Patriots-Bills Week 16 news, notes, and fun facts
FOXBORO -- The Buffalo Bills were a punching bag for the New England Patriots for nearly two decades, as Tom Brady dominated his AFC East rival with a slew of season sweeps. But the fortunes have flipped since Brady left New England and Josh Allen has emerged as an absolute stud for Buffalo.
While the two teams split their season series last year, Buffalo is 7-2 against New England since Brady departed for Tampa Bay. The Bills trounced the Patriots in their only postseason meeting, a 47-17 drubbing in the Wild Card round to end New England's 2021 season.
Buffalo's average margin of victory over the Patriots the last four seasons is 15.1 points. New England barely escaped with their two victories over the Bills in that stretch, with both wins coming by just four points.
The energy of the rivalry has certainly shifted to the Bills, who are 11-3 and sitting at 14.5-point favorites heading into this weekend's tilt. The Patriots are 3-11 and just hoping to play spoiler down the stretch.
But to do that, New England has to play something resembling good football, which has escaped the Patriots for the last month and several Sundays this season. The Pats are coming off another embarrassing loss after getting blown out by the Cardinals in Arizona in Week 15 out of their bye week. Now they have to visit a stacked Bills team that just dropped 48 points on the NFC-leading Detroit Lions in their home stadium.
This weekend will be the first time we're treated to a Josh Allen-Drake Maye showdown, which fans hope is a matchup between the soon-to-be MVP and potential future MVP. Here's everything you need to know about the Patriots-Bills showdown in Week 16.
Patriots vs. Bills
- Sunday will be the 130th meeting between the Patriots and the Bills, with New England holding a 78-50-1 edge in the series.
- New England's 78 wins over Buffalo are the franchise's highest victory total over any opponent. The Patriots swept the season series for 15 straight years and won 15 straight over the Bills from 2003-2010.
- Going back to 2000, the Patriots have won 37 of their last 48 regular-season games against the Bills.
- The Patriots are 38-26-1 in Buffalo, including a 31-20 record at Highmark Stadium.
- The Patriots and the Bills will play twice over the final three weeks of the season. The AFC East rivals also met twice over a three-game span during the 1977, 1983, 1998, and 2021 seasons.
- The Bills have the second-best scoring offense in the NFL, averaging 31.8 points per game. The Patriots rank 31st at just 17.0 points per game. Buffalo has scored 55 touchdowns on the season, while the Patriots have found the end zone just 24 times.
- Buffalo owns the seventh-ranked passing offense at 238.8 yards per game and the ninth-ranked rushing offense at 130.8 yards per game.
- Defensively, Buffalo is surrendering 345.5 yards per game, which ranks 23rd entering Week 16. The Patriots are only slightly better, tied for 21st at 344.1 yards allowed per game.
- Buffalo is tied for the best turnover differential in the league at plus-18. The Patriots are tied for 25th at minus-7.
- Bills head coach Sean McDermott is 7-8 against New England.
Patriots-Bills connections
- There are no former Patriots on the Buffalo roster or coaching staff.
- Patriots cornerback Alex Austin was a seventh-round pick by the Bills in 2023, drafted 252nd overall out of Oregon State. He was released in August and after a brief stint with the Houston Texans, he signed with the Patriots in November 2023. Austin logged his first career interception against the Bills that season in a Week 17 loss in Buffalo.
- New England offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt spent time in Buffalo as both a player and a coach. He was a backup quarterback for the Bills from 1994-2003, playing in 31 games and going 3-8 in spot starts. He served as a offensive quality control coach in Buffalo from 2006-07, the quarterbacks coach in 2008, and was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2009.
- Patriots tight ends coach Bob Bicknell served as Buffalo's tight ends coach from 2010-11 and the team's wide receivers coach in 2012.
Other Patriots-Bills fun facts
- You're going to want to watch the opening kickoff for this one, and not just because it will probably turn into a laugher by the second half (or quarter). The opening kick has been returned for a touchdown in each of the last two Patriots-Bills games in Buffalo, with Jalen Reagor taking it back 98 yards for the Patriots last season and Nyheim Hines opening the final game of the 2022 season with a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown for the Bills.
- Josh Allen is 6-5 in his career against the Patriots, averaging 220.2 passing yards per game to go with 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He's also rushed for five touchdowns against New England, but has lost three of his six fumbles.
- Drake Maye has completed at least 80 percent of his passes in each of the last two games -- 80 percent against the Colts and 82.6 percent last week against the Cardinals -- and can become the first rookie in NFL history to do so in three straight games if he accomplishes the feat this weekend.
- Maye has completed 68.5 percent of his passes this season (191-of-279). The highest completion percentage for an NFL rookie quarterback was set by Dak Prescott in 2016 when he completed 67.8 percent of his passes for Dallas.
- Maye is averaging 8.5 yards per rush (359 yards on 42 attempts) this season. That matches the highest rushing average for a quarterback in a single season, set by Michael Vick in 2006 when he ran for 1,039 yards on 123 attempts for the Atlanta Falcons.
- Rhamondre Stevenson is now ninth on New England's all-time rushing list with 3,005 yards. He needs 176 rushing yards to move past Corey Dillon (3,180 yards) and into eighth on the Patriots all-time list.
- Hunter Henry has 635 receiving yards this season and needs just 18 more to set a new career-high.
- Henry enters Week 16 ranked fifth among New England tight ends with 195 receptions. He needs only five receptions this weekend to become the fifth New England tight end to reach 200 receptions for their career.
Tune in to Sunday's Patriots-Bills game on WBZ-TV, the flagship station of the New England Patriots. Coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay (which you can also stream on CBS News Boston), kickoff is scheduled for 4:25 p.m., and after the game switch over to TV38 for full reaction and analysis on Patriots 5th Quarter!