Game week thread - Bills at Patriots*

[PatsFanNH]

7 minutes ago, strive_for_five_guy said:

Totally agree and am pulling for that, as I’m holding out hope the Bills can slide into that 1 seed 😎.  If the Bills do that, they’ll be like +300 to win it all, heading into the playoffs.

o think whoever wins the east is going to be the 1 seed.. I’m expecting this last month be hard on Denver

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

11 minutes ago, PatsFanNH said:

Funny thing is being the 5 seed COULD be better than the 2 seed.. I rather face Pitt or Baltimore over the Texans.

When will people stop looking at this like some sort of true measurement? This also had the chiefs in the top 5 till like 2 weeks ago.. it’s just a bogus as anything.. because who have the Broncos beaten that are current playoff team? 

Broncos beat Philly and houston and I think there’s still some stock put in the kc wins whether or not that’s fair is a different story 😂

 

Chiefs missing the playoffs two weeks ago seemed pretty impossible.  Not only did they lose both their games in that time but I think every single other game went against them 

and if they’re in the playoff picture they become a good bet just based on never coming up any shorter than OT in the afc championship since mahomes 

[PatsFanNH]

4 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Broncos beat Philly and houston and I think there’s still some stock put in the kc wins whether or not that’s fair is a different story 😂

 

Chiefs missing the playoffs two weeks ago seemed pretty impossible.  Not only did they lose both their games in that time but I think every single other game went against them 

and if they’re in the playoff picture they become a good bet just based on never coming up any shorter than OT in the afc championship since mahomes 

Chiefs have not looked like the  chiefs of old ALL year. They have been meh at best to bad.   What’s weird THIS year is there is no team that is like “Wow they are the team to beat”  I thought that might be the Rams but god they looked bad against the Panthers.. truth be told ANY playoff team could win the SB this year I don’t see 1 team that just unbeatable they all have warts.. lol

Edited 2 hours ago by PatsFanNH

[Buffalo Ballin]

39 minutes ago, eball said:

 

Thank god I stopped in this morning; now I know exactly what's going on with this team.

 

You're welcome.

 

Don't know why a few of y'all disagree. Our Josh Alien is the "most betrayed NFL QB." Relieved we beat Joe Burrow and Bungles, yet our probs are still there.

 

J. Allen, J. Cook, C. Benford, Epenesa, O-line, Ty Johnson, and maybe Kincaid, brought us to 9-4. When we're constantly fighting for playoff positioning in Wildcard, then yeah, we been in playoff mode. That's a great thing. Can't relax and get complacent.

 

[Negan]

Looking forward to see who the NFL assigns for the referee group for this game.  Just no Hochuli and we win easy.

 

You know when the NFL assigns the Hoc that it's an automatic loss.

15 minutes ago, PatsFanNH said:

Chiefs have not looked like the  chiefs of old ALL year. They have been meh at best to bad.   What’s weird THIS year is there is no team that is like “Wow they are the team to beat”  I thought that might be the Rams but god they looked bad against the Panthers.. truth be told ANY playoff team could win the SB this year I don’t see 1 team that just unbeatable they all have warts.. lol

The Chiefs are turning into the Seahawks and Mahomes is on the Russell Wilson trajectory imo.

[zow2]

1 hour ago, newcam2012 said:

The Pats have a great coaching staff and they will be prepared. I expect a close hard fought game. Regardless of the outcome of this game, the Pats will win the division. They earned it. Yet, the Bills have as good as a shot to make a super bowl appearance as any team in the AFC. It's wide open...

 

I'll have to disagree with the last part.  I think the AFC #1 seed has a better shot to make the SB than seeds 2 thru 7.  Winning two home games is the easiest.  As much as we love the Bills, they have not been a special team on the road (yet) and Allen has not been able to do the Superman stuff in the 2025 road games like he has at Highmark.  They will need excellent defense and rushing game to win 2-3 playoff road games.

[Buffalo Ballin]

Would be hilarious if we beat Pats, because of our defense for once, this Sunday.

[zow2]

Sunday, Foxborough MA..  High 33 degrees, Snow showers, frozen mix, chance snow 50%, 1-3 inches possible. 

 

Our weather.

[Dick_Cheney]

2 minutes ago, zow2 said:

Sunday, Foxborough MA..  High 33 degrees, Snow showers, frozen mix, chance snow 50%, 1-3 inches possible. 

 

Our weather.

There is no cold weather advantage for us. The sooner this myth dies the better.

 

Hopefully we can avoid "our weather" so Cook doesn't fumble two more times. 

[zow2]

7 minutes ago, Dick_Cheney said:

There is no cold weather advantage for us. The sooner this myth dies the better.

 

Hopefully we can avoid "our weather" so Cook doesn't fumble two more times. 

 

I want to see if Drake Maye can put the cape on, "in our weather".  Or if he will shrink.  We know what Allen is capable of.

[psuscott16]

Offense ranks of teams NE has played:

 

By Yards per game: 2nd, 14th, 16th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 27th, 29th, 31st and 32nd.

 

Average: 22.1

 

By points per game: 6th, 12th, 14th, 17th, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd.

 

Average: 22.7

 

NE's defense may be good, but they just havent played good offenses this year. The defense is currently ranked 7th in yards per game allowed and 5th in points.  I would argue this is where they should be playing all these weaker teams. 

[Process]

22 minutes ago, zow2 said:

Sunday, Foxborough MA..  High 33 degrees, Snow showers, frozen mix, chance snow 50%, 1-3 inches possible. 

 

Our weather.

I swear I checked yesterday and the forecast said sunny skies and 5% chance of precipitation. That changed quickly. 

