The Patriots return to the playoffs against the Bills in the rubber match this season in the Wild Card Game in Buffalo. Although they made big strides in the rebuild in 2021, they enter the postseason limping after going just 1-4 down the stretch. One of the mantras of the Bill Belichick era has been having the team playing its best football after Thanksgiving. That hasn’t been the case in 2020 or 2021.
During the 2-4 start of the season, they made mental mistakes, turned the ball over, had awful gaffes on STs, and were gashed on defense at key times of the game.