Patriots 29, Bills 25

Only two coaches in NFL history have more regular season wins under their belts than Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Those two are Don Shula and George Halas. Belichick hit a significant milestone yesterday by recording his 300th regular season win against the Bills in Foxborough, MA. He stands only 18 wins behind Halas and 28 behind Shula. If you had asked me before yesterday's game if current Patriots quarterback Mac Jones would be the one to deliver the 19 and/or 29 wins Belichick needed to move up in the pecking order of coaching wins, I would have said no. But after his performance yesterday, leading his team from behind on a game-winning drive to deliver the winning touchdown pass with seconds remaining - although it came against an injury-depleted Bills defence - I will now say that he just might be. Yesterday's game may be the break-out moment Jones and the Patriots' fan base needed to bolster his confidence and begin to regain the team's winning tradition. The NFL is a humbling league where you're only as good as your last game. Just ask Bills quarterback Josh Allen.  

For the first time since probably the 2019 season, the Bills now do not look like a team in serious contention for - or at least with a legitimate shot at - a Superbowl championship. There is obviously a long way to go and with the team now at 4-3, all is not lost but the trend is not encouraging. Josh Allen's "nothing to see here" answers about his throwing shoulder this past week may not have been entirely accurate as his throws certainly looked off at times yesterday - starting with his very first throw for an interception which set up the Patriots first touchdown and staked them to a 10-0 lead. His offensive line struggled in pass protection much of the day and that didn't help but Allen and the offence have seemed out of sorts over the past three weeks. They need to regain the swagger they had in the Miami game which now seems like it was from another season although it was only three weeks ago. With so many injuries on the defence, the generally healthy offence is supposed to pick it up. Instead, they are regressing. 

In the AFC, the Chiefs once again have the inside track on coveted number one seed after disposing of the Chargers yesterday. The Eagles who, along with the 49ers who play tonight in Minnesota, are the class of the NFC this morning. The Eagles did the Bills a huge favour last night by beating the Dolphins who fell to 5-2, only one game ahead of the Bills who hold the tie-breaker against them. The Dolphins five wins have come against teams with a combined record of 8-25 and they have lost both games against teams with winning records (the Bills and Eagles). Still on the schedule for the Bills this season are the Chiefs, Eagles and the Dolphins in Miami. So, the opportunities for the Bills to regain their championship form will certainly present themselves but look for them to drop out of the top ten in this week's power rankings - and for good reason. 

Continuing with last week's thread on the college football schedule, Michigan faced its cross-state rivals Michigan State on Saturday with the Paul Bunyan Trophy at stake. This was the 116th meeting between the two schools which first faced each other in 1898 and have played every season since 1945. This year's game was in East Lansing and the Wolverines found themselves in unfamiliar territory, favoured by only 24 points. The game looked more like a football practice as the Wolverines won 49-0. I guess Jim Harbaugh has been much better at recruiting the best players in the state (and beyond) than have the Spartans. The  Wolverines won't be shellac-ing anyone this week as they have a bye before returning home to Ann Arbor on November 4th against the Purdue Boilermakers. The spread in that game should be at least 30 points as the uncompetitive college football schedule rolls on. 

Next up for the Bills is a home game three days from now - Thursday Night Football - against the Tampa Bay Bucanneers. If I could pick one of 31 NFL teams with which the Bills have the most "opposite of a rivalry", it  would be the Bucs. This is the 13th meeting all-time between the teams and only the third time the Bucs have ever travelled to Orchard Park. The Bucs lead the all-time series 8-4 but the Bills have won both games in Buffalo - in 2009 and in 2017. The Bills are 7.5 point favourites. I'm too old to be driving home (safely) at 2.30am and based on what's available on the secondary market, ticket demand for this game is weak. If anyone wants to go and see NFL football from the best seats in the house, let me know.