5 things Patriots fans should know about the Bills heading into the playoffs

For the third time this season, the New England Patriots will face Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.

New England finished the regular season with a 10-7 record and the Bills took the AFC East division, ending the year at 11-6. They split the regular season matchups, but now the Patriots will travel back to Highmark Stadium for a wild card round playoff game.

Buffalo is coming off four consecutive wins and the Patriots have lost three of their last four matchups. The momentum isn’t on Bill Belichick’s side currently and his team has a week to crank up the energy and find themselves throughout practice.

The one big positive — Belichick is extremely familiar with the Bills. Here’s five things Patriots fans should know about the division rivals.

Stefon Diggs is a nightmare for J.C. Jackson

J.C. Jackson is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.

Belichick and the team have the utmost confidence in putting Jackson in a man-to-man situation with nearly any receiver. But, Stefon Diggs has given Jackson some problems over the past two seasons. Jackson admitted that heading into the second game this season.

Jackson only allowed three touchdowns entering the Week 13 game and Diggs torched him for two scores that day.

“I learned from it that each play, you can’t take any reps off,” Jackson said following the game. “You can’t fall asleep, you’ve got to be alert and ready every play when you’re playing a receiver like that. He’s a playmaker, he comes back to the ball better than any receiver in the league. He’s got great hands. You’ve got to almost be perfect when you’re guarding somebody like that. You’ve got to almost have perfect coverage in man-to-man.”

This will be a key matchup to look out for.

Rush defense is one notable weakness

There isn’t a lot of weaknesses in the Bills’ stout defense.

But, the ability to stop the run is something that the Patriots have exploited and it’s something they’ll need to continue to exploit. The Patriots’ identity has been the rush attack the entire season and everything starts there. Damien Harris finished the year with 929 yards and 15 touchdowns, while Rhamondre Stevenson had 606 yards and five scores.

New England played hard-nose football in their win and rushed the ball for 222 yards — only throwing the ball three times. The Patriots rushed for 149 yards in the second game — Harris had over 100 yards on the ground in each matchup.

This will the formula for success on a cold Buffalo night.

Buffalo will have key players that weren't available in Week 16

In the last contest, both teams were missing key players.

The Patriots didn’t have Stevenson, Nelson Agholor and Deatrich Wise Jr. because of COVID restrictions. But, the Bills were without key receivers in Gabriel Davis and Cole Beasley — Allen still threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns. The Bills also will have offensive linemen Jon Feliciano and Cody Ford, and defensive lineman A.J. Epenesa available.

New England had issues stopping Isaiah McKenzie in Week 16 — who only had six catches entering the game. He finished the night with 11 receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown.

He will be available, along with the rest of the offensive weapons. The Patriots’ secondary is up for a tall task, especially with a quarterback like Allen that isn’t easy to get on the ground.

Bill have won last three of four against Patriots

There is a level of confidence that Sean McDermott and his team now holds while playing against Belichick.

Although the Patriots had a rough stretch last year while recovering from the departure of Tom Brady, they still fell twice to the Bills. As aforementioned, Diggs was an absolute nightmare for Jackson and the Patriots.

The Bills won the first game with a respectable 24-21 final score, but they blew the Patriots out in the second game, 38-9. The infamous intimidation factor that Belichick has had in the past won’t be there on Saturday night for the Bills.

Special teams has been a weak point in Buffalo

Having special teams problems in relevant for both squads.

The Patriots gave up two major penalties in the Week 18 loss to the Miami Dolphins that allowed first downs on punts. Brandon Bolden, in a controversial play, was flagged for unnecessary roughness on the punter. Later in the game, Lawrence Guy was called for an illegal formation — giving Miami a first down on a 4th-and-three play.

Flipping back to the Bills — Matt Haack punted the ball seven times against the New York Jets last week and only averaged 33.9 yards. There was windy conditions, but it’s very possible the Saturday night matchup carries windy and snowy conditions again.

The Bills also had some instability with their punt returner last week, so they defaulted to Micah Hyde to return punts. That’s a risky move to make when it’s one of the team’s key defenders.

Special teams has been an area of weakness for the Patriots, but it’s something they could maybe turn around and take advantage of against the Bills.

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