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Undefeated Patriots host Bills Monday night
By: Phil Burton - StatFox
Published: 11/23/2015  at  1:06:00 PM
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BUFFALO BILLS (5-4)
at NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (9-0)

Kickoff: Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET
Line: New England -7, Total: 48.5

The unbeaten Patriots look to maintain their dominance over the Bills when these division foes close out Week 11 on Monday night.

Buffalo (5-4 ATS) is heating up at the right time with back-to-back wins over AFC East foes Miami and the New York Jets, and has been an excellent road team this season at 3-1 (SU and ATS). New England (5-2-2 ATS) survived a scare against the Giants last week and needed a 54-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski in the closing seconds to improve to 9-0 SU. Since the 2012 calendar year, the Patriots own a commanding 7-1 SU (5-3 ATS) advantage in this series with the lone defeat being a meaningless 17-9 result last December when a playoff berth was already sewn up. When these clubs met earlier this season, the Bills kept it close before falling 40-32 at home. The betting trends overwhelmingly favor New England, such as its 8-1 ATS mark at home versus teams with 24+ PPG in the past three seasons or its 12-2 ATS record since 2014 after playing in a shootout where 50+ points were scored. But Buffalo falls in the category of road underdogs of 3.5 to 10 points after a 2-1 ATS stretch going 43-17 ATS over the past 10 seasons in a matchup of two winning teams in the second half of the season. The Patriots have been decimated by injuries all year, with none bigger than top WR Julian Edelman who injured his foot last Sunday and is out indefinitely. His teammates LB Jamie Collins and OLs Marcus Cannon (toe), Sebastian Vollmer (concussion) and Tre' Jackson (knee) are all listed as questionable for Monday night, which is the same status for the lone Bills player appearing on the injury report, OT Cyrus Kouandjio, who is questionable with a knee injury.

Can the Patriots roll to another victory on Monday night? For the answer, connect to NFL Best Bets for all the StatFox Experts picks throughout the 2015 regular season and playoffs. This season, the four experts have a 53% ATS collective record (76-68-3) in NFL Best Bets. StatFox Gary is leading the way at 58% ATS (19-14-1) this season, while StatFox Dave is 53% ATS (20-18-1). In terms of NFL Totals, Gary remains profitable this season at 54% (13-11).

Buffalo has also been hurt by injuries this season to its offensive skill players, but everybody now appears healthy for the stretch drive and the offense is eager to improve on strong numbers of 25.7 PPG and 343 total YPG. QB Tyrod Taylor has enjoyed a fine season with a 5-2 starter record, 1,436 passing yards (205 YPG), 11 TD and 4 INT. But three of those picks came in the Week 2 loss to the Patriots to ruin a productive day of Taylor totaling 285 total yards and four touchdowns (3 pass, 1 rush). He is helped out greatly by a potent rushing attack chewing up 142 YPG on 4.8 YPC this year. This includes 160 yards in the Sept. 20 loss to New England led by RB LeSean McCoy's 89 yards on 15 totes. McCoy has 528 yards this season on 4.7 YPC, and has shared the workload with both RB Karlos Williams (360 rush yds, 6.2 YPC) and Taylor (243 rush yds, 5.2 YPC). Defensively, the Bills need to get more pressure on the quarterback as their 14 sacks pale in comparison to the 54 sacks they recorded last year. For the season, the Buffalo defense is holding teams to 23.0 PPG and 350 total YPG. This is broken down between 97 rushing YPG allowed (4.1 YPC) and 252 passing YPG allowed (6.4 YPA). But considering how easy it was for the Patriots to throw on Buffalo in Week 2, this could be another tough task for the defense.

New England QB Tom Brady (339 passing YPG, 24 TD, 3 INT) is having a phenomenal 2015 campaign, and he lit up the Bills for 466 passing yards (7.9 YPA) and three touchdowns back in September. However, the top yardage gainer that day, RB Dion Lewis (138), and the player with the most receptions, WR Julian Edelman (11 receptions), are both injured for the rematch. Brady is a dominant 21-3 SU (14-9-1 ATS) in his career versus Buffalo, throwing for 255 YPG, 57 TD and 17 INT. Brady will continue to heavily target TE Rob Gronkowski, who had seven receptions for 113 yards and a touchdown in Week 2 versus the Bills. But he must also give more targets to WRs Danny Amendola (403 rec yds, 2 TD), Brandon LaFell (240 rec yds) and Aaron Dobson (124 rec yds), who went for 87 yards on seven catches versus Buffalo. With Lewis injured, the ground game has belonged to RB LeGarrette Blount (513 rush yds, 4.4 YPC, 6 TD), who has rushed for 267 yards and 2 TD over the past three games since Lewis went down. The Patriots defense has already recorded 30 sacks this year, including 10.5 sacks by DE Chandler Jones. Opponents have only 18.8 PPG and 344 YPG against New England, whose run-stop unit is limiting teams to 88 YPG on 4.0 YPC. The Patriots do surrender 256 passing YPG on 6.4 YPA, but the passing defense has nine interceptions and only 14 touchdowns allowed.


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