Are the Bills for real?
The Buffalo Bills have a proven running back, a solid quarterback under center and a defense talented enough to help them to their longest winning streak in three years.
But do the Bills really have a chance this week against the mighty and undefeated New England Patriots, who will enter Ralph Wilson Stadium this Sunday? And is turning a 1-4 start into a 5-4 record really that big of a deal?
You bet.
Buffalo is riding a four-game winning streak and has the Patriots right where it wants them. The Pats are fresh off a bye week and are trying to join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the NFL's only undefeated teams. New England hosted the Bills in Week 3 and handed them a 38-7 thrashing, but the recent layoff could hamper the three-time Super Bowl champions.
The Bills, though, responded after that loss to their AFC East rivals with five wins over the next six games. The current winning streak is the longest since the Bills ripped off six straight wins late in the 2004 campaign.
This Sunday's matchup will serve as a solid measuring stick for head coach Dick Jauron's club, because to be the best, you have to beat the best.
"Everybody knows what the Patriots have been doing," said Bills defensive end Chris Kelsay, who recorded a safety in Sunday's 13-10 win over Miami. "They've been doing it for a long time. We know we have our hands full, but we also know it's in our place and in prime time on Sunday night football. Everybody is going to be watching. We have to prepare hard this week and stay focused and watch film (Monday). Tuesday is our day off and we'll come back Wednesday with our hard hats and our lunch pails."
Kelsay and the defense had better bring more than that to stop Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and the NFL's most lethal offense. Buffalo has the 26th- ranked pass defense in the league, but held the winless Dolphins to 126 yards through the air over the weekend.
Rookie running back Marshawn Lynch played another big role for the Bills with 19 carries for 61 yards and a touchdown against the Dolphins. In the previous Sunday's 33-21 victory against Cincinnati, he ran for 153 yards and a score on 29 touches. Marshawn Lynch converted a pair of third-down plays against Miami to set up kicker Ryan Lindell's game-winning 34-yard field goal with 46 seconds left.
Lindell has made 11 straight field goal attempts to tie a career high and now owns eight game-winning boots on his resume. Marshawn Lynch has six touchdowns this season, the most by a Bills rookie since Antowain Smith had eight in 1997. On Buffalo's final drive of the game, he caught a 10-yard pass on 3rd-and-8 and later plowed his way for three yards on 3rd-and-2.
Despite leaving the game with a sore ankle, Jauron said Marshawn Lynch, his prized 2007 draft pick, will be ready to go against New England's sixth-rated run defense.
"He just gets better all the time and he's awfully good," Jauron said of Marshawn Lynch. "He's very talented. He's a tremendously competitive guy. Obviously he's got unique gifts, but he uses them."
Those gifts will come in handy Sunday night in Orchard Park. Marshawn Lynch has reached the end zone in two straight and three of his last four games, and despite recording just one 100-yard rushing game this season, he is fifth in the NFL with 751 yards on the ground. Marshawn Lynch is also second among rookies in that category, with Minnesota's Adrian Peterson on top of the heap with 1,081 yards rushing.
LOSMAN DELIVERS SHAKY PERFORMANCE
Bills quarterback J.P. Losman did just enough to help the cause on Sunday, but will it be good enough to earn another start versus New England?
Losman, whose first five passes on Sunday were incomplete, battled through a tough first half in which he completed just 4-of-11 passes for just 62 yards and an interception. He was looking for star wideout Lee Evans in the end zone late in the first half until Dolphins cornerback Will Allen came up with a pick.
Losman noted after the game that Miami was putting two defenders back deep.
"Early in that game I just told (Losman) to keep playing. Shake it off and keep playing," Evans said. "Some of the things they were doing, it was kind of a chess match between what we wanted to do and the coverages they played. But in the second half he really responded and played a lot better and played like he needed to for us to win that football game."
Evans was right, as Losman finished the day 12-of-23 for 157 yards and a 55.9 passer rating. The highlight for Losman's day was his quarterback sneak on fourth down during a late game-tying touchdown drive.
Jauron never said if Losman would get the nod on Sunday night, with rookie Trent Edwards waiting in the balance. If the head coach was smart, he would stick with what is working right now.
UP NEXT: PATRIOT GAMES
The Bills are definitely not the favorite for this week's matchup against New England, but have a good shot to shock the football world this time around.
In the first meeting between the teams on September 23, Brady completed 23- of-29 passes for 311 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-7 Pats victory at Gillette Stadium. Randy Moss caught five balls for 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Losman left that game in the first series with an ankle injury and was replaced by rookie quarterback Edwards, who passed for 97 yards and an interception on 10-of-20 passing. Marshawn Lynch carried the ball 20 times for 74 yards and a touchdown.
With Marshawn Lynch able to garner success against New England last time, there is no reason why he shouldn't put up similar numbers on Sunday. Granted it was Week 3 when he first met the Patriots, but he has since established himself as one of the top young backs in the league.
Buffalo is 5-4 on the season and sits second in the AFC East behind the 9-0 Patriots. The Bills will most likely remain there all season, since the third-place Jets are 1-8 and the Dolphins are last in the division standings with an 0-9 record.
The Patriots hold a 53-40-1 advantage in this series and have won 13 of the last 14 meetings.
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