Underdog Buffalo Bills Look To Play Spoiler Against New England Patriots

NFL News - December 15th, 2009 - Written by Bryan

New England will still have to deal with distractions this week as they prepare to play Buffalo, a game the Patriots must have to keep playoff hopes alive.

The Patriots will be travelling away from Gillette Stadium to meet the Bills on Sunday. The road has been unkind to the New England Patriots so far this season as they are 1-5 away from home versus 7-0 in New England. The one road win came in London, against the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Despite the unfavorable record on the road, the NFL Week 15 Betting Odds have still installed New England as a 7 point favorite to go into Buffalo this week and beat the Bills. The over/under for the contest is at 40 1/2 points, as listed at Bodog Sportsbook. Kickoff is slated for 1pm EST.

The Patriots and Bills met for the first time this season on opening weekend, with the Patriots winning 25 to 24 in thrilling finish. The Patriots scored twice in the games' final two minutes to come out with the one-point victory. 14 weeks have past since, but the Bills are still reeling from losing a game Buffalo thought they had won.

Coming in to this week, the Patriots are dealing with outside criticism that Pro Bowl wide receiver Randy Moss quit on routes during the Patriots 20-10 win over the Carolina Panthers, this past week.

In an interview with the Boston Herald, Panthers' DB Chris Gamble said, "He gives up a lot. We knew he'd shut it down a little bit." Gamble continued: "You can tell with his body language, that he's not going deep, he's not going to run a route. I know everybody who plays against him can sense that. If you can get 'in' him in the beginning of the game, that's what's going to happen."

In the game, Moss had only one reception for 16 yards.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was quick to defend his receiver in an interview with Boston sports radio station WEEI.

"When guys play Randy, they want to show everyone what they can do. I guess they came out of the game pretty confident. Randy is one of the best players in the history of the NFL. When it doesn't go perfect out there, everyone wants to jump on Randy. It's all of us, and we all have to do a better job" Brady said in the interview.

On the other side of the ball, at 5-8 the Bills playoff hopes are over, but play the role of spoiler this week in the divisional match up.

The Bills are coming off a 16-10 win over Kansas City this past week and will look to build off of the win. In that game the Bill defense had four interceptions that allowed quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and the rest of the offense to put enough points on the board, despite only 254 total yards and three turnovers themselves.

Buffalo will have motivation to play New England. The Bills feel a victory was stolen from them on opening weekend. With a win on Sunday, the Bills would put the Patriots playoffs hopes in jeopardy.

If the Patriots are able to beat the Bills, that would leave them with only one more game remaining on the road, the regular season finale against Houston.