Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Bills have become a bit of a second-half team this season, and it was on full display once again this past Sunday in a 35-31 win over the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxbourough.
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Down 24-7 at halftime and failing to do much of anything on either side of the football in the first half, Josh Allen and the Bills were able to mount a comeback with 28 second-half points, while the defense managed to stand tall and give the energized offense every opportunity to capitalize.
All of Buffalo's touchdowns came on five-straight drives, starting with the final drive of the second quarter and then carrying the momentum into the third quarter.
Allen was playing like the reigning NFL MVP in the second half, and finished his day throwing for three touchdowns, while completing 19 of his 28 pass attempts for 193 yards.
Meanwhile, James Cook was effective on the ground for much of the afternoon, carrying the ball 22 times for 107 yards and a pair of touchdowns (one rushing and one receiving).
With the win, the Bills are now 10-4, and managed to stave off the Patriots clinching the AFC East with a victory. While Buffalo's chances at the division still remain low at 26%, they remain essentially a lock to make the postseason, and can clinch a playoff berth with a win in Week 16 and a loss or tie from either the Indianapolis Colts or Houston Texans.
Their next opponent on Sunday will be the Cleveland Browns, who are in the midst of another season of anguish just down the I-90.
The Browns enter Sunday's contest at 3-11, which currently puts them dead last in the AFC North and in a tie with the Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets for the second-worst record in the league.
Very much reflective of their record, the Browns are one of the worst offensive teams in all of football, averaging just 264.3 yards per-game and 16.1 points per-game.
Cleveland has hoped to see some promise for the future with rookie Shedeur Sanders under center, but in his five total games this season, he's completed just 52.2% of his passes for 946 yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions. His lone win in four starts this year came in his first-career start, where he beat the lowly Las Vegas Raiders.
Where the focus of the 2025 season has been for the Browns is the chase for history for pass rusher Myles Garrett. The 29-year-old has had a monster season in Cleveland, putting up 21.5 sacks, which is one full sack away from tying the all-time single-season sacks record set by Michael Strahan in 2001.
While the defense in Cleveland does have other decent weapons, the unit revolves around Garrett, who has 57 total tackles this season, a league-best 32 tackles for loss, 35 quarterback hits and three forced fumbles.
Even though Garrett has a chance to make history on Sunday when he faces Allen and the Bills, Howard Simon is quite confident the Bills can handle whatever gets thrown at them by the Browns on both sides of the football.
Not only does Howard have the Bills beating the Browns this coming Sunday, thus potentially clinching a playoff berth in the process, he also has Buffalo finishing the 2025 season with a pair of home wins over the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, and also the Jets in the Week 18 finale.
Howard then went on to predict the Bills in the playoffs, dictated by matchups picked by Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase.
While Howard was confident in the Bills being able to pull off three-straight road wins to earn a trip to Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif., he ends up picking Buffalo to come up short in the "Big Game", once again, losing to the Los Angeles Rams at Levi Stadium.
Be sure to follow along on X, formerly known as Twitter, for the latest picks from Howard by using the hashtag #HowardPicksTheBills. You can also track all of Howard's picks throughout the season with Brayton Wilson's picks tracker on X: @BraytonJWilson.
You can listen to, as well as watch the latest edition of "Howard Picks the Bills" below: