The New England Patriots are riding a four-game winning streak and sit just a half game back in the AFC East title race behind the Buffalo Bills all of a sudden.
Patriots superfan Bill Simmons struggled to find anything about the Bills that’s better than the Patriots on an episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast” this week. The two teams still play each other two times this season in a pair of matchups that’ll likely determine the division.
“I’m wondering, did we overrate the Bills’ talent a little bit?” Simmons asked guest Warren Sharp.
Simmons and Sharp discussed in detail how the two teams stack up. Simmons read through the quarterbacks that Buffalo has faced and even wondered if its no. -1-ranked defense is truly as good as the numbers suggest.
“That’s a brutal crew,” Simmons said. “I have no idea if their defense is good. How do we know? We’re gonna find out over these next few weeks.”
The Bills play the Patriots on Monday Night Football in three weeks but have games against the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints before then. The other games remaining on Buffalo’s schedule are against the Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, and New York Jets. According to ESPN’s Mike Clay, the Bills have the 7th-most difficult remaining strength of schedule in the league.
Simmons asked Sharp to make the case for Buffalo being better than New England, because he has it the other way around after 10 weeks.
“The Patriots to me seem like a more balanced team,” Simmons said. “I think they have a better coach. I think they have more ways they can win game to game. Their arrow’s pointing up. They can run and pass. And really the only thing you would say, in my opinion if you’re making the Buffalo case, is in one game I’d trust Josh Allen over a rookie QB (Mac Jones) is the default. What else am I missing? Because I’ve watched 10 weeks of the season and I think the Patriots are better than Buffalo right now.”
The Bills rank higher than the Patriots in virtually every team statistical category except for total rushing offense. But New England’s offense is a top 10 unit and Jones is coming off his best game in a beatdown of the Cleveland Browns last Sunday. The Bills and Patriots have the no. 1 and 2 defense in the NFL, and both are ranked in the top 6 scoring offenses in the NFL.
The Bills have scored 30 or more points in six of nine games this season. Simmons thinks Buffalo failing to score a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars exposed its offense.
“Are you surprised by the Bills’ relative impotency compared to the defenses that they’ve been playing?” Simmons asked Sharp. “Like, six points against the Jaguars is almost a cry for help.”
Simmons also likes who Jones has to throw to over the crew Josh Allen has in Buffalo.
“Is it possible (the Bills) just only have one above average skill position guy?” Simmons said. “Other than (Stefon) Diggs, do they have another guy that’s above average of all their weapons. And maybe that’s part of this. You look at some of these other teams, I don’t know if their offense - from a skill standpoint - is that different. Are their skill position guys better than the Patriot guys? I’m not even sure. I actually like the Patriots running backs way more. I like Kendrick Bourne as like a second receiver more than anyone the Bills have. I like Hunter Henry. I just don’t know if there’s much of a difference.”
The Patriots are currently +370 to win the AFC East but Simmons thinks it should be +250. The two games between the division rivals should be interesting next month.
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