National Football League

The Buffalo Bills make case as the team to beat in the AFC East

Published Nov. 26, 2021 6:01 p.m. ET

The Buffalo Bills are seated atop the AFC East's throne following a 31-6 drubbing of the New Orleans Saints on Thanksgiving night.

The win lifted Buffalo (7-4) into first in the division in what was a convincing outing from top to bottom. But the Bills find that they don't hold that position alone, but must share it for now with the New England Patriots.

The Pats have been on an absolute roll as of late. Bill Belichick & crew have steamrolled through their last five matchups, outscoring their opponents 175-50 through a five-game winning streak.

And with two showdowns between these teams remaining on the schedule (Dec. 6 and Dec. 26), both have their most important football ahead of them as they vie for playoff contention.

But which team might have an edge moving forward?

For Nick Wright, the division's undisputed team to beat is the one that gobbled down celebratory turkeys on Thanksgiving night.

"Buffalo went into the season as one of the Super Bowl favorites," Wright said Friday morning on "First Things First." "New England went into the season as a coin-flip to make the playoffs. Buffalo started the season 4-1, New England started 2-4. Buffalo is positioned [to win right now] for this year and next year because these are the last two years Josh Allen's cap hit is going to be south of $40 million over the next decade. Meanwhile, New England is starting a rookie quarterback.

"Despite the fact that the Bills lost Tre'Davious White, I think [the Bills] are more talented. If the Patriots and Bills split, the reason the Bills win the division is that Dolphins loss for New England. For all those reasons, I think Buffalo has to be the team to beat in the AFC East."

The loss of White is a huge blow to the Bills' secondary — he'll be sidelined for the rest of the year with a torn ACL.

And for Kevin Wildes, Buffalo doesn't hold a candle to the firepower that New England possesses within its locker room.

"Here's the thing," Wildes argued. "When you're a dynasty, you're the team to beat. I'm not scared of the Bills, they don't register on my panic meter. I respect their offense, Stefon Diggs and the No. 1 defense in the league. They're only giving up 275 yards a game. They are blowing teams out: Their seven wins are all by 15 points or more. I respect them, but [New England] is still the team to beat."

Despite Wildes' faith, Chris Broussard doesn't believe that Mac Jones is a big enough factor to pose a threat to the rest of the conference.

"Those two [Belichick and Jones] don't make them the team to beat," he retorted. "[The Patriots] entered the season with those two guys, and no one thought they were the team to beat at that point."

But he wasn't all in all the Bills' betting-line either.

"Buffalo didn't prove a thing yesterday," he said. "All it proved was that they could beat up another tomato can. Buffalo has pretty much stomped the bad teams, but that's really all they've beaten outside of Kansas City. Every win has been against a team with a losing record. When they played teams with a winning record, they're 1-3. I'm questionable about the defense. Indianapolis puts up 41 on them, Tennessee puts up 34. Gun to my head, I believe more in Belichick than McDermott, and the Patriots' defense more than the Bills'. Yes, Josh Allen is better than Mac Jones, but I like New England's ball control, and their more conservative approach, more than what Buffalo does."

Buffalo is certainly showing its confidence with full flair.

The squad is now 6-0 in its last six games when coming off of a loss. It has the best points differential (+144) in the NFL and has held four opponents to nine points or fewer this season (tied with New England for most games of the sort in the league).

Buffalo ranks second in both scoring offense (29.6 PPG) and scoring defense (allowing 16.5 PPG), while holding the top spot league-wide in total defense (275.2 YPG).

Their superb statistical steadiness will get one of its largest tests though, in their next affair: Which comes against none other than New England.

Buffalo has won nine straight divisional games (3-0 this season). That's one shy of the franchise’s longest divisional winning streak (it won 10 straight AFC East showdowns from 1990-1991). The Bills swept the Pats last season, and are seeking their first three-game winning streak against the squad since 1999-2000.

But if there's one group that knows how to stop momentum cold in its tracks, it's Belichick and the Patriots.

Pats-Bills kicks off Monday, Dec. 6 at 8:15 p.m. ET.