Bills-Patriots prediction roundup: The 2015 NFL season has been historically bad
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COMMENTARY
If you happened to sit through the slate of 1 p.m. offerings that posed as NFL games last Sunday, you deserved what transpired in the New England Patriots-New York Giants classic later in the day.
Oh, it was a horrid, imbecilic schedule of games, highlighted, perhaps, by the Detroit Lions’ 18-16 upset win of the Green Bay Packers, a four-hour-plus game that displayed so much ineptitude, even the somewhat interesting finish couldn’t save it.
We had the Dallas Cowboys gagging at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, something the Baltimore Ravens also managed to do against the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars, who could very well win the AFC South with a 6-10 record. The Philadelphia Eagles lost Sam Bradford and welcomed Mark Sanchez back to the field.
It went about how you’d expect.
Week 11 didn’t start much better with the NFL Network beaming the Jaguars and Tennessee Titans into millions of zombie living rooms, its inhabitants only seeking its necessary football fix.
The Patriots’ win over the Giants more than made up for it all, but this sort of thing is becoming the norm. Only 11 teams have a winning record, as Adam Schefter noted Thursday, the lowest amount since 1990, when the league only had 28 teams. On a collective note, it has been a terrible NFL season.
The aforementioned AFC South isn’t the only train wreck of a division. In the NFC East, the 2-7 Cowboys could conceivably make a run at the 5-5 Giants (at least, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo returning to action Sunday against the Dolphins, thinks they can). Then again, the alternative has the AFC East (Patriots), North (Cincinnati Bengals), and West (Denver Broncos) already, essentially sealed up the week before Thanksgiving.
When you have two 9-0 teams (Patriots, Carolina Panthers), the rest of the landscape is going to pay the price. But what we’ve been left with instead is parity on steroids, with only 16 teams winning either four or five games at this stage of the season. Poor officiating has slowed down any semblance of fluidity. TV timeouts intrude at a more rapid pace than ever before. The product is subpar, and yet we flock in droves.
For those without the dish on Sunday in Boston, it’ll be Denver-Chicago (yuck), Washington-Carolina (meh), and Green Bay at Minnesota (for sure) before the evening’s tilt between the Bengals and Arizona Cardinals.
It can’t be worse than last week. That’s quickly becoming the official tagline for the 2015 NFL season.
Who they’re picking
Our roundup of picks for Sunday’s Bills-Patriots game:
ESPN.com: Twelve out of 13 go with New England.
Greg Cote, Miami Herald: Patriots 34, Bills 23. “Patriots needed breaks to escape the Giants by one point last week and in doing so lost valuable WR Julian Edelman to injury. Doesn’t Tom Brady always find a way, though? Especially against this opponent! New England has won seven of past eight and 27 of past 30 over Buffs. Brady has 907 yards and seven TDs in past two meetings. Rex Ryan was 4-10 vs. NE with the Jets, and that trend continues.’’
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: Patriots 30, Bills 21. “This is a proving game for the Bills. The Patriots blew them out earlier this season, throwing all over the vaunted Rex Ryan defense. This time, Julian Edelman is out, so it might be tougher for the Pats to do that. No, it won’t. Pats take it.’’
CBS Sports staff: Five out of eight pick the Patriots (-7 1/2 New England), everybody takes New England straight-up.
Peter Schrager, Foxsports.com: Patriots 27, Bills 20. “Another Bills game and yet again, Rex Ryan is somehow the story. Maybe he shouldn’t be. Maybe one of his players — like rookie Ronald Darby — deserves a little pub. General Manager Doug Whaley’s first pick of the 2015 Draft (Buffalo gave up their first rounder in the Sammy Watkins trade) has been lights out at cornerback and has already set a Bills rookie record for most passes defended. The Bills are going to give the Patriots a game on Monday. But no, they’re not winning.’’
Foxsports.com staff: Five out of seven pick the Patriots.
FiveThirtyEight: New England has an 84 percent chance of winning.
SB Nation staff: All Pats.
Elliot Harrison, NFL.com: Patriots 21, Bills 17. “The Bills climbed back into the AFC wild-card saddle with their win over the Jets at the New Meadowlands last Thursday night. Can they take two in a row on the road, this time against an AFC East foe who might be the top team in the NFL? For starters, Buffalo’s defense probably needs to cut in half the 466-spot Tom Brady laid on them last time. Cutting LeSean McCoy loose to run wild through the second level of the Patriots’ defense would burn clock and reduce the burden on Tyrod Taylor to win by himself. Meanwhile, Brady and the New England offense overall looked mortal after Julian Edelman left with a broken foot last week. With Edelman and Dion Lewis on the shelf, this might be a game in which Danny Amendola catches eight to 10 balls for over 100 yards.’’
NFL.com staff: Five out of six pick the Pats.
USA Today staff: Six out of seven pick New England.
Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk: Patriots 34, Bills 21. “If the injuries keep piling up for the Patriots, they may eventually lose a game. For now, not.’’
Michael David Smith, Pro Football Talk: Patriots 23, Bills 20. “The Bills will play better defense against the Patriots than they did the first time these teams played, but New England will score just enough to pull out a close win that goes down to the wire.’’
MassLive staff: All Patriots.
Jimmy Kempski, Philly Voice: Patriots. “The Bills came into Week 2 feeling themselves after what was (at the time) an impressive Week 1 win over the Colts. They even put together a game-opening scoring drive, and Buffalo was hyped. And then the Patri*ts put it on them. The Bills are 5-2 when Tyrod Taylor is at the helm, but come on… Buffalo hasn’t beaten the Patri*ts since 2011, and they haven’t come within seven points in the last four matchups. How is this line only seven?’’
Michael Hurley, CBS Boston: Patriots. “The Bills + Gillette Stadium = comedy. Always and forever. Amen.’’
Neil Greenberg, Washington Post: New England, 83.8 percent. “When these two teams met in Week 2, the scoreboard showed the Patriots won, 40-32, but in reality, it was never really that close.’’
Globe staff: Four out of five pick New England (Patriots -7).
It says here: Patriots 30, Bills 17. With the game on ESPN Monday night, New England’s first appearance of the season on the network with a bulls-eye target erected in the Gillette Stadium parking lot, please be responsible and abstain from the “Deflategate’’ drinking game.
Contact Eric Wilbur at: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @GlobeEricWilbur
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