The Patriots will host their division rivals at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
Two weeks after their three-point loss in Buffalo, the New England Patriots are about to meet a different-looking Bills team.
As head coach Sean McDermott announced on a media conference call on Monday, his team is planning use a mix of starters and backups in Week 18’s regular season finale at Gillette Stadium. Buffalo locked up the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoff picture over the weekend, and has nothing to gain or lose in that regard versus the Patriots.
“What we’re going to do is, we’ll see some starters out there playing,” McDermott said. “You’ll see some other players who we want to take a good look at. So, it will be a blend of both.”
Despite the Bills’ starters not going wire-to-wire this coming Sunday, quarterback Josh Allen will start the game. The primary motivation behind that decision is not to beat the Patriots, however, but rather to give Allen a chance to keep his streak of consecutive starts alive.
Allen is entering the regular season finale having started 114 straight games for the Bills. Sunday will be No. 115, even though his time on the field will be limited.
“One of the things that we know is very, very important to him is his consecutive starts streak,” McDermott explained. “It’s important to him for a great reason, he wants to be out there with his teammates. And so, he will be out there for a very, very short-lived amount of time and then he’ll be off rather quickly there.”
Allen might not be the only starting quarterback to see limited action this week. Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo also left open the possibility of his team sitting its own QB1, Drake Maye, on Sunday. Jacoby Brissett would be the next man up to start for New England.
If so, the crowd at Gillette Stadium might be treated to a battle between Brissett and Bills backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
The Patriots will enter the regular season finale with a 3-13 record and as the current owners of the first overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. A loss against the 13-3 Bills would ensure the team keeps that pick.
Kickoff between the two division rivals has been scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Jan. 5.