This Week
The New England Patriots visit their AFC East rival Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY. Kickoff is at 8:15 p.m. for the nationally televised Sunday night contest.
The Patriots are 5-0 on the road this season, 3-0 in the AFC East and 7-0 in the conference. The Bills are 3-2 at home, 3-1 in the AFC East and 5-3 in the conference.
The Patriots beat the Bills in their previous meeting this year 38-7 at “The Razor” on September 23rd.
Here are the rosters for the Patriots and Bills.
The Line/Prediction
As of Thursday the line on the game from Yahoo Sports is Patriots -16. The over/under is 46.5.
My prediction is Patriots 38, Bills, 17. Give the points and take the over. I am 8-1 against the spread and have called the over/under seven out of nine times in 2007.
Tickets
The Bills are reporting the game as a sell out.
Tickets to the game, if available, may be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here. Many times tickets are released in the last 48 hours prior to the game.
Getting To The Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in the Buffalo make sure you check out the links.
Here is the current weather forecast for Buffalo from weather.com
Click for stadium directions, parking, stadium information and a Ralph Wilson Stadium seating chart. Here is some information on the Buffalo area.
If you’re going to the game and you want to show Buffalo how great Patriots fans can be here’s your chance. The Buffalo Bills will host the Annual Gift of Warmth Collection prior to the November 18th game against the New England Patriots. All donations will benefit the Salvation Army’s Buffalo Area Services.
Monetary donations and NEW warm clothing items such as hats, scarves, and gloves will be collected at all gates by volunteers from the Salvation Army’s Buffalo Area Services, M&T Bank, Buffalo Jills, Empire Vision, and Student Leaders.
If you give make sure you tell them you’re a Pats fan and you’re glad to help.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgaiting America. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good and for good measure here is one of my own.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
NBC is televising the game, it is the national Sunday Night Football Game. The play-by-play duties will be handled by Al Michaels with John Madden doing game analysis. The entire country gets the game along the NBC Network.
Radio
The Patriots Rock Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBCN-FM 104.1 in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play and former Patriot Gino Cappelletti does the color.
It all starts with Gary Tanguay, Scott Zolak and Andy Gresch and the pregame show at 5 p.m. along the network.
The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours.
Check this out for the low down on the Patriots Rock Radio Network and stations in your area.
If you are outside of the broadcast area of the stations on the Patriots Rock Radio Network you can purchase NFL Field Pass which allows you to listen to any NFL game live. You can also pick which teams broadcasters you want to listen to.
All NFL games are also available on Sirius Satellite Radio. The Patriots radio call is available on Channel 122, the Bills radio call is available on Channel 126.
The game will also be broadcast nationally by Westwood One. Dave Sims and BobTrumpy will call the game. Find a Westwood One station near you.
Last Week
The Patriots had a bye week but in their previous game they kept their record perfect and improved to 9-0 with a 24-20 win over the Colts. The Bills defeated the Dolphins 13-10 in Miami to improve to 5-4 on the year.
History
This is the 96th meeting between the Patriots and the Bills since they started to face each other as AFL foes in 1960.
The Patriots lead the series 54-40-1 and the 54 wins are the most the Patriots have over any opponent.
New England has won 8 straight games in the series and 13 of the last 14. The only loss coming on opening day 2003 when the Bills dismantled New England 38-0.
The Patriots have won 6 of the 7 games played in Buffalo since Bill Belichick took over in 2000.
Connections
- Bills head coach Dick Jauron is a native of Swampscott, MA. and was a three-sport standout at Swampscott High, where he was named one of the top 10 Massachusetts prep athletes of the 20th Century by the Boston Globe.
- Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was the Detroit Lions’ assistant special teams coach from 1976-77, while Bills head coach Dick Jauron played safety for Detroit.
- Dick Jauron was the head coach of the Chicago Bears when Patriots linebacker Rosevelt Colvin played for Chicago from 1999-2002.
- Bills offensive line coach Jim McNally was the offensive line coach at Boston College from 1975-77.
- Patriots secondary coach Joel Collier’s father, Joe Collier, was the Bills’ head coach from 1966-68.
