đ1. 17 is a touchdown machine
Tied for the NFL lead with 37 total touchdowns this season, Josh Allen even by his standards in on a scoring tear. With 14 total touchdowns in his last three games, Allen needs three more offensive touchdowns to have 40 in a season for the fifth time in his career. He would join Aaron Rodgers (6) as the only players with five or more seasons with 40 or more offensive touchdowns.
Allen is also set to eclipse Bills Hall of Famer, Thurman Thomas' franchise rushing touchdown record. Thomas has been atop the franchise rushing touchdown list thanks to his 65 career rushing touchdowns for Buffalo. But Allen sits just one rushing touchdown behind Thomas with 64 after he had a pair of rushing scores last week at Detroit.
The Bills quarterback, and League MVP favorite, has already become the first player in league history to have 25 or more passing touchdowns and 10 or more rushing touchdowns in consecutive seasons. Only two quarterbacks in league history have done it once (Kyler Murray, 2020; Cam Newton, 2015).
Just four quarterbacks in league annals to have 25,000 or more passing yards and 4,000 or more rushing yards in their career, Allen is only in his seventh season.
In his weekly appearance on âOne Bills Liveâ this week, ESPN NFL analyst, Dan Orlovsky, believes Josh Allen is playing the most consistent football of his career.
"Right now, Josh is by far the most confident I've seen him. By far," said Orlovsky. "To be honest with you, I get surprised when they don't have positive plays. I get surprised when Josh misses a throw or misses a read, or they don't have an explosive play. Everybody always says, 'We want to be playing our best football in December.' No one's playing better than them right now."
đ2. Points aplenty
Buffalo's offense has been near the top of the league in points per game average for most of the season, and after a pair of 40-point performances the past two weeks, they sit a point behind league-leading Detroit (32.8) to rank second in the league (31.8).
Offensive coordinator, Joe Brady's unit has already tied a league record for most consecutive games scoring 30 points or more with eight straight, and they've scored 30 points or more in 11 of their 14 games played.
"I think the biggest thing is getting as many people involved as possible while taking advantage of matchups," said head coach Sean McDermott of his offensive coordinator's game plans. "Not dictating that the ball has to go to one person, and really allowing Josh (Allen) to go through his progressions and allowing Josh to feel the game out. So, whether he uses his legs, gets the ball out to an outlet, a check down, really, it's just executing the offense."
Orlovsky was even more complimentary of Buffalo's offensive play caller.
"It was clinical by Joe Brady," Orlovsky said of the coordinator's latest game plan at Detroit. "The way that he just continued to find different ways and different people to attack. Detroit wanted to play base, and they wanted to play man coverage. It was obvious who Brady wanted to attack, but instead of just calling basic concepts or very simple routes and challenging his players to just beat the defender, he created advantages for them with formations and motions. It was another really good game when it comes to the design and the play calling, while also married with really high-level execution by everyone on the offense."
Perhaps even more impressive than their point totals each week is the efficiency the offense has demonstrated under Brady.
Buffalo's offense leads the league in points per drive averaging just over a field goal per possession (3.01 pts/drive) and they rank first in drive score percentage with almost 52 percent of their drives resulting in a touchdown or a field goal (51.7%). They are also first in the league in touchdowns per drive, finishing drives in the end zone on just over 37 percent of their possessions (37.1%). Add in Buffalo's third-ranked red zone touchdown efficiency (69%) and you begin to understand why the points have been coming in plentiful supply the last two months.
đ„3. Home heater
The Bills are one of just two NFL clubs that remain unbeaten at home this season. Kansas City is 7-0 at Arrowhead and the Bills are 6-0 at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. In fact, stretching back to last season, the Bills have won nine straight regular season home games, which is the longest active streak in the NFL.
Buffalo's point scoring prowess has been even more pronounced at home, where they average a field goal more (35 ppg) than they have in all games this season (31.8 ppg). The Bills have scored at least 30 points in all six home games this season. It ties the second-longest streak to begin a season.
It's also a big reason they have a league-best average point differential at home this season of 17.3.
Bills right guard, O'Cyrus Torrence, believes their point scoring consistency on offense is tied to the commitment to their weekly process.
"It's been our communication and just being physical," Torrence said. "I think that's part of our game plan too. We come in and we want to look at ourselves being a hammer instead of the nail. So, we come in with the mindset of planting our flag at the line of scrimmage, offense, and then take the fight to them."
Only 10 NFL clubs since the 1970 merger have managed to score 30 points or more in seven home games in a single season with the Dallas Cowboys being the last to do so just last season. With a 30-point output against the Patriots on Sunday, the Bills could join that group.
New England has given up 30 points or more in each of their last two road games, surrendering 34 to the Dolphins in Week 12, and 30 to the Cardinals last Sunday.
đ€4. Pass rush possibilities
Buffalo's pass rush came to life last week against the Lions, thanks in part to the Bills early 14-point lead that forced Detroit to pass for most of the game in an effort to catch up on the scoreboard. The Bills defensive front is hoping to duplicate that approach this week against a Patriots offensive line that has had its share of ups and downs this season.
Patriots radio play-by-play broadcaster, Bob Socci, in an appearance on âOne Bills Liveâ this week, said the inability of New England's offensive line to put together solid play has hamstrung the entire offensive unit this season.
"It's been inconsistency in terms of personnel. For the most part consistently poor performances on the offensive line, no matter what combination they've utilized," said Socci. "Right from the start of the season the offensive line has been a major problem. They were giving up constant pressure on quarterback Jacoby Brissett, and it was likely the reason they didn't turn to Drake Maye earlier in the season."
Through their 14 games played this season, New England has used nine different offensive line combinations with disappointing results. Chief among them the 45 total sacks surrendered, the fourth highest total in the league this season.
"I think that you can get after their offensive line if you get their offensive line in one-on-one situations," said Orlovsky. "One of their pass rushers for Buffalo will win on a consistent basis. They're not good enough across the board offensively."
Although Buffalo only had three sacks in last week's game at Detroit, they had a season-high 25 quarterback pressures.
đ5. Pats Maye have a playmaker?
Despite all the struggles that the Patriots have had this season, they do appear to have their franchise quarterback in Drake Maye. The third overall pick in the draft, Maye has demonstrated some playmaking ability with his legs when the play isn't there to be made within the structure of the New England offense.
Maye is averaging 8.5 yards per carry on his 42 rushing attempts this season, which have gone for a total of 359 yards. The highest rushing average for an NFL quarterback in a single season is 8.5, set by Michael Vick in 2006 with Atlanta.
Recently, however, Maye has been more decisive passing the ball. In each of his last two games, Maye has completed 80 percent of his passes, finishing 19-for-23 last week at Arizona (82.6%). In the Patriots' previous game, Maye completed 24-of-30 pass attempts for an 80 percent completion percentage.
"Drake has a lot of great attributes as a quarterback, and you can tell why the New England Patriots are so happy about him," said Von Miller. "He has a very bright future. He can run the ball. He can throw the ball. The future is bright for Drake. You turn the film, he's going to take whatever you give him, whether that's running the ball or it's throwing the ball deep. He's very talented. He presents a lot of challenges for a defense."
Like most rookie quarterbacks, Maye has shown a propensity to throw interceptions. It's partly due to trying to make things happen in an offense that is starved for points, managing just 17 points per game. The Patriots signal caller has thrown at least one interception in each of his last six games, good for the longest streak in the league.
"He's very aggressive with the football and confident right now," said Orlovsky. "So, I think that the ideal situation is you make the Patriots unbelievably one dimensional and neutralize their run game. You make it a game where Drake Maye has to drop back 40 times and throw it."
