Bills sailing toward season sweep?

The last Monday Night Football game of the 2020 NFL season — the Buffalo Bills at the New England Patriots — features a power flip as sudden and severe as when Fletcher Christian grabbed command of the HMS Bounty.

You remember, the real-life 18th-century English navy officer who'd had enough of notoriously cold-blooded captain William Bligh's sickly enthusiastic, wanton application of cruel discipline against his beleaguered crew, and led the infamous mutiny that has been chronicled in books and movies for more than 200 years.

Well, the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick ruled the AFC East like Bligh and his iron fist for nearly two full decades, and they routinely punished the Bills, Miami Dolphins and New York Jets just as Bligh treated the lowliest insubordinate seaman.

Until the mutiny, that is, which went down last weekend after building all season. That's when the Bills clinched their first AFC East title in 25 years, while the Patriots not only were officially eliminated from the playoffs for the first time since 2008, but will also finish with their first non-winning season since 2000. The 11-3 Bills and 6-8 Patriots play Monday.

How Bligh-like were the Patriots in their treatment of the Bills during their dynastic 2001-19 run? They beat them 34 of 38 times. Buffalo eked out a 24-21 homefield win earlier this season, and with a victory in this return match would sweep New England for the first time since 1999.

The Patriots' comeuppance has been in the works for years, since Buffalo hired head coach Sean Mcdermott and GM Brandon Beane in 2017.

“I'd say they've really gotten better every year,” Belichick said of the Bills under “Mc/beane.”

“They've constructed a very good team through a combination of drafts, trades, signing — and it's fit together very nicely for them. They have good quality, good depth and they don't make very many mistakes … They've really put together a strong club.”

Belichick every now and then likes to mess with an opponent by listing on his weekly injury list every player who has the minutest of physical woes. On Saturday he designated no fewer than 20 players — 38 per cent of the Patriots' active roster — as questionable. Most probably will play.

Belichick said earlier last week that Cam Newton would remain his starting quarterback until he announces otherwise. Still, no one would be surprised if second-year backup Jarrett Stidham started against the Bills, or at least got a chunk of playing time.

The Bills fan base would love nothing more than to see their high-flying team — winners of four straight and 7-of-8 — flog the Patriots for three hours, then throw salt on the open wounds.

Ah, but never count out Belichick and his loyalist players. Defiant pride and determination can be powerful motivators.

Indeed, after Christian crammed Bligh and 18 loyalist seamen into a small open boat in 1789, with few provisions, under Bligh's unflinching resolve they somehow sailed some 6,500 km to safety.