Voice of the Fan: Bills and Patriots have seemingly traded places in NFL’s pecking order
The Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots have now fully completed their transformation into each other, like one of those “Freaky Friday” body-switching flicks, or the 1978 sci-fi horror movie remake, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
Both of the teams, their cities and fans live in an alternate universe from the one they occupied for decades since Y2K.
We are now them and they are us.
The Bills only put up 14 points in the win over the Giants and that has many fans concerned about Ken Dorsey’s offense. Mark Gaughan and Katherine Fitzgerald discuss the state of the Bills offense and how much the offensive coordinator is to blame for the recent struggles.
Mark and Katherine also look at how the Bills defense is holding up with several key players injured and they preview the matchup with the New England Patriots, a team that has just one win on the season.
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It has been building for a few years, of course, once Tom Brady left Tampering for Tampa Bay, and the Bills traded a Nathan’s Hot Dog, er, Peterman, for Josh Allen.
In this century, New England was 35-5 vs. Buffalo the first score (20 years), including 15 straight wins from 2003-2010.
In the last four years, the Bills are 6-1 against the Patriots, with the lone NE victory in a memorable, miserable, crossfire hurricane
Bill Belichick has gone from Hall of Famer to House of Fools, from the Babe Ruth meaning of GOAT to the Bill Buckner definition, and like the Bills, the team resembles if not embodies its coach.
The Patriots look old, slow, bitter and defeated, like Belichick. The Bills look defensive, as stout as they can be erratic, with blazes of brilliance and flourishes of frustration, like Sean McDermott.
With Brady, Bill Belichick’s record was 219-64, or 77%, which is about 13-4 each season. Without Brady, Belichick is 80-93, or about 8-9 every year.
Since TB left BB in March 2020, the Patriots are 26-29. In that same time period, McDermott’s Bills are 41-14.
We are them and they are us.
The difference, of course, is the Patriots won Super Bowls and the Bills are only Super Bowl contenders. A substantial distinction.
