FOXBOROUGH, MASS. – With hopes of a playoff spot out of the picture, the 5-9 Buffalo Bills will be taking on the 9-5 New England Patriots Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium for their second-to-last game of the season.
New England defeated Buffalo in their first matchup of the season, 25-6, on Monday night back in October, a game in which Bills rookie quarterback Josh Allen was inactive due to a sprained ulnar collateral ligament (UCL.)
In 10 games played (nine starts), Allen has passed for 1,633 yards and six touchdowns. Allen is also the team’s leading rusher with 506 yards and a team-leading six touchdowns. Allen has won four of his nine starts as Buffalo’s starting QB.
Robert Foster has become a deep-threat in Buffalo’s passing game. On just 19 receptions, Foster has 468 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Foster is averaging nearly 25 yards a catch and his receiving yard total is second on the team.
Foster is also the only receiver for the Bills who has recorded a 100-yard receiving game. Foster has reached that mark in a game three times.
Despite being ranked second to last in total offense, on the defensive side, Buffalo’s defense is ranked number two in the NFL.
Rookie linebacker, Tremaine Edmunds, leads the defense with 98 tackles.
Safety Jordan Poyer is second on the team with 86 tackles and is tied for the team lead with three interceptions.
Thirty-five-year-old linebacker, Lorenzo Alexander, has chipped in with 53 tackles, and a team-leading 6.5 sacks.
For New England, it will be the first time since 2009 that they will fail to win at least 12 games in a season.
The Pats also had at least a two-game losing-streak on two different occasions in a season for the first time since 2002, the first season in which New England QB Tom Brady was a full 16-game starter.
This season for the Pats, Brady has passed for 3,979 yards and 24 touchdowns to nine interceptions.
Rookie running back Sony Michel leads the team with 765 rush yards and five touchdowns.
Josh Gordon currently leads the receiving corps with 720 yards on 40 receptions. Gordon, however, received an indefinite suspension on Thursday for violating the terms of his reinstatement into the NFL.
James White, a running back who is also a pass-receiving specialist, has 354 yards rushing. White also leads the team with 81 receptions. White has totaled 699 receiving yards, good for third on the team and has scored 10 total touchdowns, (four rushing, and a team leading six receiving.)
Cordarrelle Patterson leads the league with a 30.1 yard kick-return average on 21 returns. Patterson also had a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown back in week seven against the Chicago Bears, the sixth kickoff return touchdown of his career.
New England does have the fifth best offense in the league. On the defensive side, however, they are ranked 23rd.
Kyle Van Noy, a linebacker, leads the Pats defense with 86 tackles. Van Noy has also added 3.5 sacks.
Safety, Duron Harmon, leads the team with four interceptions.
Trey Flowers leads New England with 6.5 sacks. Flowers has also led the team in sacks the last two years.
Kickoff will be at 1 p.m. on CBS.