Patriots-Bills prediction roundup: Sorry, no chance for Buffalo this time
COMMENTARY
Halfway through.
How you feeling?
With a win at Buffalo on Sunday, your New England Patriots will be 7-1 over the first 50 percent of the 2016 NFL season, a record that spits in the face of the league whose commissioner wanted you to fail.
Free Brady, and all.
With the bye week awaiting them, the Patriots can cement themselves as the team to beat in the AFC with a win over the Bills, but we all know by now this is much more than than by now.
It was cute that Buffalo head coach Rex Ryan was able to invade Foxborough in September and steal a win.
Cute, Buffalo.
Good for Rex, but with November looming, and a breakdown loss to the Miami Dolphins still in the forefront of his cerebrum, reality might hit in Orchard Park.
Look, the Bills are good enough for a wild card. But with a banged-up LeSean McCoy against a team they embarrassed last time out — with Jacoby Brissett – this game is a no-brainer.
This week’s picks
ESPN.com: Eight out of nine pick the Patriots.
Greg Cote, Miami Herald: Patriots 27, Bills 23. “Buffalo beat New England 16-0 on Oct. 2, the Patriots’ first shutout loss in Foxborough since 1993. The Pats’ starting QB that day was rookie Jacoby Brissett. The Pats’ starting QB Sunday will be Tom Brady. Any questions? Bills have not swept NE since 1999, and it won’t happen here. Buffs expect DT Marcell Dareus back but, offsetting that, might be without RB LeSean McCoy. Brady has looked as great as ever in his three games back; even so, betting number feels fat.”
Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: Patriots 28, Bills 20. “When these teams met in Week 4, the Bills won. But that was with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback. This will be Tom Brady. The Bills will be amped up here after losing last week to Miami, but this is a different Pats team and Brady will light them up.”
CBS Sports staff: All Pats (+6 Buffalo).
FiveThirtyEight: Patriots have only a 52 percent chance of winning.
Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk: Patriots 30, Bills 20. “The Bills haven’t swept the Patriots during the Brady-Belichick era. That streak continues.”
Michael David Smith, Pro Football Talk: Patriots 27, Bills 20. “The Bills dominated their first meeting, but that was with Tom Brady suspended. Now that Brady is back, I’d expect the Patriots to win this game and take total control of the AFC East.”
MassLive staff: Pats, Pats, Pats, Pats…Pats.
Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News: Patriots 27, Bills 17. “Buffalo should enjoy that shutout road victory against Tom Brady-less New England while it can, because that’s not happening again at home. Brady, Rob Gronkowski and LeGarrette Blount are on a roll as terrific triplets, while Tyrod Taylor keeps losing receivers and LeSean McCoy remains gimpy. While we wait for a bombastic Rex Ryan prediction that won’t happen, Brady’s team “Trumps” his easily.”
David Steele, Sporting News: Patriots 38, Bills 21. “Tom Brady’s last game of his suspension was in Week 4, when the Bills shut out Jacoby Brissett and the Patriots in Foxborough. The Bills won’t be overconfident in light of their face-plant in Miami last week, the 200 yards they gave up to Jay Ajayi and LeSean McCoy’s troublesome hamstring. The Patriots, on the other hand, have almost too many offensive weapons to handle.”
Peter Schrager, Foxsports.com: Patriots 26, Bills 20. “For a fleeting moment, I convinced myself the Bills would steal this one up in Western New York, sweep the Patriots this season and have a pair of pocket aces over the chip leader at the season’s midway point. I just can’t do it. Not bold enough. Not brave enough. The Bills had me — they had me good — as winners of four straight. But the Dolphins gashed them on the ground last weekend in Miami, and Ryan Tannehill had a more than competent day in the passing game. Brady and Co. are on a heater right now. They’re not busting. POKER!”
Bryan Altman, CBS Sports: Patriots. “Besides just betting on Brady (who didn’t play in Week 4 when these teams met, in case you forgot), I’m betting on Bill Belichick to remember the cacophony of crap that spewed like lava from Rex Ryan’s mouth after the Bills beat down the Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Week 4 by a score of 16-0. Patriots exact their revenge and win big.”
USA Today staff: All Pats.
SB Nation staff: All New England.
Elliot Harrison, NFL.com: Patriots 22, Bills 19. “How many of you are uber curious to see how this game goes? How many Bills fans Uber to games? Buffalo doesn’t seem like an Uber kind of joint. You take the family truckster down to the parking lot. Of course, you wear a Joe Ferguson road white jersey from 1980, yo. The George Foreman grill is in the back somewhere. That’s how Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium should go. But can the Bills Mafia see its team win with a hobbled LeSean McCoy (if he’s even active)? It’s going to come down to third down. Tom Brady has been the best in the bidness this year on pro football’s most important down, converting 53.6 percent into first downs. Moreover, the guy owns a ridiculous 149.3 passer rating on third down. Moreover, moreover is not a word we should use when chatting up the workmanlike Bills. Bad^*$ is a little better, because that’s what the defense is on third down in the red zone. Offenses have converted one of 12 third downs inside the Bills’ 20. That’s no empty stat. That’s a four-point play, right? The Gronk/Bennett combo will be key.”
Globe staff: Four of five pick New England (-6 Patriots).
It says here: Patriots 31, Bills 0. Viva, 2003.
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