The Buffalo Bills look for their first sweep of the New England Patriots since 1999 when the two teams play on Monday night. Here are my four keys to the game, plus notes and stats:
KEYS
• Forget the past
Even though it was a tough game that came down to the very end and the Bills punched the ball loose to snag a victory from the jaws of defeat, their win over the Patriots back in week 8 was a huge mental hurdle for this entire organization to get past. Now, that’s over. They’ve done it. They beat the Patriots and now have a chance to sweep them for the first time in 21 years. They know they can beat this team, have everything rolling for them, and know the Patriots are down and have nothing to play for. They should approach this game with a desire to show the entire country, on national television, that they aren’t just AFC East Champions this season, but that the division will go though them for the foreseeable future.
• Allen solving Belichick
As great of a season as Josh Allen is having, and as big of leaps as he’s made from his rookie year until now, he’s still had trouble against the Patriots and Bill Belichick. In his four games played against New England so far in his young career, Allen has only a 50.44% completion percentage with three touchdown passes and six interceptions and has averaged only 183 yards passing per game. That all needs to change on Monday night or this game is going to be a lot closer than many think it should be.
• Run, Run, Rudolph
The Bills haven’t run the ball all that well this season overall, ranking 21st in the NFL in yards per game (108.2) and 19th in yards per play (4.27) on the ground. However, the Patriots have allowed the 7th most yards per game (133.0) and rank 21st in yards per run play given up (4.56). Over the last two weeks, the Patriots have given up a whopping 436 yards rushing, including 250 to the Miami Dolphins, who rank only 22nd in the NFL in rushing yards per game. The Bills had their highest rushing output the season when they played the Patriots back in week 8, with 190 and 5.0 yards per carry. That was partly because the Patriots elected to play six or even seven defensive backs on almost every snap. Whether New England elects to do that or not this game, the Bills need to take advantage of what looks to be a very porous run defense.
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NOTES AND STATS
