BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — All week long, we’ve heard from plenty of players inside the locker room at One Bills Drive on how they’re approaching Sunday’s matchup against the New England Patriots.
"It's the next game, it's the biggest game that we have because it's the next one," quarterback Josh Allen said. "And all we're trying to focus on is putting together the best game plan that we can against a really good team.
"For me, I feel like it's just any NFL team. I think at the end of the day, we just have to play our brand of football," linebacker Shaq Thompson added. "We've got to limit penalties. I think that the biggest factor in the first game was us missing tackles and having a lot of penalties. We just gotta take away those and just go out there and play a clean game."
"I don't really care or know what the outside noise is. So at the end of the day, we have a job to do, and that's what we're trying to do," Taron Johnson told reporters.
Up in Foxborough, the team that’s one win away from a division title is a slim underdog (+1.5) on their home field. Former Bills wide receiver, now New England Patriot, Stefon Diggs says they’ll take any edge they can get for this matchup.
"That's good for us, you know, being an underdog, people like us have been an underdog our whole life. We're going to have something to prove," Diggs said earlier in the week.
So maybe both things can be true. You can approach a game like this the same way you would any other while also recognizing the opponent and what’s at stake.
"Our players have done a really good job of working through the adversity of the season, and showing their toughness over the last few weeks in particular. So that's really where our focus is," Bills head coach Sean McDermott said on Friday. "Having a healthy amount of respect for our opponent this week and also making sure we're in the right place for our own team and making sure our level of play is the most important thing that we can handle."
"Divisional opponents play us the hardest, as I always say. The Jets, the Dolphins, the Patriots, those games are extremely hard. The fact that the Patriots are a different team, you know, it just makes it that much more exciting," said Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins
Now, for the Bills on the injury front, all eyes are on cornerback Christian Benford. He did not practice on Friday with a toe injury he suffered during practice on Thursday. He is listed as questionable for Sunday's game. Meanwhile, Joshua Palmer and Terrel Bernard are the only other guys listed as questionable, so everyone else is good to go.
