Patriots Pregame Thread Bills - Pats line (Patriots vs Bills Pregame Thread)

[neuronet]

Means very little? If they win the game they win the division host at least one playoff game and stay in contention for the #1 seed.

You are right if they lose, the division win is not guaranteed. I am assuming they still win the division even if they lose to the bills. You are probably right to call this out but what can I say? I’m not worried about our guys.

Obviously I’m hoping we win. I expect a tough good game from the Bills. I was just focusing on the talk about championships — I find it weird. But also meh not that big a deal carry on Vrabel.

 

[slash83]

What happens with the AFCE is NE loses their next two, wins their last two, and Buffalo wins out?

 

[sb1]

What happens with the AFCE is NE loses their next two, wins their last two, and Buffalo wins out?

Pats win the division by better division record as they would be 5-1 vs the AFC East. The Bills already lost to Miami so they would be 4-2.

 

[PatsFan2]

What happens with the AFCE is NE loses their next two, wins their last two, and Buffalo wins out?

One things'' for sure: we are not losing to choker Lamar and that Ravens Team. 28 points should get it more than done: the Ravens are not a good Team. Other than maybe Buffalo: I don't think the Ravens - Jets and Dolphins can keep up with us. I hope we get the Bye-Week Two games to the Big Dance.

 

[jdlboot14]

Sounds like Vrabel is salty today in his presser. That's a good thing. He probably has this team focused and ready to fight.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

If this game were being played in good weather conditions, and if Milt Williams were playing, I'd favor the Pats to win decisively. But we need Milt for games like this, and the snow is a big advantage for the Bills. Drake has never played in snow, and Allen has probably played 20 games in it including college. Bad luck if this forecast holds, but hopefully if it's just 2" it won't affect play too much.

 

[mgteich]

This is what I would have said if Volin had asked me that question.
.

I never understood why people got upset when the media or other fans "disrespected" us. WHO CARES!

Rodney is right, we should embrace being the underdog, we should DEMAND being the underdog in every game. Maye should be saying at his pressers. "When I go back and look at the film, I cannot believe how badly I played. GOD, all the mistakes sometimes overwhelm me, and Josh has to take time out and ground me. Everyy game I'm hoping I can earn the trust of my teammates and sometimes I wonder...."
'

Which is it?

1) "Who cares" seems right. We should ignore the odds and betting status. The odds do NOT change the way the game is played.

2) After saying "who cares", you show just how much you do care and seem to pay attention to the odds and views of the analysts. You want to embrace underdog status and even demand it. For me, ignoring the odds for a game seems right, certainly as we get ready for the game. As a fan I might be interested in the fact that various analysts have different views regarding various aspects of the team and perhaps why they make us or the opposing team a serious favorite. But, in the end, the views of the analysts don't affect the play of the game.

3) I do understand that many fans are really affected by the views of others and are seriously upset if they feel that their team is, in their view" disrespected. For example, I suspect that some JAX or HOU fans feel disrespected.

 

[neuronet]

Pats win the division by better division record as they would be 5-1 vs the AFC East. The Bills already lost to Miami so they would be 4-2.

This is why I'm not buying into treating this next game like a championship game. The Bills are the ones who need to be desperate and clutching their pearls, not us. It's their regular-season super bowl, not ours. We are the ones who have been there and won. FFS people.



That said, I expect a good crowd, and a win.

 

[Real fan 02]

That's an insult to the 2018 Pats who had been to 3 previous Super Bowls and won 2. The only thing the Bills know how to do is lose in the playoffs. Like the Chiefs, people didn't want to admit the Bills rosters were awful and it was swept under the rug because other teams were horrible. Bad drafts eventually catch up to teams. Pats made moves and Maye ascended which is why they are ahead of Buffalo much like how Indy came out of nowhere in 1999. This upcoming game is going to tell us a lot.

Great points.. we have the coaching advantage.. win or lose i still believe the patiots trajectory is headed upwards. They have morphed into EXACTLY what we wanted to see as fans. A well coached team that no one wants to see..

The LBs have become a strength instead of a weakness.. Ellis has turned into an excellent LB under Vrabel.. words can't express enough how much Vrabel has impacted this franchise this season.

 

[mike_usagisan]

If this game were being played in good weather conditions, and if Milt Williams were playing, I'd favor the Pats to win decisively. But we need Milt for games like this, and the snow is a big advantage for the Bills. Drake has never played in snow, and Allen has probably played 20 games in it including college. Bad luck if this forecast holds, but hopefully if it's just 2" it won't affect play too much.

I was listening to Lazar this morning and he was talking about how Brady loved playing in the snow because the footing made it really hard on the pass rush to get to him in time. It's wind that will mess up a QB's pass game.

 

[Vindicate]

Took a look back at that first game and had some thoughts on this one:

Very close game, but I think the Patriots play a more complementary, full-team game this time around. What people love to gloss over when thinking about this rematch is how improved WE are since then, penalties on particular.

We gave the Bills 4 first downs via penalty that game, I don't think we do that again. We had 8 total, to the tune of 83 yards.

