The Patriots will spend Monday night in one of the more raucous environments the NFL has to offer.
New England and Buffalo are set to meet for the first time this season. Bills fans bring their A-game regardless of when these division rivals collide, but they very well could take it to a new level in Week 13. After all, first place in the AFC East will be on the line and Bill Belichick’s team is riding a six-game win streak into upstate New York.
Devin McCourty is more familiar with Bills Mafia than most non-Buffalo players across the league. As such, the veteran safety offered some advice to Patriots supporters who are attending this matchup between two of the AFC’s best.
“You’ve gotta think twice how loud you want to yell as a Patriot fan when you’re in the stands in Buffalo,” McCourty told reporters Wednesday, as transcribed by WEEI.com.
McCourty continued: “There’s going to be a lot of rowdy Buffalo fans. Not just during the game, when our busses roll in three and a half hours before the game. There’s going to be middle fingers. We’re going to get everything. I think as a competitor, you like that.
“There’s going to be boos and I think as a competitor you like that. You like going on the road in a hostile environment. It bonds our team together. We know when we go out there Monday night, it’s just us. It’s going to be whoever is wearing a Patriots logo — and there might be a few fans there that we probably won’t be able to hear — but (when) you go on the road it’s supposed to be just you and your group and you have to go perform with that.”
It should bode well for New England that rookie quarterback Mac Jones is excited to enter the terror dome that is Highmark Stadium. Of course, that feeling might not last as the game starts to unfold.
