MNF: Patriots vs Bills Game Thread

Monday Night Football, Week 8. Tonight the New England Patriots travel to upstate New York to take on the Buffalo Bills in an AFC East clash of the haves against the have nots. What a difference a year makes. A year ago these were two playoff teams. Now this is a playoff team against a team fighting for the first overall draft pick.

The Bills squeaked into the playoffs last year with the help of an opportunistic defense that generated turnovers by the bushel. This year - not so much. These Bills still have a pretty good defense, but they are just a bit better than average at turning the ball over. The real problem with the Bills however is an inept offense. The Bills ranks dead last in the NFL in points scored and second to last in yards. The Bills have scored five points or less in three of their seven games, and 13 points or less in five games. That level of offense just can’t win many games in the NFL.

Contrast the Bills with the Patriots offense. The Patriots, after getting off to their usual slow start to the season, have kicked it into high gear. The Patriots come into the game having scored 38 or more points in four straight games, all wins. The Patriots defense is not great, ranking 20th in the NFL in points allowed and 25th in yards allowed, but the offense has become so good it hardly matters. Some day Tom Brady will succumb to age related decline. One of these years the Patriots offense will not have a superstar leading it. One of these years, but not, apparently, this year.

It’s the Patriots and the Bills in what looks on paper to be one of the biggest mismatches of the year. You never know how things will play out, but this one has blowout written all over it.

Enjoy the game everybody.