 

I don't think snow is some big advantage for us but at least we know we can play it, whereas we haven't seen it from these Patriots. 

[HoofHearted]

Offensively: Condensed sets are going to be good to us. Attack the edges of the defense through these - force their corners to make tackles in the run game and tire them out. See if they can hold up in the pass game after being heavily involved in run fits. Duo/pin and pull should be good calls. Need to come out in bunch/stack sets and test their communication switching routes off. Choice routes. Must make an effort to target backs in the pass game - their backers cannot cover our backs. Primarily a MOFC coverage team. They want to play Cover 3 on run downs or quarters on run downs vs condensed sets - this is when you want to run your RPOs and PAPs.

 

Defensively: Have to pick and choose when you want to pressure. Heavy sets they max protect quite a bit - play coverage. 11 personnel or lighter is when you want to bring pressure - heavy pass out of this personnel though mostly quick game. They run a ton of condensed sets - stay out of man as much as you can. Run game is mostly zone scheme, but like the Bengals (who had also been mostly zone scheme) I wouldn’t be surprised to see more gap scheme runs against us. Duo, toss, and iso are staples, but inside zone and Midzone show up a lot. Match heavy with heavy on run downs, play base on pass downs. 47 follows Diggs. They like stressing your curl/flat defender in base pass game - overhangs have to play well. Play action is largely flood concepts or wave - must play top down and force the check-down.

[newcam2012]

2 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Idk the bills are kinda well suited for the pats defense tbh.  2-3 TEs that can catch the ball is kinda what you want against them  and a pretty good wr  outside gets locked up by Gonzalez and doesn’t really help you much anyway.  
 

Really think schematically it’s not a bad matchup at all…they basically sell out in run support because their linebackers are old school run stuffers that can’t really cover well but it leaves the middle of the field vulnerable because the safeties can’t cover all the big targets. Kind of a holdover from the previous folks in charge…i think vrabel is trying to get better hybrid type linebackers but it’s a work in progress.  
 

it’s a good defense but one where all the stuff Brady does that everyone hates actually could work 😂. Kincaid and/or Knox will probably go off…obviously the cincy defense is much worse but the weaknesses are kind of the same 

Pretty much agree with you. The Bills are 1.5 favorites on the road for a reason. Totally can see a hard fought Bills victory on Sunday.

[zow2]

3 minutes ago, Process said:

I swear I checked yesterday and the forecast said sunny skies and 5% chance of precipitation. That changed quickly. 

 

 

I think the forecast is threading the needle here, especially being this early in the week.  It shows clear and no precip for Saturday, Sun night, Monday as well.    So if the one batch of frozen mix actually hits throughout Sun afternoon they nailed it. 

[newcam2012]

36 minutes ago, zow2 said:

 

I'll have to disagree with the last part.  I think the AFC #1 seed has a better shot to make the SB than seeds 2 thru 7.  Winning two home games is the easiest.  As much as we love the Bills, they have not been a special team on the road (yet) and Allen has not been able to do the Superman stuff in the 2025 road games like he has at Highmark.  They will need excellent defense and rushing game to win 2-3 playoff road games.

I hear you. I think Buffalo with Allen and their experience can win the playoff games on the road. It's realistic to think they can do it just as easily exit the first round. Both outcomes are in play. I do think the Bills chances increase if KC, Balt, and Cinci are out. No debate about the #1 seed having an advantage. 

[DapperCam]

32 minutes ago, Dick_Cheney said:

There is no cold weather advantage for us. The sooner this myth dies the better.

 

Hopefully we can avoid "our weather" so Cook doesn't fumble two more times. 

I think an argument can be made that snowy bad weather effects the passing game for both QBs playing in a game, but Allen has proven over time it affects him less.

 

Let’s see how MVP-candidate Maye performs in the same conditions. He’s more of a touch passer.

[appoo]

19 minutes ago, psuscott16 said:

Offense ranks of teams NE has played:

 

By Yards per game: 2nd, 14th, 16th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 27th, 29th, 31st and 32nd.

 

Average: 22.1

 

By points per game: 6th, 12th, 14th, 17th, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd.

 

Average: 22.7

 

NE's defense may be good, but they just havent played good offenses this year. The defense is currently ranked 7th in yards per game allowed and 5th in points.  I would argue this is where they should be playing all these weaker teams. 

Gotta love a 4th place schedule

[Psautcsk]

24 minutes ago, Process said:

I swear I checked yesterday and the forecast said sunny skies and 5% chance of precipitation. That changed quickly. 

 

I don't think snow is some big advantage for us but at least we know we can play it, whereas we haven't seen it from these Patriots. 

 

25 minutes ago, Process said:

I swear I checked yesterday and the forecast said sunny skies and 5% chance of precipitation. That changed quickly. 

 

I don't think snow is some big advantage for us but at least we know we can play it, whereas we haven't seen it from these Patriots. 

I saw sunny and 29 degrees. 

[atlbillsfan1975]

1 hour ago, PatsFanNH said:

That has always gotten misunderstood.. and I still stand by what I meant.. BB would take Jones over Allen (in the draft with the same write up for both going into the draft as they had when drafted) because he believes he only needs a game manager and someone who won’t turn the ball over.. that was never ever meant to mean Jones. Is better than Allen.. 

Their final 4 games are Packers, Jags, Chiefs, Chargers.. 3 of those are fighting for playoff position or their playoff lives the other is the Chiefs who are dead in the water but face Denver I believe in KC.. they could go

0-4

Agree to disagree. You changed your argument as you were unable to look past how deficient McCorkle is in talent. You are a biased fan. I also don’t really care for another team’s fan on this board. My impression is those people are starving for attention and come here to fill that void.