Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘Sal’s prediction: Buffalo Bills 30, Atlanta Falcons 10.’

‘“It’s clear he’s raised his game and he’s raised his level of play to a standard we’ve been looking for,” coach Sean McDermott said. “At the same time, I think he’s challenged everybody on the offense with his level of play and his consistency. He played bigger. He’s not a real big guy, but he plays bigger and he gives tremendous effort and I think he inspires people by that.”’

‘Unfortunately for Bates, his versatility is actually the reason why he hasn’t played that much for the Bills. He has been active for 39 of a possible 47 regular-season games including every one since Week 12 of 2019 but has played only 223 snaps on offense before last week. Why? Because the 6-foot-4, 302-pounder can line up at every position on the offensive line and coach Sean McDermott has been reluctant to give him chances to start essentially because he is trying to keep him out of harm’s way.’

‘In the case of Feliciano, his 10-day quarantine period was already up, but the other three were all still inside that window and it appears the Tuesday decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce the quarantine period for asymptomatic people who tested positive from 10 days to five enabled them to get back on the field.’

‘Perhaps the most dangerous weapon for the Atlanta offense is triple threat runner/receiver/returner Cordarelle Patterson, and Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs knows more about him than any other member on the team.’

‘Teams can now interview a candidate for its head coach position in the final two weeks of the regular season, under these rules: They do so with consent from the candidate’s current employer, provided their head coach who started the season is no longer in that role, or if their head coach has been told he won’t be retained once the season ends.’

‘“This is the National Football League; week in and week out you’ve got to go out there and you’re gonna be challenged,” said the voice of reason, safety Micah Hyde. “We were glad to come in and get this win. But at the end of the day, we know we’ve got two left that we got to take care of also.”’

‘The job is not over. They need to beat the Falcons and Jets in the last two games, both at Highmark Stadium, to clinch the division because even if the Patriots win out against the Jaguars and Dolphins, they can’t overtake Buffalo.’

‘“A learning experience,” McKenzie said of that humbling two-game stretch. “That was my first time sitting down in awhile and I just had to take it even, think to myself, ‘What can I do better?’ And I’d just show up to practice every day and get my teammates better, and do whatever I’ve got to do to make myself better for my teammates.”’

‘I’m not here to compare Josh Allen to Tom Brady, who I have to grudgingly admit is the GOAT. I wouldn’t dare. But Sunday afternoon, Allen put on a performance that rivaled anything Brady ever did to the Bills in this former land of misery nestled in the suburbs of Boston.’

‘Sal’s prediction: Buffalo Bills 20, New England Patriots 17.’

‘Even if the Bills get wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders back for the game that will likely decide the AFC East division title, they will now be without arguably their second- and third-best receivers in Davis and Cole Beasley, also out because of COVID. Sanders practiced in full Thursday and barring a setback, it appears he’ll be ready to play.’

‘That game came down to one thing: Buffalo scored only one touchdown on four trips inside the Patriots’ 20-yard-line, including coming up completely empty on its last two possessions when a touchdown would have rendered all that New England running meaningless.’

‘“Yeah our last game with them, we were talking about it earlier today, was our worst tackling performance,” Poyer said Wednesday. “And it’s just something that, there’s so much you can do throughout a week but really getting that live situation that, those are the situations you got to bring the guy down. It’s not easy to tackle, but at the same time, definitely something that we’ve been working on since the offseason really, we’ve always worked on tackling. At the end of the day you’ve got to want to bring somebody down if you’re tackling somebody so it’s also a mindset.”’

‘This, of course, has been a fear all season. Beasley is a key member of the offense, but he was always going to be in danger of missing playing time due to his refusal to take the shot.’