How to watch and what to watch in Bills-Patriots

I really hope Josh Allen goes up to Tom Brady before this game and does the whole Paul Rudd “Hey, look at us” and Brady goes “Who would have thought? and then Allen responds “Not me!”

The Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots are playing an important game in December. This sentence would leave you rolling on the floor laughing if you read it back in August. Well, here we are, the Bills are 10-4 and clinched a playoff berth, their second postseason appearance in the past two decades. It’s also their first 10-win season since 1999.

The Patriots are 11-4, but it doesn’t feel anything like the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady teams we’re used to seeing. The Pats’ offense has been struggling and they’ve been anchored by a strong defense. New England is dealing with a key injury to its secondary in slot corner Jonathan Jones, plus their receiving corps leaves much to be desired. Still, it’ll take a Bills win in this game and a Dolphins win over the Pats in Week 17 to dethrone Brady and Co. from its place atop the AFC East.

Game Time/TV channel/Streaming

Bills-Pats is a 4:30 p.m. ET start time, so inactives will drop at 3:00 p.m. ET. The game will be televised exclusively on NFL Network and can be streamed on the NFL’s applications and Yahoo! Sports.

Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice

Unlike the game prior, Texans-Bucs, this AFC East matchup should be the opposite of good for fantasy football owners. This is a game between the top 2 scoring defenses in the NFL. Both teams allow under 300 yards per game and both teams are familiar with each other. Brady hasn’t been his usual self and doesn’t trust his young WRs much — this storyline should come full circle when the Pats face a very tough defense. New England’s rushing attack produced 3.2 yards per carry against Buffalo earlier in the season. Brady had a 45.9 passer rating vs. the Bills. On a three-game slate, I think it’s safe to fade most of these fantasy options.

Strong Start: D/ST Patriots, D/ST Bills

Decent Start: WR Julian Edelman, QB Josh Allen, WR John Brown, WR Cole Beasley, RB James White, RB Rex Burkhead, RB Devin Singletary

Sit: QB Tom Brady, RB Sony Michel, WR N’Keal Harry, WR Phillip Dorsett, WR Jakobi Meyers

Pick against the spread

I’m going mostly narrative here with the Bills taking down the Patriots in arguably their most important regular season game in recent memory. The Bills are getting 6.5 points on the road, I mentioned both defenses being the best in the NFL in terms of scoring, so I think no matter what this is going to be a tight game. The Pats defense is a bit banged up, Brady is off and I don’t really see him coming out and blowing Buffalo away. Nobody really scares you on the New England side, right? I think Buffalo can hang around, Josh Allen and John Brown can make a play or two. I’ll take the points.

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