Drake Maye to Face Josh Allen for the First Time in Week 16 Matchup
The 11-3 Buffalo Bills will take on the 3-11 New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. EST. The Bills are 3-0 in the division with a 6-0 home record, while the Patriots hold a 1-3 AFC East record with a 2-6 road record. On paper, Buffalo looks like it’ll blow New England out of the water. However, stranger things have happened between divisional opponents.
Allen vs. Maye
One of the bigger stories of this game is Drake Maye’s first game against presumptive MVP Josh Allen. Maye, the third-overall pick in April’s draft, has garnered comparisons to Allen. Maye holds similar traits, such as a six-foot-four, 225-pound frame, compared to Allen, being six-foot-five and 237 pounds. Despite being large, both quarterbacks are also very mobile. The 22-year-old signal-caller has 359 rushing yards in his 10 games played, averaging 36 yards per game on the ground. Meanwhile, Allen has been renowned for his amazing athleticism, being coined a “unicorn” because of his generational throwing and rushing ability. Maye praised Allen when asked about his comparisons to him, “I think I’ve got a long way to go,” said Maye. “What a player he is, playing at an MVP level. I think the biggest thing is just the progression he's made. I think what he dealt with, whether coming out of college or his first years here, I feel like everybody was just kind of not giving him the credit he deserved… Just, like I said, fun to watch, and I think I've got a long way to go to get to anywhere close to playing at his level.”
Changing of the Guard in AFC East
In the not-so-distant past, the Bills were the laughingstock of the league. Without their essential group of head coach Marv Levy, quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, and wide receiver Andre Reed, the fans of the team endured a 17-year playoff drought. The Bills were under the thumb of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady during that drought. The Patriots won the AFC East 14 times during the drought, including eight consecutive times from 2009-2016. Now, things are flip-flopped. The Bills have been the dominant team in the AFC East, while New England hasn’t made the postseason since 2021, a postseason where they lost in a “perfect game” to the Bills where the Allen-led offense scored on every single offensive drive. This game shows how things have changed over the years and how the Bills have established themselves as the team to beat in the division.
Playoff Seeding Essential in This Game
The Bills didn’t do themselves any favors by losing to the Los Angeles Rams two weeks ago. At the time, Buffalo had only a one-game deficit for the top seed in the AFC when they were sitting at 10-2, but now have an uphill battle against the Kansas City Chiefs for that spot. To secure the coveted one seed, the Bills need the Chiefs to lose their final two games, a late-season road trip to playoff teams Pittsburgh and then Denver. That makes this game against the Patriots very important because if the Bills lose any of their final two games, they lose their chance at home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Also, that could open up the opportunity for the Steelers and Ravens to overtake the Bills in seeding. If either of those teams wins the AFC North and finishes with an 11-5 record, and so do the Bills, Buffalo will drop down to the three seed.
