The New England Patriots will have a shot to wrap up the AFC East division in Week 15 by picking up a victory over the Buffalo Bills. And while the Pats beat the Bills earlier this season, taking them down a second time is going to be easier said than done.
With an 11-2 record, New England has the inside track when it comes to clinching the top spot in its division. Thanks to several tiebreakers that are in the team’s favor, it would take a catastrophic collapse over the final four games of the season for the Pats to not win the AFC East.
Whether or not they can wrap things up in Week 15, though, remains to be seen. Buffalo’s back is against the wall ahead of this one, and if you ask Pro Bowl offensive lineman Connor McGovern, that’s when it plays its best football.
“When people start to count us out and we feel like we have nothing to lose, I feel like we’re one of the scariest teams in the NFL,” McGovern said, per Dan Graziano of ESPN. “The AFC is so open right now that these last four, five games are like playoff games. It helps us tremendously that we’ve been in this situation before.
I know a lot of these teams haven’t really been through adversity like that, so maybe they fold, maybe they don’t, we don’t know yet. But I know the guys in this locker room will never give up. So anytime there’s still a sliver of a chance to get something done, we’ll do it.”
Story continues below advertisement
The Bills’ only shot at somehow winning the division involves beating the Patriots on Sunday, so you can bet they are going to come out of the gates hot in this one. Buffalo hasn’t been perfect this season, but it has a wealth of experience when it comes to picking up important wins.
New England hasn’t been rattled by the increasingly high stakes it has faced this season, though. Will that change in Week 15, though? Only time will tell, as fans are anxiously awaiting this big game, which is set to get underway at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.
Featured image via Eric Hartline/Imagn Images
