ORCHARD PARK — NBC nor ESPN saw this week’s Buffalo Bills-New England Patriots matchup worthy of a flex. CBS is sending its No. 2 broadcast crew.
All of that seems OK to Bills coach Sean McDermott, especially the part about not getting a night game.
“I’ll be getting home after my bedtime,” McDermott joked.
McDermott’s Sunday dreams will be filled with a pre-Christmas nightmare or he will go to bed with visions of Josh Allen running over and around defenders dancing in his head.
The Bills are 1 ½-point road favorites despite the Patriots riding a nine-game winning streak and coming off a bye week. New England can also dash Buffalo’s hopes for a sixth consecutive AFC East championship with a win, relegating the Bills to the road for the playoffs.
The Bills have been in similar positions. In 2021, the Bills lost a 14-10 game to the Patriots at home, only to win 33-21 in Foxborough a few weeks later to essentially clinch the division. The Bills also overcame a three-game hole to the Miami Dolphins in 2023 to win the division in the regular-season finale.
Even if the Bills win Sunday, the Patriots still need two more losses for the Bills to overtake the division due to tiebreakers.
“It’s certainly one of our goals every year,” McDermott said. “We also have other goals amongst that goal as well. We go into every game with the mindset of playing our best football.”
Buffalo’s road woes are well documented, going 29-18 since 2020, including 3-3 this season. But December is a different story. The Bills don’t lose often in December, going 19-3 — including 10-2 on the road — since 2020.
A big reason for that success is Allen, who seemingly takes his game to another level in the final month of the regular season. Allen is averaging 295 passing yards per game with 26 touchdowns and five interceptions, while running for 46.4 yards and 12 scores.
Even in those two games the Bills lost — to the Buccaneers in overtime in 2021 and to the Rams by two last year — Allen has been magnificent. He totaled 650 yards and five touchdowns through the air and 191 yards and four scores on the ground.
“It’s just making sure we understand what the other side is capable of,” Allen said. “Points are at a premium, so making sure we’re holding onto the football and not giving their offense short fields because they’re doing a great job with that.”
Allen rejected the idea that he’s played with more emotion than usual the last few weeks. It’s been a mercurial season for Allen, especially throwing the ball. But it’s easy to forget Novembers usually unfold that way.
The Bills are just 14-10 in November since 2020, with Allen throwing 36 touchdowns and 31 interceptions. Teammates don’t seem to think he flips a switch when the calendar turns, but it’s clear he takes a more urgent approach.
Allen averages a full rushing attempt more per game in December and 5 yards per game more. It was evident against the Bengals when perhaps Allen’s two biggest plays — a 40-yard touchdown and 17-yard scamper on third and 15 — were scrambles.
“Maybe a lot of people don’t want to play in the snow, maybe a lot of people don’t want to play when it’s cold out,” Bills receiver Khalil Shakir said. “But I think being in Buffalo, we kind of thrive on that. It’s what we do, especially him. … I think it’s more of a mentality thing where it’s like, ‘Not many people want to do this right now.’ As he said before, you got to be a little sick to play this game and he’s a sicko.”
How sick the Bills allow Allen to be will imperative moving forward because they seemingly want his performance against the Bengals — for which he won AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the 18th time — to be a sometimes thing instead of an always thing.
Since Joe Brady became offensive coordinator midway through 2023, Allen has more games under 200 yards passing (12) than games over 300 (8).
From 2020 until Brady’s ascent to play-caller, Allen had 24 300-yard passing games and Bills running backs compiled four 100-yard rushing games. But James Cook has tallied 12 100-yard rushing performances under Brady.
“We want to be able to show that we can win different ways and different styles of games,” Brady said. “… Finding ways to win football games is the most important thing right now. And showing that we can do it in different ways, I think, is equally important.”
But how far the Bills go this season rides on Allen’s right arm. There’s no way around it. Eventually, perhaps against the Patriots, the Bills are going to need to throw the ball to win and Allen has to deliver.
Players know this also. NFL Films was in town Wednesday to gather votes for the NFL Network’s annual top 100 players. Fullback Reggie Gilliam only had one name on his list.
“That’s the easiest one for me,” Gilliam said. “He’s always the best player on the field in my opinion.”