Bills at Patriots: Game preview, odds, and prediction
By Matt Kerns
Heading into their first matchup this season, will the Buffalo Bills be able to hand the New England Patriots their first loss this season? Or will the Patriots continue their dominance thus far with Tom Brady returning next week?
The always shifty and elusive LeSean McCoy got back on track this past week against the Arizona Cardinals, as he cruised his way through their defense rushing for 117 yards on only 17 carries. It looked like vintage Shady McCoy if you asked me. Will the Bills be able to consistently run as they please against New England? That’s a different story. But you can bet Rex Ryan will do all he can so that the pieces align for this Bills rushing attack.
No man loves running the ball more than Rex Ryan. But in order to beat Bill Belichick’s Patriots this week, the Bills will have to do a little more than just that. Spreading the ball around against New England means everything for the opponent. Belichick wants to make the Bills offense one-dimensional. Tyrod Taylor simply can’t throw it 30+ times a game and carry the Bills to victory. In fact, in their eight wins last year, Taylor never threw the ball more than 29 times. He averaged just 21 passing attempts in their wins.
It’s a simple philosophy the Bills have: They’re not trying to outsmart you or play any sort of catch us if you can. They’re about physical dominance on the offensive line. The catch is they haven’t been exactly dominant until Sunday.
That doesn’t mean they won’t be this week. The Patriots listed both Jacoby Brissett and Jimmy Garoppolo as limited in Wednesday’s practice. Neither Brissett nor Garoppolo were very vocal in their interviews Wednesday either, so who knows who will start. That didn’t stop Ryan from trying to find out if Julian Edelman was going to play any quarterback, though.
With a win, the Bills are right back in this thing. With a Patriots win, however, the door for the AFC East begins to close. Who needs this one more? Buffalo. Who wants it more? That’ll be determined Sunday at Gillette Stadium.
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Odds
Oddshark has the Patriots as 4.5-point favorites at home. It seems that slim margin has to do with the unknown at quarterback for them. Whether it’s Brissett or Garoppolo, will it matter?
Prediction
Is this one of those trap games for New England? Who am I kidding, New England doesn’t get trapped by anyone (except maybe Rodger Goodell and the New York Giants).