The Buffalo Bills are set to travel to Gillette Stadium to take on the New England Patriots in a week thirteen divisional matchup. The Bills come into the game with a record of 8-3 and are currently tied with the Miami Dolphins for first place in the AFC East. On the flip side, the Patriots come enter the contest with a record of 6-5 and despite their record being above .500, they still sit in last place of the AFC East. As a result of how highly competitive this division has been this year, this is a must win game for both teams, and regardless of who wins, this game will have some major impact on the standings. This is the first time that these two teams have seen each other this season.
Buffalo Bills Look to Retake First Place In the AFC East
Surprisingly, despite their very impressive 8-3 record, the Bills still have not been able to beat a divisional opponent yet this season. They have played the Miami Dolphins once and the New York Jets once being defeated 21-19 and 20-17 respectively. Last week, the Bills barely got out of Thanksgiving with a victory. Defeating the Detroit Lions by a final score of 28-25. The Bills offense appeared to not be on the same page, and their level of play has declined greatly over the past couple of weeks. A likely cause of this is an injury to Josh Allen’s UCL. He suffered this injury in week nine against the Jets. In that time, the Bills have suffered two of their three losses on the season. It still is not clear just how serious this UCL injury is for Allen and in turn, how much longer Allen will be playing at less than 100%.
Along with the injury to Allen, the Bills also recently took a very big hit on the defensive side of the ball. Von Miller suffered a potentially season ending injury. Initially, it was believed that Miller had suffered an ACL tear, however, with it being a torn meniscus instead, there is still a chance he could return in seven weeks.
While the Bills will be playing hurt not at full strength this week, it is still a winnable game for the Bills. Allen should still be healthy enough to lead the Bills to another win.
New England Patriots Hope to Sweep the Season Series
Although the Patriots are currently last in their division, there is a chance they could pull off a big upset this week. As previously mentioned, the Bills will be playing with very key players out or playing at less than 100%. With Miller being sidelined, it could end up being a big day for Reshondre Stevenson on the ground. If the Bills can establish the run game early and the defensive unit can slow the Bills down, the Patriots could possibly come out of week thirteen with a victory.
