TigerJ

Yeah, that's probably true. The good news is that Josh Allen has already played against the Patriots once. There will be some differences in the specifics for sure, but the basic strategy will probably be similar. The Bills also employ a lot of disguised looks on defense, so Josh saw that all through training camp. He's still young, but he's smart and not quite a rookie. I'm hopeful that he's going to be OK.

He ran 4.53 at his pro day and measured 6' 2 1/2" Pretty athletic and carries good weight but had a relatively modest college career.

Both teams are 3-0. Both teams enjoyed an opening season stretch over weak opponents. Buffalo had a very small average margin of victory. New England's smallest margin of victory was 16, ranging up to a 43-0 blowout. It's not rocket science. New England will mainly try to maintain their level of play, maybe tweaking some small things. Buffalo needs to experience a major uptick in consistency and execution over an entire 60 minutes.

I'd love to see the Bills get some passes to Dawson Knox when he's covered by a DB so he can stiff arm the guy into Brady on the sidelines. That's not much of a game plan though.

If I had to make a prediction, I would predict a Patriots win, but I think there are possible scenarios where Buffalo ends up on top.

I think he should drop the last three letters of his last name. Every time he makes a good play, Murphy can say "Attaboy," and be pretty close.

The Chiefs would go to the top of the power rankings. New England would stay in the top five, and pundits will start talking about New England gaining revenge later in the season. Buffalo will move up and might make the top five in some power rankings. They should make top 10 in ESPN's.

The biggest reason for John Gruden's job security is the contract Oakland locked itself into. That's not going to change for a few years. Sean's near term future has never been in doubt, but he certainly hasn't hurt himself. (His job security is not going to disappear any time soon unless he makes a string of bonehead moves. I'm not expecting that.)

Size and speed. Coming out of college he needed to add mass and strength. Needed to work on hands and route running as well. He's had two years to work on deficiencies. It helps that he's smart. He presents intriguing possibilities.

Daboll certainly knows Belichick better than any former Patriots player could. One could say it goes the other way too, but Daboll has experienced some other influences since his Patriot days. Knowing that Belichick will try to take away from the offense that which Josh Allen is most comfortable doing, I expect Daboll will work at getting Josh comfortable with some other things. I think some of what Buffalo has done on offense since last season was done with an eye toward the Patriots. They knew that the Bills offense had to become more capable in multiple areas so it would be harder for Belichick to derail them.

I hurt my ribs about 12 days ago. I haven't gone to a doctor or anything. I just know the feeling. It was just minor, but I really felt it for a few days. It doesn't have to involve a break to be uncomfortable. I suspect Edelman will probably play, but maybe Taron Johnson can make him feel those ribs with a few well timed hits.

My guess would be Taylor, based on the role he'll be asked to fill. Peko is even smaller than Harrison Phillips for the one tech spot. Though somewhat bigger, Taylor was not exactly known for having a solid base coming out of college. Hopefully, that has improved after a couple years in pro football.

I don't have a good feel for how the game turns out, but several things are givens. Among them, Belichick will have a strategy on defense to take something away and challenge Buffalo to move the ball without that one facet of their offense. It will be whatever Belichick thinks Buffalo depends on the most to make their offense click. It could be the running game. It could be Josh's tendency to roll out and make plays on the run. Whatever it is, Buffalo's success on offense will depend on Josh Allen's ability to operate out of his comfort zone. When Buffalo is on defense, New England has demonstrated the ability to do a lot of different things. Last season, and it progressed, New England appeared to start relying on the running game a lot more, but this season, the running game has not been that much of a factor. Instead, Brady has been putting up some big numbers again. History has shown he can do that relying a great deal on tight ends or receivers, and the throws to running backs a lot too. One constant when he's available is Julian Edelman. I suspect Buffalo will use a lot of nickel alignment versus New England. They like to do that anyway. Hopefully, Taron Johnson is ready to go. Edelman going against Siran Neal is a mismatch that Brady will drool over.

Beane has been very diligent about filling holes, and this past off season he had a ton of cap room to do it.

He did anoint three teams as having "the best defense in football." Besides Buffalo, the Patriots and Packers also get that distinction. I wonder how many other teams have the best defense in football in Barnwell's mind.

