On Saturday, the Indianapolis Colts gave the Buffalo Bills an early Christmas gift. They took down the New England Patriots in prime time.
The loss knocked the Patriots down the 9-5 and opened the door for the Bills in the division.
While there are a few scenarios that would crown the Bills AFC East champs, the simplest version is this: Win your final four games.
The Bills did their part on Sunday, defeating the Carolina Panthers 31-14, improving to 8-6.
It just so happens that the Bills now play the Patriots next, in a game that is essentially for the division. Despite focusing on the task at hand following their win over Carolina, Bills players were well aware of the situation.
“A lot guys watched the game last night,” Bills defensive tackle, Harrison Phillips told reporters after the game. “We saw the advantage of getting up early… making them one-dimensional.”
“Even though we have some momentum, we know what that loss [to the Patriots] felt like,” Phillips continued.
Bills defensive end Efe Obada, who has a career-high two sacks vs. the Panthers shared the same sentiment.
“That loss is still fresh in our minds,” Obada said.
While the Bills defensive linemen seemed open to discussing the meaning of the Patriots game, the Bills secondary appeared to not want to add any fuel to a fire.
“Hey, we knew coming into this game we had to go out there and we had to win,” Bills safety Micah Hyde said during his postgame press conference in regards to the Patriots losing on Saturday. “Last night, really… I mean… I guess in the standings it’s something, but we were so focused on this game that we just wanted to come out here and win today.”
The Bills other safety in Jordan Poyer was asked if the Bills had any advantage having just gone up against the Patriots a couple of weeks prior.
“We’re excited to play. We’re excited to play them,” Poyer said very matter of fact.
When pressed further about the Patriots game, Poyer said, “I was getting ready to play this game today… Gotta win next week.”
In a final attempt by the media, both safeties were asked point blank if they watched the game.
“I love you, man,” Poyer said with a smile. “But we’re not answering that question.”
Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who played on Sunday after being questionable following his foot sprain vs. Tampa Bay, put things into proper perspective.
“We’re just trying to find ways to win games and we did today,” Allen said. “Again, we’re gonna need that going forward. We all know who we have next week, it’s no secret. But, we’ll get onto them tomorrow and enjoy this one.”
Allen acknowledged that the Bills have to keep winning, not only to have a shot at the division, but just to make the playoffs. “From here on out, I talked about it earlier, every game from here on out is a playoff game and we’ve gotta treat it as such. That’s the way we’re gonna treat it and go forward with it, but ya… I’m proud of our guys for how they played today.”
As became a common theme Sunday afternoon, Allen was pushed to give his thoughts on the Patriots loss Saturday night.
“I watched a little bit of it. Little passed my bedtime,” Allen told the media. “It’s a week to week league. It’s the NFL. You know, gives us an opportunity and we understand that, so our next ones our most important one.
While it is fun to discuss the significance next Sunday’s game vs. the Patriots has on the season, as is usually the case, it is the head coaches job to keep things in check.
“We’ve gotta keep it about us… this will be a game,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said about Sunday’s showdown vs. New England. “They came in here and beat us last week, or two weeks ago, whatever it’s been, so obviously we have some adjusting to do and we’ve gotta have a good week of preparation.”
When asked how exactly they go about doing that, after just having lost to Belichick and the Pats two weeks earlier, McDermott said it was all about being prepared.
“I just think we gotta stay on task,” McDermott continued. “Keep our focus on where it needs to be and we’ve got a lot of things to correct from today’s game. You guys saw that. I think that’s the start and you gotta start somewhere. That’s where we gotta start this week.”
The Bills have had plenty of chances this season to take control of the division and have been unable to do so time and time again. The fact of the matter though is they now control their own destiny and can get one step closer to that goal with a win in Foxborough in Week 16.
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