I don't imagine another 4 sacks, even with Lowe.

We only had 71 running yards in our first game, Henderson had yet to be in the mix as much as he is now. Rham punched in our two TD's, but still only had 17 yards (11 of which came from the two TD plays). Our offense is more complete and therefore, I don't expect Diggs to shoulder the load as much as he did the first game. However, I do predict daggers to Diggs to take over that secondary. Williams is now a threat.

Our offense has drastically improved in that we now have everyone involved. Good luck covering that, Bills
This offense isn't high octane, but it is dynamic as hell and has too many viable options.

 

[jal]

This game is important for more than just the obvious reasons (race for #1 seed, wrapping up AFC East, signaling quality etc):

1) If the Patriots win the next three weeks, Denver likely has nothing to play for in Week 18 when they face the Chargers. Looking at the schedules, that game has a strong chance of being important for the Chargers to make the playoffs / Chiefs to miss it. Broncos won't give up that game if they are still in play for #1 seed, but otherwise I'm sure they'd love to keep the Chiefs out

2) If the Bills lose this week, playing out the playoff machine there's a strong chance they do not get the #5 top wildcard seed and instead end up with #6 or #7 - meaning they don't get to face AFC North in first round but rather Broncos/AFC South winner (which is likely to be Houston IMO). That also means that the Pats have a stronger chance of facing AFC North / Jags winner in second round if the Bills lose in round 1. Much easier path

Obviously there's a lot of projection here but this is just following the likely paths using the playoff machine. This game may have a lot of impact on playoff pathway, which is huge.

 

[jal]

Took a look back at that first game and had some thoughts on this one:

Very close game, but I think the Patriots play a more complementary, full-team game this time around. What people love to gloss over when thinking about this rematch is how improved WE are since then, penalties on particular.

We gave the Bills 4 first downs via penalty that game, I don't think we do that again. We had 8 total, to the tune of 83 yards.

I don't imagine another 4 sacks, even with Lowe.

We only had 71 running yards in our first game, Henderson had yet to be in the mix as much as he is now. Rham punched in our two TD's, but still only had 17 yards (11 of which came from the two TD plays). Our offense is more complete and therefore, I don't expect Diggs to shoulder the load as much as he did the first game. However, I do predict daggers to Diggs to take over that secondary. Williams is now a threat.

Our offense has drastically improved in that we now have everyone involved. Good luck covering that, Bills
This offense isn't high octane, but it is dynamic as hell and has too many viable options.

I agree our offense has a lot more confidence and the development of Henderson and (to a much lesser extent) Williams adds more explosiveness. Similarly, that was also Gonzo's first game back and he's been playing much better since then.

But our run defense is significantly worse than it was (lack of Milton and Harold Landry/Chiasson wearing down). That's probably the biggest change on either team since week 5. Their D will either be lacking Bosa or he will be playing very banged up, so that's a plus but Bills aren't going to get back-breaking pressure regardless, the strength of their D is largely Corner/Safety play.

In the end I think it's gonna be a close game and whoever plays better / has better turnover luck / penalty luck is going to win. Hopefully that's us - homefield usually helps on the penalty front.

 

[Real fan 02]

I was listening to Lazar this morning and he was talking about how Brady loved playing in the snow because the footing made it really hard on the pass rush to get to him in time. It's wind that will mess up a QB's pass game.

12 had some spectacular snow games... titans, bears to name a few...

 

[Triumph]

It's wind that will mess up a QB's pass game.

Not if he has a strong, young arm like Maye.

Remember the P Manning vs Brady game in Foxboro where Manning struggled throwing into the wind?

This could be a huge game for Williams to turn and burn.

 

[Triumph]

Also 4.5 hours of tailgating.

One of the best parts of being present for the games. I always found that time passed quickly.

 

[PatsFan2]

If this game were being played in good weather conditions, and if Milt Williams were playing, I'd favor the Pats to win decisively. But we need Milt for games like this, and the snow is a big advantage for the Bills. Drake has never played in snow, and Allen has probably played 20 games in it including college. Bad luck if this forecast holds, but hopefully if it's just 2" it won't affect play too much.

Buffalo have been very average on the Road: and we have gotten better @ Home. Regarding Uncle Milt: we have Tonga and Durden both can wreak havoc.

 

[PatsFan2]

If this game were being played in good weather conditions, and if Milt Williams were playing, I'd favor the Pats to win decisively. But we need Milt for games like this, and the snow is a big advantage for the Bills. Drake has never played in snow, and Allen has probably played 20 games in it including college. Bad luck if this forecast holds, but hopefully if it's just 2" it won't affect play too much.

Let's not not kid ourselves about Buffalo: all our D have to do is play better than Cincinnati's Defense. Can the Bills stop all our weapons Diggs - Boutte - H Henry - Austin Hooper and Barefoot Mack Hollins?? Did I meantion T Henderson - Rham - Pop and Kyle Williams?? We are keeping DC's up at nights.

 

[mayoclinic]

If we play well, we should win.

 

[mayoclinic]

Also should win if we score more points.