Breaking down a 3-point plan for the Patriots to contain Allen, who beat them with arguably the best performance of his career on Dec. 26.
Ahead of a playoff rubber match, the obvious bears repeating. The Patriots and Bills have done more than play each other twice this season. They’ve faced off twice a year for decades. They are very familiar. Under their current coaching staffs, the Pats and Bills have met 10 times, with Bill Belichick’s bunch edging Sean McDermott’s crew 7-3. Though lately, Buffalo has seized the upper hand, winning three of the last four. The primary reason? Josh Allen. “Josh is one of the best players in the league, dynamic player,” Belichick said this week. “The ball is in his hands a lot. He can do a lot of things with it, make all the throws at all levels of the field, obviously run with the ball, scramble, extend plays, and throw it.… He’s a tough guy to stop.” Allen’s play — and therefore the Bills offense — elevated as soon as his decision-making improved and his accuracy sharpened over the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The two most critical skills for quarterbacking were the last steps to unlocking one of the best players in the league. A top-10 pick, Allen always had the raw, physical tools to win. Related Articles How Mac Jones and the Patriots offense can lead the way to an upset over the Bills Guregian: Will beating Buffalo define whether the Patriots season was a success? Patriots-Bills Wild Card battlegrounds: Can New England win in the trenches against Buffalo’s peaking defensive front? Patriots elevate 4 practice-squad players, putting Jalen Mills’ status in further doubt Patriots LT Isaiah Wynn out for Wild Card playoff game at Buffalo Now, those are luxuries, given how he can bowl over defenders or speed by them as a scrambler to break defenses who have blanketed his receivers.
