Bills looking for Monday night magic

The New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills will play each other on Monday Night Football in a classic AFC East battle.

Offensively, they’re likely to lean on McCoy and Williams in an effort to keep Brady and Co. off the field. As is the case with primetime games, public bettors love parlaying the favorite and Over – which is also a popular combo for any Patriots game.

The Patriots enter the game 9-0 SU and 5-2-2 ATS, coming off a SU win and ATS loss to the NY Giants. The Bills are without DT Kyle Williams, a big cog in their run defense that is allowing 4.1 yards per carry.

The emotions should be in better check this time, and with New England’s offense now without running back Dion Lewis and wide receiver Julian Edelman, the Bills should be in a better position to defend more effectively. I still see Brady having a big game at home and giving the crowd everything they want. Julian Edelman was injured last week and he will not be playing the rest of the regular season or even the playoffs.

On defense, the Patriots present a tough challenge for the Bills. Syracuse.com will be running a live blog.

Gronkowski factor: The freakish tight end had seven catches for 113 yards and a touchdown.

“It affects everybody on the offense”, Gronkowski said. McCoy is looking to record his third consecutive 100+ yard rushing performances for the first time in his National Football League career this Monday night. There’s still a chance that Rex can do that, but he is really going to need Tyrod Taylor and Sammy Watkins to play exceedingly well to make that happen. But do I obsess over them and all that?

Ryan also seems to be obsessed with the fact that the reporters who cover the Patriots don’t seem to think the Bills are very good.

“I want what they have”, said Ryan to the media during a press conference on Thursday. “They’ve won a few rings or whatever”. I ain’t kissing them, but I respect them. “We’re not conceding that, I can promise you”. But that’s what I’m chasing. The question now is whether Amendola can be that guy for seven games and, potentially, more if Edelman’s return takes longer than expected. Taylor is becoming an accurate QB throughout the season, and his weakness was getting picked off by the Patriots three times in Week 2.

That means we get to hear a bunch of nonsense out of the talking heads prior to its start.

The Patriot Way has taken many forms this season.

The Bills have played well against the Patriots recently, going 4-2 against the spread in the last six games at Gillette Stadium. Early in the season, the Bills nearly came back after a first half blowout but ultimately, the Rex Ryan coached team fell, 40-32.