Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots 33-21 in week 16, and in the dressing room, head coach Sean McDermott used some tough language in his post-game speech as he realized the road ahead was still going. McDermott said: "We have to keep a low profile and we may play against them. ”
Uncle McDermott is a slur that No. 3 seed Bill and No. 6 seed Patriots will meet for their third meeting of the season on Sunday morning, the first time they've met in the playoffs during the Super Bowl era. The only previous playoff meeting between the two sides was in the 1963 American League Division, where the Boston Patriots beat Beal 26-3. "Our opponents are great," Beal quarterback Josh Allen said after beating the Patriots in Week 16, "they came to Buffalo in Week 13 to be the main counter-attacker, but today we did it again." I don't know if we'll meet them again in the future, but we have to have someone to come forward. ”
The two teams each win one in the regular season and are about to face a life-and-death battle in the playoffs. It was Patriots coach Billy Bilicek's first away wild card game in office, and the two teams were in different shapes, with Bill Hao winning four straight games to win the American League East Side championship for the second consecutive season. The Patriots have lost three of their last four games, including a 16th week loss to Beal. That's partly because of the performance of rookie Mike Jones, who is ideal for the Patriots to stay efficient on the road offensive rather than focusing too much on Jones. In the past five games, Jones has shot 59.9% of the pass, and 5 of the 6 touchdowns have been intercepted.
In the 13th week of the game, the cold weather conditions were more favorable to the Patriots, who used a lot of road attacks, and only let Jones pass the ball three times in the whole game, setting a record low. Beal's offense, on the other hand, is struggling to seize opportunities in the red zone. Weather could once again be a key factor in the left and right teams, with Beal rarely playing at home this season without precipitation, and according to forecasts, the next time the two teams meet is likely to have a minimum temperature of around -8 degrees Celsius, a 40% probability of descending order and wind speeds of 5-10 mph.
For Buffalo, their biggest problem is whether they can prevent the Patriots' road attack, and if they can't prevent it like the first game, the consequences will be unimaginable. In the second game, due to normal weather, Beal played a strong offensive explosive force to take the lead, and the Patriots had to let Jones pass the ball to chase the points, which led to Jones playing the worst game of the season.
It is worth mentioning that Beal has conceded the fewest points per game this season, and their pass defense performance is particularly good, followed by the Patriots. Beal's rushing craze also peaked late in the season, with 21 of the 42 tackles in the regular season coming in the final five, including eight tackles in week 18 against the Jets. "I have to blow a wave of defensive coordinator Leslie Fraser, who has been directing the defense all year." Defensive interceptor Harrison Phillips said: "We now have the leadership of veterans, there are young players on the rise, every week they are getting stronger. ”
(Great White)