the running game is slowly gaining ground. I think this will be a landslide victor for the Bills.
Bills 40, Patriots 10
If you would’ve told me the Buffalo Bills would be heading into Foxborough as AFC East champions (not in the hunt), the Patriots at 6-8, and Josh Allen as an MVP candidate – I would have told you to frig off. What a time to be a fan of the Bills and spot for the organization to sweep the Patriots for the first time in a season since ‘99. I think the Bills are primed here to come out guns blazing and prove they’re better than the three-point win they were a Cam Newton fumble away from losing. Let’s see them break some records and head back to the loving embrace of Buffalo as big winners.
Bills – 34 Patriots – 17
Milestone Watch:
- The Bills can claim their first 12- win season since 1993 with a victory tonight, the last of their four straight Super Bowl Appearances.
- A division opponent has not swept the Patriots in 19 seasons, which is the longest streak in the NFL since the 1970 merger. This record was previously held by the 1971-81 Dallas Cowboys and 1970-80 Los Angeles Rams. Both were not swept by a division opponent for 11 consecutive seasons.
- Josh Allen needs just 360 passing yards to set a new team record. If he accomplishes this in the next two games, he will surpass Drew Bledsoe’s record of 4,359 yards set in 2002. Allen also needs just four more passing touchdowns to pass Jim Kelly’s 1991 record of 33 touchdowns.
- Stefon Diggs is just 63 yards shy of becoming the 35th player in NFL history with 6,000-plus yards within the first six years of his career.
The Sports Desk can be reached at editorialtrainwrecksports@gmail.com
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