Scott Logush
Associate Editor
The New England Patriots are having a rough season, with their loan win being against the Aaron Rodgers-less New York Jets, and having the two worst losses of Bill Belichick’s career in consecutive weeks. Now the Buffalo Bills are coming to town after two rough weeks, is this the time New England pulls off an upset and gets their second win of the season?
Notable Injuries
All five of New England’s starting offensive linemen are on the injury report, and all have either not participated or have been limited in practice all week. The offensive line has struggled this season, and Mac Jones has not been helping at all. Tight end Hunter Henry is unlikely to play after not practicing on Wednesday or Thursday with an ankle injury. It’s the same old story with the same players being injured for New England, both defensive tackles Davon Godchaux and Christian Barmore are on the report and limited in practice, almost the entire starting secondary is injured. New England is an already struggling roster being even more depleted because of injuries.
The most notable injuries for the Bills are Josh Allen with a right shoulder injury and Ed Oliver with a toe injury. Allen was a full participant in practice on Thursday and Oliver has yet to practice this week. I anticipate Allen to play, while Oliver is out.
Key Matchups
Von Miller has been slowly working back into the game, playing only 47 snaps over the last two games. Getting him back is huge and having him line up against a struggling New England offensive line seems like the perfect get-right game for him, while the rest of the offensive and defensive line matchup is even, Buffalo’s secondary should have no problem locking down an injured New England receiving group.
Buffalo’s offensive line is an average unit, but that’s all it needs to be against New England who are still without their best pass rusher Matt Judon and their other edge defender Josh Uche is out for this matchup. There is not a player in New England’s secondary that can keep up with Stefon Diggs, and Josh Allen is still a great quarterback.
Prediction: 27-14 Buffalo Bills
New England’s offense has been an absolute mess, and their defense has not been much better. They limited the Raiders to 21 points with Jimmy Garoppolo going down and Brian Hoyer playing a fairly significant number of snaps. Against a better team, and significantly better quarterback, New England won’t be able to keep this close.
2023 Prediction Record: 5-1