- Patriots offensive lineman Ryan O’Callaghan blocked for Bills running back Marshawn Lynch at the University of California for two seasons from 2004-05.
- Bills running back Anthony Thomas was a teammate of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady at Michigan from 1997-99.
Other News
This is the link to head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday press conference on the Bills. You can also see what Buffalo Bills head coach Dick Jauron had to say about the game in a conference call with the New England media.
The Patriots NFL record of winning games by 17 points or more came to end in Indianapolis at 8.
This is Tom Brady’s 103nd consecutive start. It is the third longest streak among NFL quarterbacks behind only Peyton Manning and Brett Favre.
Here is the injury list for the game.
The Patriots are 9-0 for the first time in franchise history. They have won 12 consecutive regular season games dating back to last season.
The 12-game regular season win streak is second only to the NFL record streak of 18 consecutive games the club set in 2003 and 2004. That was part of an overall 21 game win streak that set an all-time pro football record.
Bill Belichick coached teams are 13-3 vs Buffalo. Belichick was 0-1 vs Buffalo as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
Tom Brady is 12-1 in his career vs Buffalo. It is his highest regular season win total over any opponent.
Brady has thrown 25 TD’s against the Bills, more than any other opponent.
Brady is 21-2 when the temperature is 40 degrees or less.
Since 2001, the Patriots are 32-9 against the AFC East.
NFL Pro Bowl balloting runs through Dec. 11. Fans may vote online at nfl.com/probowl or by sending the text message “PRO” to 7777 from a phone with Sprint wireless service. The AFC and NFC All-Star squads are determined by the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group’s vote counts one-third towards determining each conference’s 43-man roster.
Through nine games, the Patriots are on pace to produce one of the most prolific offensive performances in NFL history. New England has scored an average of 39.4 points per game, a mark that is on pace to top the NFL record of 38.8 points per game by the 1950 L.A. Rams.
New England has outscored its opponents by an average of 23.1 points per game, a mark that currently ranks second in NFL history, trailing only the 1942 Chicago Bears, who outscored their opponents by an average of 26.6 points.
Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe has two items in his Reiss’ Pieces blog about the Patriots and the type of penalties they’ve been flagged for and who has been flagged the most.
News from this weeks opponent:
The Bills four game winning streak is tied with Green Bay for the second longest in the NFL after the Patriots win streak.
Jauron announced on Tuesday that J.P. Losman will start at QB for Buffalo over rookie Trent Edwards. Many in Buffalo believe that because Edwards proved to be serviceable in ihs time under center that Losman’s tenure in Buffalo is nearing an end and he will be released or traded after the season.
Bills running back Marshawn Lynch has 6 rushing TD’s it’s the most for a Buffalo rookie since Antwoin Smith had 8 TD’s in 1997. Lynch was nominated for Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week. Lynch was hurt last week and he may miss the game on Sunday with an ankle injury.
The Bills were going to wear their throwback uniforms against the Patriots but according to their website because the game was flexed to 8:15 p.m. they will wear them for a different game. Evidently the throwbacks are afraid of the dark.
The Bills also announced on Tuesday:
To add to the excitement of this heavily anticipated AFC East division match-up, One Communications will provide “Let’s Go Buffalo!” rally towels for the first 50,000 fans to enter the gates on Sunday.
Woo Hoo. Hey Buffalo you’re no better than Rockies, Steelers and Indians fans. Bring on the twirling towels. Are they white as a sign of surrender?
The Bills made some roster moves placing CB Kiwaukee Thomas and TE Matt Murphy on the IR and signing free agent TE Tim Massaquoi and moving C Christopher Gladis from the practice squad to the active roster.
Next Week
The Patriots host the Philadelphia Eagles at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro MA. Kickoff is at 8:15 p.m. and will be seen by a national tv audience on NBC. You can also follow all the action on the Patriots Rock Radio Network.
Check out great Buffalo hotels next time you’re in town for a Bills game! Whether you are looking for cheap hotels to crash at or you want to check out the best luxury hotels in the area, there is a great place for you to stay! Find the best hotel for your trip!