I been thinking too. I also love where we are (3-0) and feel good about the season going forward. I recognize that there are rough edges, especially on offense. I expect that Josh Allen is going to continue to be a work in progress.; Particularly when the blocking breaks down, there will be times when he thinks he sees a chance to make a big play, but it's not really there. Hopefully, they will gradually become less frequent until they don't even happen every game, and eventually they are a rarity. I am impressed with Frank Gore and disappointed with Yeldin. I can see why he's third string when Singletary is healthy. I don't know that the defense is going to ever be best in the league this season, but they are pretty solid just the same. It's going to be a bit of a challenge replacing Harrison Phillips as I don't think his replacement is on the practice squad. Checking the available free agents; two that the Bills might have an interest in are Mike Pennel, a big run stuffer who coincidentally last played for New England, and Willie Henry, a lighter, more athletic guy released at the end of August by Baltimore.

Trade with the other New Jersey team for Eli Manning?

Buffalo has two DTs on the practice squad, Kyle Peko and Vince Taylor, but I'm not sure either one is a nose tackle type, the position Harrison Phillips was playing as a rotational guy. Harrison is smaller than is typical for a nose tackle, but he's really strong and his wrestling background helps him play with great leverage. Peko is right around 300 lbs and Taylor is listed at 311, but he's described as having a narrow base, not what you want at nose. I wouldn't be surprised if Beane has been checking with his pro personnel guys on who is available on the street.

Versus Pittsburgh, New England had 482 yards of offense and a final score of 33-3. Pittsburgh had 308 yards of offense Versus Miami, New England had 388 yards of offense and a score of 43-0. Miami had 228 yards of offense. Versus the Jets, New England had 368 yards of offense and a score of 30-14. They gave up two touchdowns to the Jets defense. Falk was not impressive with under 100 yards passing and Bell could not run (35 yards on 18 carries). But Falk is a third string QB, and New England's offense is trending down. I'm not saying they aren't good, but it's all relative. In their first game, they crushed a team that should have been competitive. In week two, they shut out a team 43 -zip. The Jets are a bad team, decimated by injury/health issues, and the margin of victory was 16 points.

New England was dominant the first two weeks of the season. Not so much today facing a Jets team that started Lucas Falk at QB. The odds certainly are going to favor a New England win, but I don't think they are as invulnerable as they looked the first two weeks of the season. It was thought they might start to focus more on run offense in the twilight of Brady's career, but they had one effective running back (Burkhead). Instead, they Patriots had to rely on Brady (over 300 yards. Buffalo would greatly benefit from Taron Jones returning to full health in order to defend against Edelman. Dorsett is their speed guy and of course Josh Gordon has some speed to go with his size and athleticism. If Buffalo can keep Brady under 250 yards and continue to play the run better, they have a chance. It will come down, as it usually does versus New England, to mistakes. Can Buffalo cut down on penalties and turnovers?

Must be scotch laced with a hallucinogen. I would not rule out a Bills win completely next week, but they need to play better than they have thus far this season. Specifically, they need to play 4 quarters, Josh needs to avoid playing hero ball, and the Bills need to cut down on penalties like they had today. It will also help if they can get some people back healthy.

Neck brace and in the locker room? Yeah, I'm concerned for the short term, but if it were anything close to career threatening, I'm pretty sure he'd be in the hospital.

Buffalo does not have a CB with anywhere near the speed of Ross. If they try to play man, there is a serious risk they'll get burned. Thankfully, they probably won't try since they are primarily a zone team. Dalton is a wily old QB, so it's not surprising that he is beating the blitz. Cincinnati's offensive line is a MASH unit right now, so Buffalo can probably get pressure with a four man rush. Buffalo has also been solid in run defense save for the first drive versus the Giants. Buffalo should be able to make the Bengals pretty much one dimensional. That will even be more true if they can get up a couple TDs on them. When Buffalo is on offense, it will mostly be about controlling Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap. If Nsekhe is healthy, I think he matches up pretty well with Dunlap. The middle of Buffalo's line is night and day better than a year ago. Hopefully that's enough to keep Atkins in check. Do that and the Bills should be able to both run and pass effectively, even without Singletary.

I notice the Patriots still haven't cut their owner.

Winning the experts over. Don't know if that's good or bad.