The New England Patriots’ return to the playoffs starts with a wild-card matchup against a familiar foe: the sixth-seed Patriots will travel to Orchard Park to take on the third-seeded Buffalo Bills. The game will be the third this season between the two AFC East rivals, with all of them taking place since December alone.
The experience of those previous two games will help both teams prepare for the opponent, but at the end of the day the execution on the field will decide who advances to the divisional round. Recently, the Bills have been the better of the two teams in this regard: Buffalo enters the playoffs with four straight wins, while New England lost three of its last four — including a 33-21 loss against the Bills in Week 16.