Buffalo Bills: A guide to being optimistic vs the Patriots on Sunday

The Buffalo Bills find themselves sitting pretty at 6-5 and tied record wise for the last AFC Playoff spot. The ultimate test is this Sunday when the Bills host Tom Brady and the mighty red-hot Patriots.

The occasion Buffalo Bills (6-5) vs New England Patriots (9-2) – Week 13 2017 NFL Season

Where: New Era Field, Orchard Park New York

Time: 1:00pm

TV: CBS

This game is really a tale of two sides of the ball. The Patriots have been carried by their mega powered offense and the Bills have ridden the backs of their defense.

New England comes into this one with over 400 yards a game on offense. Buffalo goes into Sunday with just 299 yards per game.

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As far as defense goes the Patriots allow over 385 yards and the Bills give up 355.

The stats this year are important to an extent but it’s Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s history vs the Bills since 2001 that truly matters here.

The cat has been out of the bag for a while now but let me give you a refresher.

Tom Brady has owned the Buffalo Bills (he has the chance to break the record for most TD passes thrown at New Era Field since 2001).

All time the Patriots are 70-43-1 vs the Bills.

In the Brady era the Patriots have only lost twice when Brady plays a majority of the snaps in 2003 and not again until 2011.

In addition, the last four years the Bills beat the Patriots, the Patriots went on to win the conference all four with three Super Bowl Championships.

As depressing as this may be to Bills fans, there are reasons why this game will be different.

Here are a few reasons to BILLeve and remain optimistic:

Tyrod vs The Patriots

Tyrod Taylor is the QB of this team and no matter how hard some people try to think otherwise, he is a good reason to believe.

With Tyrod going into his third season of playing New England, he has a better record than most Bills QBs have vs the Patriots.

Last year Tyrod and a Rex Ryan led defense helped shut out the Patriots in Foxborough.

Tom Brady was suspended but still the SHUTOUT means something. Tyrod and crew dropped 16 and the defense gave up nill.

That puts Tyrod at 1-3 vs the Pats as the Bills starter all time.

A lot of those games he has not had to do much, but the Bills have not been shutout on their end and Tyrod is still playing with a chip on his shoulder and will be more motivated than ever to protect “The Cap”

Sean McDermott

It almost matters so little how often Belichick and Brady have seen an opponent.

They prepare for each game and don’t look at any underlying circumstances.

But for Buffalo Bills fans needing reasons to be optimistic, this is a good one.

Playing in opposite conferences up until this year, McDermott has not seen Brady much and vice versa

In the little experience they do have McDermott has the advantage.

During the 2004 Super Bowl season McDermott was an assistant with the Eagles that only lost by three points.

In a prime-time game in 2013 the Panthers, then led by McDermott as a defensive coordinator, were able to dethrone the Patriots.

It is a different scheme and different personnel but McDermott could be hiding the secret formula to containing Touchdown Tommy.

Third Downs

I might be shooting too far here but it’s a guide to being optimistic, not really winning.

A bigger flaw in the Patriots’ defense has been on third down.

Their third down conversion percentage allowed is 40%.

Buffalo finds themselves in a lot of third down situations.

If Buffalo can continue to expose this stat, then they can keep drives alive and keep Brady and the offense that has carried them off the field.

That gives them a better chance to win.

The 2017 Bills

One of the narratives of the Bills has been that they win the games they were “supposed” to lose and they’ve lost the games they were “supposed” win.

The Bills were supposed to lose to the Chiefs, they won. Buffalo was supposed to beat the Jets, they lost.

There are exceptions but a majority of the Bills’ wins came as a surprise and the losses were more painful.

Against Tommy, Billy, and the gang the Bills are “supposed” to lose. No one is picking Buffalo to win and if this season has taught us anything, that is a great thing.

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Final Thoughts

This will be just the Bills’ third division game of the year and first of four in the month of December.

Next Week, the Bills host the less than mighty Colts.

As always please follow me on Twitter for live tweets and analysis throughout the game.

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