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Monday, November 23, 2015

To Be The Man... - NFL 2015 MNF 11

Last Sunday, teams and fans around the country saw the New England Patriots pull out a last minute victory over the New York Giants. With each victory many fear the prospect of another undefeated regular season for the Patriots.

Though realistically the next true and last chance to spoil this outcome lies in next week's matchup against the Denver Broncos, the Buffalo Bills do pose some challenges for the New England Patriots.

One is familiarity, which can also work in the Patriots' favor. Second is Patriots looking ahead to next week. Third is Ric Flair's adage: To be the man, you gotta beat the man.

This is not just on Tyrod Taylor. It's not even on just Rex Ryan, though he had six seasons as the head coach of the New York Jets to unseat the Patriots.

This, this leviathan is on the Buffalo Bills and the other AFC East team who are just content to pray and pray for the Patriots' downfall. Are these three teams simply going to wait until Tom Brady retires?



Even after Brady retires, do they think Bill Belichick is not already preparing a new strategy or scouting for a comparable quarterback?

So, tonight's Monday Night Football game is Buffalo At New England (-7; 47.5). Whereas I called the upset special for the Houston Texans to beat the Cincinnati Bengals, I am not giving the Bills the same leeway.

The Buffalo Bills have to prove their real defense is the one that has kept 5 teams under 20 points five times this season.

This game is of utmost importance to Buffalo. A loss tonight and the AFC will have 8 teams vying for the final 2 playoff spots, with 5 of them holding a 5-5 record, the same one the Bills will have with a loss.

The New England Patriots have scored 27+ points in all 9 games. The Bills defense has only allowed that many points in 3 games, including the Week 2 matchup when the Patriots put 40 on them and won by 8 points.

The question is whether the Bills offense can put up 27+ points against the Patriots defense? The Bills scored 32 points in their previous matchup -- 19 points came in the fourth quarter, after they were down by 14 points.

The numbers break as Patriots (.842) to win by 14 points and Bills (.158) to win by 1 point.

So, I take Patriots (UNDER).  Pick wisely and come back for Thursday's picks. Tonight we find out whether the Bills are ready to dethrone the Patriots.

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