The AFC East currently has three of its teams in the playoff picture and another just one spot out of the final spot in the AFC playoff picture. With that said, two of those teams will battle tonight on Thursday Night Football as the second-place Buffalo Bills head to Foxborough to take on the fourth-place New England Patriots.
WE. ARE. BACK.
🏈: @BuffaloBills vs. @Patriots | #TNFonPrime
⏰: Tonight 7 PM ET, only on @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/9fSyX5SFXn— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) December 1, 2022
The Bills come into this week thirteen primetime matchup with an 8-3 record after defeating the Lions on Thanksgiving day. With that said, two of their three losses have come from divisional matchups, so this will be a crucial game for Buffalo to win in their battle for first place.
Something else to point out is that the current first-place team in the division, the Miami Dolphins, who also have an 8-3 record, are currently 2-1 in division games, including a victory over the Bills in week three. This emphasizes the importance of winning this divisional contest for Buffalo.
As for the Patriots, they come into this game at 6-5 after a Thanksgiving night loss to the Vikings; although the Pats lost the game, they had arguably their best offensive showing of the season, especially in the passing game, as Mac Jones finished the loss with 382 yards and two touchdowns. New England will look to pick up a huge division win to stay in the AFC playoff race.
The keys for each team in this one will be to emphasize the running game as Buffalo is known to rely heavily on Josh Allen, which is understandable, but at the same time, many coaching staffs may force them to win through the ground rather than letting Allen win the game with his arm; for New England, as good as their passing game looked in week twelve, it was still not enough to win as they were unable to create a steady balance between the run and the pass as their leading rusher on the day was Rhamondre Stevenson with just 36 yards on the ground.
As for some predictions, we believe the Bills will beat the Patriots 38-25. We also believe Josh Allen will throw at least two touchdown passes and rush for one, with Stefon Diggs catching one of those touchdown passes.
Let us know what you think about this upcoming Thursday Night Football division showdown between the Bills and Patriots by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.
Don’t forget: The Buffalo Bills take on the New England Patriots LIVE from Gillette Stadium TONIGHT 12/1 @ 8:15pm ET on Prime Video.
