Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

‘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.’

‘Sal’s prediction: Lions 34, Bills 31.’

‘Cable/Network TV: CBS. The game will be available locally via the following stations: WROC channel 8 (Rochester area), WIVB channel 4 (Buffalo area), WTVH channel 5 (Syracuse area), WKTV channel 2 (Utica area), WENY channel 2 (Elmira area), WRGB channel 10 (Albany area), and WBNG channel 12 (Binghamton area).’

‘Douglas and Rapp were hurt on the same play, a touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp. Rapp hurt his shoulder, and Douglas’ injury was unspecified. Both returned to the game and Rapp finished it, not missing a play, but Douglas later suffered a knee injury which knocked him out for most of the fourth quarter.’

‘Ward grew up in Rochester and is a graduate of Allendale Columbia School in Pittsford. He began his business career with Montgomery Securities and then Smith Barney before co-founding a company in 1999 called Meritech where, according to its website, he helps lead the firm’s infrastructure, application software, and data and analytics investment practices.’