Peter King Speculates That Patriots-Bills Playoff Meeting Would Be On Monday Night Of Wild Card Weekend
BOSTON (CBS) -- This year's postseason will feature a Monday night game to conclude "Super Wild Card Weekend." Might the Patriots be so fortunate -- or unfortunate -- to partake?
Longtime NFL writer Peter King believes that may be the case.
In his Monday morning column, the plugged-in King speculated that if the Patriots and Bills end up matching up for a playoff meeting, then the Monday night window makes a lot of sense from the league's perspective.
"As of this moment, my money would be on a New England-Buffalo show for the first-ever Monday night wild-card game," King wrote. "The AFC, in fact, is gold for first-round matchups, if form holds. Imagine Raiders or Chargers at Kansas City in the 7-2 game, Colts-[Joe] Burrow in the 6-3 game (Burrow's going to be must-see as long as the Bengals are in it), and Patriots-Bills in the other one. Imagine three Buffalo-New England games in a 43-day span, with the rubber match on a frigid Jan. 17 night in the northeast."
King felt so strongly about the appeal of this game that he dedicated his "Adieu Haiku" to prospect.
"I want a Bills-Pats
rematch on Wild Card Weekend.
Got a spare table?"
Such a matchup would likely be good for ratings, but it certainly would put the winner of the theoretical Patriots-Bills game at a disadvantage heading into the divisional playoffs. With games scheduled for Saturday, Sunday and Monday of Wild Card Weekend, the winner from Monday night could end up facing a team that played two days earlier and thus had that much extra rest and preparation time for the following game.
(It would also lead to a tired fan base on Tuesday morning, though the NFL may not take such matters into consideration when making this choice.)
Of course, some team will have to deal with that disadvantage. Every playoff team will hope that it's someone else's problem.
The Bills currently sit in the No. 4 seed in the AFC, while the Patriots are at No. 5 as the top Wild Card team. Things can obviously change. But if those standings hold through Week 18, the AFC East rivals will meet for a third time of the season in the Wild Card round. The Patriots beat the Bills in Buffalo on an exceptionally windy Monday night in Week 13, but the Bills got revenge three weeks later with a win in Foxboro.
