The Patriots will face their toughest test of the season to date Monday night, but Boomer Esiason sees New England extending its win streak to seven.
Two of the AFC's best teams will share the primetime stage when the Patriots and the Bills meet in Buffalo. Esiason believes New England will come out on top in a tightly contested tilt, and he has a good idea of what the Patriots' plan of attack will look like at Highmark Stadium.
"I think really the defense has set itself apart the last five weeks," Esiason said Monday on "The Greg Hill Show," as transcribed by WEEI. "They'll get tested tonight. Josh Allen's a great player. As Phil Simms said yesterday, he's weather-indestructible -- that's how big and how strong he is. But his decision-making the last few weeks has not been great. He's turned the ball over. They've looked a little bit uneven on offense.
"And on defense, they haven't been able to stop the run. They were exploited by two teams that ran the ball really well, and that was Tennessee when Derrick Henry was healthy and the Colts with Jonathan Taylor a few weeks back. So I would think that's the recipe you have to use tonight in order to beat the Buffalo Bills and take a little bit of the pressure off of Mac Jones."
The Patriots likely will heavily utilize the ground game as Esiason expects. But we might see a cleaner brand of football from Allen, who acknowledged the turnover battle was the Bills' "main emphasis" as they prepared for the divisional clash. Now in his fourth season, Allen knows how crucial it is to limit mistakes against a Bill Belichick-coached team.
The team that claims the turnover battle likely will win more than just the game. First place in the AFC East also is on the line in the Week 13 finale.
