Can the Bills Beat Bill Belichick Twice This Season?
Ever since Super Bowl XXV, when then New York Giants defensive coordinator Bill Belichick was credited for winning that game, Bills fans have loathed the scowling man in the hoodie. Not only did he dash the Bills’ Lombardi Trophy hopes, for almost 20 years Buffalo fans had to endure the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady partnership that dominated the AFC East Division and helped shut the Bills out of playoff contention, season after season.
During the past few years, cracks began to appear in New England’s fortress of invincibility. The Bills hired head coach Sean McDermott and GM Brandon Beane from the Carolina Panthers in 2017. Beane has put together a roster of talented players, including draft picks such as Josh Allen and Tremaine Edmunds, trades for Stefon Diggs and free agent signings including Emmanuel Sanders and Matt Breida. Beane and McDermott ended Buffalo’s 17 year-long playoff drought the same year they were hired, and the Bills have made the playoffs three times in the last four seasons.
Around the same time, the Belichick- Brady alliance terminated when Brady decided not to renew his contract with the Patriots and went to Tampa Bay. When the Bucs won Super Bowl LV, it seemed to prove that Brady didn’t need Belichick to win, and the Pats have been a shell of the dynasty they once were ever since. The Bills have fared much better against a Brady-less New England Patriots team than one with him. The Pats led the Bills in matchups 76-45-1 all time, but without Brady, the series is only 44-42-1 in New England’s favor.
If not for the Bills’ two recent inexplicable losses against Jacksonville and Indianapolis, Buffalo would still be the AFC East division leader, with Belichick’s team playing second fiddle. Buffalo has had a recent history of poor midseason play, with heartbreaking losses in October and November, before bouncing back with late season hot streaks. The team lost two out of three games in Oct/Nov 2019 and fell short twice in a row the following October. The Bills rallied both times to make the playoffs, including three straight wins in Nov. 2019 to get to the postseason. In 2020, Buffalo only lost one game the rest of that season, the Deandre Hopkins Hail Mary pass, to reach the playoffs and the AFC Championship game.
The Bills, thanks to their mid-season losses, have to win most of their remaining matchups. Two of those are against the New England Patriots and their longtime nemesis, head coach Bill Belichick. The first is a Monday night meeting on Dec. 6th at home, followed by a rematch on Dec. 26th in the lion’s den, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. The Bills beat the Pats twice last season, with Brady gone. Can they do it again? If they want to make the playoffs they’re going to have to.
-Jeff Dahlberg
Twitter: @JeffDahlberg3