Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills were embarrassed by the New England Patriots at home in a Week 2 showdown in Orchard Park. In that game, the team turned the football over with extreme generosity and committed several personal fouls while New England built an insurmountable 37-13 lead. The Patriots eventually won that game, 40-32, in a contest that took a whole lot of wind out of the Bills' sails early in the season.
Tonight, the Bills and the Patriots square off at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, in a nationally-televised Monday Night Football contest that the Bills hope to do far more than save face in.
The Bills, after all, are 5-4, and currently in position for one of the wild card spots in a very crowded AFC playoff field. A win, however improbable, tonight over the Patriots would go a long way not just toward solidifying Buffalo's place in the standings, but legitimizing themselves in the conference. A loss? Well, a loss would just be the latest in a very, very long line of losses at the hands of Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and company.
This is your open thread for the first half of Bills-Pats. Will tonight be a monumental step for an organization that hasn't taken one of those in years? Or will the Bills exit the evening at .500 and in need of a very strong finish to end their 15-year playoff drought? Time will tell. Go Bills.