Bills aim to sweep Patriots
Buffalo needs win to secure higher playoff seed
Monday, 8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN
OPENING LINE - Bills by 4 1/2
RECORD VS. SPREAD - Bills 9-5, Patriots 6-8 SERIES RECORD - Patriots lead 76-44-1
LAST MEETING - Bills beat Patriots, 27-24, on Nov. 1 at Buffalo
LAST WEEK - Bills beat Broncos 48-19; Patriots lost to Dolphins 22-12
AP PRO32 RANKING - Bills No. 2, Patriots No. 19 BILLS OFFENSE - OVERALL (6), RUSH (21), PASS (2). BILLS DEFENSE - OVERALL (16), RUSH (20), PASS (15).
PATRIOTS OFFENSE - OVERALL (24), RUSH (6), PASS (30).
PATRIOTS DEFENSE - OVERALL (11), RUSH (27),
PASS (6).
STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES — The Patriots have won 35 of the last 41 meetings since 2000. ... The Bills have a chance to be the first AFC East foe to sweep New England in a season since the Jets and Dolphins did it in 2000. The 19 straight seasons without losing both games to a divisional opponent is an NFL record. The 1971-81 Cowboys and ‘70-80 Rams made it 11 seasons in a row. The Bills last swept the Patriots in 1999. ... The Bills have clinched their first AFC East title since 1995 and ninth overall since the NFL merger. They’ve also clinched their third playoff berth in four seasons under coach Sean McDermott. They snapped a streak of 17 straight seasons without a postseason game in 2017. ... A win would be Buffalo’s sixth 12-win season and first since 1993, the last of a four-year run of Super Bowl appearances, all losses. ... Only the “Hail Murray” -- Kyler Murray’s 43-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins with 2 seconds left in the Cardinals’ 32-30 win on Nov. 15 -- prevented Buffalo from an eight-game winning streak. Buffalo is 5-2 on the road and has a chance to win six road games in back-to-back seasons for the first time. Before 2019, the last time Buffalo had a winning road record was a 5-3 finish in 1999. ... QB Josh Allen’s 4,000 yards passing already rank second on the team’s single-season list. He is 359 from matching the record set by Drew Bledsoe in 2002. ... Allen had two passing TDs and two rushing to extend the team record for most combined TDs in a single season to 39 (30 passing, eight rushing and one receiving). The previous record was 34, set by Jim Kelly in 1991. ... Allen’s 30 passing TDs trail only Kelly, who had 33 in 1991. Allen’s seven 300-yard games match the single-season team record set by Bledsoe on 2002. ... Allen is the second NFL player with at least eight rushing TDs and 30 passing. Cam Newton (2015) is the other. ... With 11 catches for 147 yards against Denver, Stefon Diggs broke the team’s single-season record of 100 set by Eric Moulds in 2002. Diggs’ 1,314 yards receiving are third on the team’s single-season list. He needs 55 to pass Eric Moulds’ 1998 total for first. ... Patriots P Jake Bailey leads the NFL with 46.1 net yards per punt. ... K Nick Folk has made a personal-best 25 FG in a row since missing his first two attempts of the season. ... RB Damien Harris is averaging 5.04 yards per carry, tied for fourth in franchise history. ... CB J.C. Jackson has 10 takeaways (2 fumble recoveries, 8 interceptions), tied for second most in Patriots history. Only Ron Hall (2, 11) had more, back in 1964. ... Newton’s 11 rushing TDs are tied for third in NFL history for a QB. Steve Grogan had 12 in 1976 and Newton had 14 in 2011. Kyler Murray also had 11 this season heading into Week 16. ... PRr Gunner Olszewski is leading the NFL with 19.1 yards per punt return. He has a chance to be only the second player since Olympic gold medalist and Pro Football Hall of Famer “Bullet Bob” Hayes did so in 1968. ... Fantasy tip: Diggs could be a good play against an injury-depleted defense.