Getty Bill Belichick
The New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills split their two regular-season matchups this season. The most recent contest saw the Bills prevail 33-21 over the Patriots in Foxboro on Sunday in their crucial Week 16 clash.
Even with Buffalo’s handling of the Patriots on the road, Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay still believes the Patriots are a team the Bills want to “avoid” in the playoffs.
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In the Week 16 matchup, Buffalo harassed Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones into a completion percentage just under 44% and he threw two picks. Meanwhile, Buffalo’s Josh Allen looked every bit the part of an MVP candidate with 314 passing yards, 3 TD tosses and 64 yards rushing.
Why would Buffalo be afraid of a team they just dominated so thoroughly?
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History and Shaky Run Defense Open the Door for Patriots
Kay pointed to a few reasons why the Patriots are a team he feels the Bills should avoid.
“The Pats are 36-8 against the Bills in that span, having only lost two games in a single season once,” Kay said. “That occurred last year when Buffalo swept a Cam Newton-led squad, their first sweep of the Patriots since 1999. While New England couldn’t complete its 16th sweep of Buffalo in the Belichick era this past weekend, the club has already proved it can beat this opponent.”
The Patriots’ utter domination of the Bills–and the entire AFC East for that matter–has some credence, but when it is all said and done, this year’s roster will determine the outcome of a potential third meeting, not past squads. That said, the Patriots did defeat Buffalo in primetime by the score of 14-10, but as Kay points out, it was a strange contest that almost nullified the passing attacks.
“The Patriots relentlessly attacked Buffalo’s run defense when they met at Orchard Park in early December,” Kay added. “In a game played in severely blustery conditions, New England piled up 222 yards and a score on a whopping 46 rushing attempts. While rookie QB Mac Jones has been a revelation for New England, he only threw three passes in that Week 13 clash, showing the Pats could win without tasking their young signal-caller to shoulder a significant load during his first playoff run. Considering Jones only went 14-of-32 passing for 145 yards and two interceptions on Sunday, expect the Pats to heavily feature the ground game given a third chance to face Buffalo this season.”
Is this the kind of game we could expect to see again if the teams meet in January with the stakes at their highest? It’s possible, but the winds in Orchard Park that evening were considerably strong–even for Buffalo. Also, if the Bills had it to do again, chances are they would allow Allen to throw the ball more than the 30 times he put the pigskin in the air on that night. Still, Kay believes a similarly weather-impacted contest might make the Patriots dangerous again. He said:
“With a high potential for poor throwing conditions regardless of where this game is held come January, New England should feel confident grinding out another victory over the Bills.”
The Chiefs Are the Scariest Team in the AFC
While Kay makes a decent point about the Patriots’ potential effectiveness against the Bills, the really scary team in the AFC has to be the Kansas City Chiefs.
Patrick Mahomes and Co. have righted the ship in a major way. After getting off to a 3-4 start, they have run off eight straight wins to lock up the AFC West, and they can secure a Top-2 seed in the AFC playoffs if they beat the Cincinnati Bengals on the road in Week 17. Over the course of their win streak, Kansas City has outscored opponents by an average of 16.25 points.
They are beginning to look like a championship team again, and that should have the entire AFC nervous.
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