WGR

‘The Patriots’ are down their two best wide receivers, Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry. Their quarterback, Cam Newton, has struggled mightily over the last couple of weeks. The weather won’t be great for throwing the football. So New England’s best chance will be to round the ball right at the Bills, something they are willing and capable of doing. They’re averaging 155 yards on the gourd per game and 4.97 per play, good for fourth and sixth-best in the NFL, respectively. The Bills are allowing 126.9 per game and 4.58 per play, which is bottom third of the league in both categories. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Patriots ran the ball at least 50 times, using every running back and wide receiver they have, as well as Newton. The Bills have to be ready to play physical and make tackles at or near the line of scrimmage and not give New England a chance to keep pounding it.’

‘”We are working on it. We are looking at plans that the NFL has been working on,” Cuomo said, according to Heather Ly of WGRZ-TV in Buffalo. “We’re looking at plans of the stadium. I’m going to take a look myself, but we are working on it now.”‘

‘As for the Patriots, they have ruled out wide receivers Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry, as well as defensive tackle Carl Davis.’

‘”We want to be balanced in our approach, and play a good football game on our side and control what we can control. There’s a lot we can improve on from last week, as we all are aware, and that’s where our focus lies right now.”‘

‘As the Buffalo Bills prepare to play a game that may come down to which team runs the ball better, they were without two key defensive linemen at practice on Thursday, as Vernon Butler (groin) and Quinton Jefferson (knee) both deal with injuries.’

‘White’s bid to purchase a 5,444-square-foot Orchard Park home is being challenged with a lawsuit by a couple who claim they already had the home under contract. Marco Cercone, the original bidder and also an attorney, says Keller Williams Buffalo Realty Northtowns continued to solicit higher bids even after entering in to an agreement. The seller disagrees.’

‘Hyde was involved in a serious collision with wide receiver Breshad Perriman in Sunday’s 18-10 win over the New York Jets. It’s unclear if Hyde was injured on that specific play. He was on the field for stretching in the early portion of practice open to the media, but was listed as a did not practice afterward.’

‘This is the first time that Hughes has been named as the AFC Defensive Player of the Week in his 11-year career in the NFL. Hughes also becomes the first Bills defensive player to be honored as the Player of the Week since cornerback Tre’Davious White earned the honor last season against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 15.’

‘”They went from having the best situation in the league with Brady, [Jimmy] Garoppolo and [Jacoby] Brissett to having the worst depth chart. The traded away Garoppolo, they let Brady walk, and they really didn’t plan for any departure. Now they’re in total purgatory. Maybe they can find the guy next year, maybe they make the right draft pick, but just because you take a guy in the first round doesn’t mean he’s going to be the answer.”‘

‘The Bills also announced on Tuesday that the team has signed Andre Smith to the active roster from the practice squad, while releasing veteran Deon Lacey.’

‘“We just have to see,” McDermott said of Milano’s status for this week. “He’s coming off a pretty significant injury there, but I thought he did a good job. Mentally he was in a good spot today and we’ll just see how it goes throughout the rest of the week here.”’

‘”I think that Josh [Allen] does a good job of going to some of the secondary outlet receivers based on the coverage, where that takes him and if it’s open he’ll throw it for sure, and if it isn’t then he’s, I would say, not as quick to pull the ball down to run. He finds secondary receivers and outlets, check downs, and that kind of thing.”‘

‘Even before the 2020 season started, the stated goal of the Bills, from general manager Brandon Beane to head coach Sean McDermott, down to the players, was to win the division, because that’s how they’ll get a home playoff game. Whenever they mentioned it, they also specifically referenced beating the Patriots. The standard. The team that’s owned the AFC East for the last 20 years. It’s still theirs until the Bills take it from them, Beane and others said. They’re right.’

‘Belichick’s 35 wins over the Bills are only tied for the most against the team. Don Shula had the same 35 wins, against 20 losses. The only other coaches to beat the Bills 10 or more times go back to the AFL days of the 1960s: Sid Gillman (11) and Hank Stram (10).’

‘“We just have to see,” McDermott said of Milano’s status for this week. “He’s coming off a pretty significant injury there, but I thought he did a good job. Mentally he was in a good spot today and we’ll just see how it goes throughout the rest of the week here.”’