Tom King

New England is on edge on a Friday and Saturday and will know on Sunday whether or not their Patriots season is a success or otherwise.

Would a loss to the Buffalo Bills in Saturday night’s Wild Card Playoff game mean the Patriots season was a failure?

If you go by the bar set by the Tom Brady days, sure.

But those days are long gone. For Patriots fans who aren’t happy with anything less than a Super Bowl or deep playoff run, think of how things were last year at this time. The NFL was continuing on without New England.

The Buffalo Bills took advantage of this. But now, they’ll have to hurdle the Patriots if they want to make their way back to a chance for the Super Bowl.

This could be the Patriots game,as badly as they’ve played since they beat the Bills in early December as that wind that night in Orchard Park, N.Y. must’ve blown away the team that won seven straight.

Here’s why: First, it’s going to be a single digit night. For some reason, the Bills didn’t quite built their team for this, and Bills QB Josh Allen hates bad weather. At mid-week, which team do you think practiced outside, and which inside? You got it. The Bills were nice and cozy.

Second, Matt Judon will be tired of missing in action and come to life. He has to for the Patriots to find success. We think he will.

Third, just when you think the Patriots are fading, they seem to come back, historically. They like the “nobody gives us a chance” mentality, whether it’s false or not. This time it’s real.

Fourth, New England can still run the ball better than Buffalo. Many feel they have to put it in rookie QB Mac Jones’ hands. They will try to avoid that if they can run it. Also, there will be some things this Patriots team hasn’t shown, as they always save something for the playoffs. It will work.

“There’s more pressure,” Jones said. “That’s what makes it fun.”

There’s a little pressure here to have a better week than last week’s abysmal 2-5 record. Hey, it’s the playoffs, so let’s go:

PATRIOTS 20, BILLS 17

Nick Folk boots a 40-yarder as time runs out to put New England in the Divisional Round, likely a trip to Tennessee. The NFL Network noted an interesting stat: In six previous matchups over the last eight seasons of a division winner vs. a team in its own division in the playoffs, the non division winner has won five of six times. Patriots make it six of seven.

BENGALS 38, RAIDERS 31

This will be a shootout in Cincy. The ball will be flying through the air, the combination of passes thrown should approach triple digits. Joe Burrow, despite a horrific offensive line, will run around and play the street game to perfection as a couple of Bengal receivers go 10 steps and criss-cross on the winning play.

CHIEFS 24, STEELERS 10

The Chiefs offense hasn’t been as dynamic as we’ve seen, but it’s good enough to beat the Steelers at home, and then set up a rematch with Cincinnati. Big Ben and the Steelers got a new lease on life, but this will be it. Roethlisberger can’t throw anymore, and it’s time.

BUCS 30, EAGLES 13

The Eagles improved this year, but let’s face it, they’re no match for what Brady&Co.can muster, even without the vanquished Antonio Brown.

Philly didn’t beat a team with a winning record this year, and the Eagles have no shot here.

COWBOYS 27, NINERS 13

Great job by Jimmy G and the Niners to pull out the win last week over the Rams, who seem to have some kind of mental block when it comes to SF. But the Cowboys have no such issue, are a team that pretty much look like a Divisional Round casualty rather than an early round upset victim.

But actually, we seem knocking off Tampa in the Divisional Round. But that’s for next week’s column.

RAMS 30, CARDINALS 24

Great Monday night matchup, ESPN made the right choice to make history. The Rams will bounce back from their lousy final week showing,

Matt Stafford will shine in his first playoff game in ages, and the Rams will put on their thermals and head to Lambeau next week.

LAST WEEK: 2-5

REGULAR SEASON: 80-48

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).

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