Buffalo vs. New England: Players to Watch

It’s Patriots week (AGAIN!) Bills fans..! Except this time optimism shouldn’t be what it was the first time. In the first meeting between these two teams New England handled Buffalo easily, winning 23-3, and that was on the Bills home dirt!! Now the Bills travel up to Gillette where they’ve won just two games. One with Jacoby Brissett as QB the other with Jimmy Garroppolo. This week, they have the greatest of all time in Tom Brady to go up against. I don’t like the Bills chances but as I’ve said in the past, this game doesn’t matter nearly as much as next weeks does. Can we fast forward to week 17 please? Having said all of that, I’m still going to give you some players to watch this week.  So sit back, relax and enjoy watching these specific players on the eve of Christmas.

LeSean McCoy

At this point, there is no safer bet on the Bills offense. Remember when we traded Kiko Alonso for him? Biggest steal the Bills have gotten during this everlasting playoff drought. The key with McCoy is getting the running game established early. The first meeting between these two teams Shady rushed for 93 yards on 15 carries. That’s 6.2 a carry which means he and the Bills’ Oline were pounding that Patriots D pretty easily. I’d like to see, if possible McCoy get north of twenty carries this time around. Best way for this to happen is the Bills keeping it close. Luckily for the Bills and their fans, even if Patriots pull away, our X-factor in Shady McCoy will still be utilized as he leads the team in receptions with 52.

Rob Gronkowski

***BAD BLOOD ALERT*** Remember this guy? Well you should, he took an ugly cheap shot on our boy Tre’Davious White just three short weeks ago. Gronk is surely the guy you should be watching this week. Not only because he is the best receiver on the Patriots but also because we might see some extracurricular activities going on during and after the play with guys covering him. Bills fan or not, Patriots hater or not, what Gronk did was despicable. Will we see any heated battles between him and the Bills defenders this week? We’ll have to wait and see. Regardless, eyes need to be on him before the snap every play whether you’re a spectator or a player on the field, he’s the hardest-to-cover tight end of all time.

Tre’Davious White

Tre’Davious is on the other side of the coin with this one-sided late hit controversy. Could his interception against Gonkowski be called back for pass interference? Sure. Was it blatant? Absolutely not. It could have been called either way and I wouldn’t have argued. Last time these two teams met White had the lone turnover for Buffalo and had four tackles. Not a bad stat-line for a cornerback and with what happened to him at the end of his game, he’s gotta be looking to prove something this week. Hopefully cooler heads prevail because Patriots don’t need any extra yardage added onto the end of a play due to dumb penalties.

Stephon Gilmore

Another familiar face to watch this week. Last time these two teams met Gilmore had a pretty quiet day, finishing with just three tackles. All things considered, that’s a kind of day you want to have as a corner as that means the quarterback isn’t really throwing to the man you’re covering. Gilmore is a solid corner. I think he’s getting paid a bit more than what he should be getting paid but he’d be a top two corner on most teams. However, I was never a big fan of his work as it seemed he was good for getting burned once a game on a deep ball and never seemed to want to join in on a tackle, often seen in the camera’s shot watching as a play would come to an end. What do I want for Christmas? All I want for Christmas is to see Stephon Gilmore get burned once for a touchdown on Sunday. I’m realistic, I’m not that dumb kid asking for a pony or in this case a Bills win in Foxboro. Just give me that Fisher Price fire truck in the form of watching Gilmore sulk on the sideline after giving up a big play. Did I mention I’m not a Gilmore fan??

We could be in for another long Sunday, Bills fans. As I’ve said on a couple of occasions though, it may sting, but this isn’t our game to win. I’m just being real here. I’m still extremely optimistic that a 9-7 Bills team will make the playoffs. So, if we lose this game 200 to nothing, oh well, Bills will squish the fish the following week, get a playoff berth, win round one then go on to face the Patriots in the divisional round and take a win from them for the first time this year. Sorry, was that a little too optimistic? Go Bills.