Written by Brendon Donohoe
You may be asking yourself, this isn’t the NFL Sunday recap. Well that’s because holiday traveling is the worst. I will be recapping this past NFL weekend tomorrow. For now, here is a preview of tonight’s MNF match between the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots.
For the Bills, and Rex Ryan in particular, this is the Super Bowl part two. For the New England Patriots, this is potentially a very big bump in the road.
Earlier in the season, the Bills nearly came back to beat the Patriots, after trailing 37-13 in the 4th quarter. The Bills scored 19 unanswered points, but came up just short, losing 40-32. Since then the Patriots have remained unbeaten, and the Bills have gone 4-3.
The Patriots have suffered two huge offensive injuries since the last time these two teams have played. Within the past two weeks, the Patriots have lost starting running back Dion Lewis, and starting wide receiver Julian Edelman. The Patriots motto this season has been “next man up,” but at some point these injuries are going to catch up with this team, and there is a real chance it happens tonight.
The Bills are going to need all hands on deck if they wish to beat the Patriots in Foxboro, and that may not be a possibility. Two of the Bills top defensive backs, Aaron Williams and Kyle Williams, could miss the game, and the last thing you want when you face Tom Brady is to be missing the best players in your secondary. However, the key offensive players, Tyrod Taylor, Karlos Williams, Sammy Watkins, and LeSean McCoy, all appear ready to go tonight. The Bills are 4-1 when those players are active this season. That one lose? September 20th to the New England Patriots.
Tonight’s matchup has all the makings of a trap game for the New England Patriots, but the Patriots are no ordinary team. The best team in football isn’t losing a home game to a team they have beaten 27 out of the past 30 matchups. Unless of course, they choose to sit Brady and Gronk (which isn’t happening).
Buffalo Bills – 24, New England Patriots – 34
