Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘Given the other two wholly awful 1 p.m. options – Titans at Jaguars or Panthers at Buccaneers – it was an easy decision to send the A team to call Josh Allen vs. Aaron Rodgers.’

‘Rapp and Hamlin have each missed the last two games and were limited this week in practice which has been an ongoing trend. Lewis has started in place of Rapp, but he is now dealing with a shoulder injury which has clouded his availability. He has been limited in practice.’

‘Instead, Cooper has been largely disappointing as he missed two games with a wrist injury, and in the seven games he has played, he has just 17 catches for 241 yards and a TD. In the last two games, he hasn’t been just disappointing, he’s been invisible. He wasn’t even targeted in Detroit, a game where the Bills put up 559 total yards and scored 48 points, and against the Patriots he had two targets with one 10-yard catch as he played the fewest snaps among the four WRs (54%).’

‘Now the Bills turn their attention to another woefully disappointing division rival, the 4-11 New York Jets Sunday in the Highmark Stadium regular-season finale. Depending on what happens in the Christmas day doubleheader, the Bills could have the No. 2 seed in the AFC bracket wrapped up because if the Steelers lose to the Chiefs and the Ravens lose to the Texans, it’s over.’

‘In the end, the talent differential between the two teams finally began to show up in the second half as the Bills tied the game on their first possession of the third quarter, and then three consecutive New England turnovers led to a field goal and a Taron Johnson recovery of a backward pass in the end zone for a defensive touchdown that gave the Bills a 24-14 lead, and that turned out to be the decisive blow in a 24-21 victory that was so much harder to achieve than anyone expected.’

‘This was a somewhat alarming performance against a defense that should have had no business being as stingy as it was. It’s tough to rag on an offense that had scored 30 points in eight straight games, but the Bills need to get some things worked out, in particular, Cooper’s role. He had a nice game in LA, but otherwise, his play since he arrived in the trade from Cleveland has been underwhelming. Keon Coleman hasn’t done much either since his return from injury as he had just one catch for 17 yards.’

‘Sal’s prediction: Bills 33, Patriots 10.’

‘Obviously, this change won’t affect either team; it’s not like the game was moved to Sunday night, or to a different day. It likely will affect fans attending the game though, especially those who planned their travel to and from around a 1 p.m. kickoff, but the NFL has made it perfectly clear that the fans watching at home are the priority over the fans at the stadium.’

‘The not so great news is that seven players – including a whopping six on defense, four of whom are starters – will be listed as questionable for the game, and there’s a chance that several of them might not be able to play. All have been limited at practice.’

‘If they do, they would become the first team in NFL history to achieve that, and it’s hard to envision the Bills not soaring past 30 against New England. The Patriots’ defense ranks 23rd in points allowed (24.1), 21st in yards allowed (344.1), and though it has a pretty good secondary led by CB Christian Gonzalez who is Pro Bowl caliber, it is weak up front and ranks 29th in QB pressure at 29.3% and 28th in sack percentage (5.6%).’

‘The Bills announced Tuesday they’ll be taking the field against the New England Patriots in their fiery red jerseys complete with white pants, red socks and white helmets.’

‘Play amazing defense and hope the Bills make a bunch of mistakes in the form of penalties, turnovers and special teams disasters and whatever else you can think of because their offense is essentially non-functional and will probably struggle, even against a banged up Buffalo defense.’

‘Why the NFL would want more eyeballs on a game between the red-hot 11-3 Bills and the putrid 3-11 Patriots is quite a mystery, but there you have it.’

‘It was quite a concession for a hard-boiled manly man coach like Campbell, but he was right. The Bills played with an unbridled passion and rose to every moment in beating a team that had won 11 games in a row and had outscored its opposition by a league-high 189 points.’

‘Yeah, it’s going to trash Buffalo’s defensive rankings, but McDermott’s not sweating that. To have survived this game in those circumstances and leave town with a W was impressive.’