Patriots: Ranking the 2020 regular season opponents

4. Buffalo Bills (AWAY – Week 8)

I went pretty in-depth with the matchups between the Bills and the Patriots earlier in this slideshow, so in the interest of not being redundant, I’ll let you toggle back to No. 9 on this list if you need a refresher on where these two teams stand in 2020 from a personnel standpoint.

There’s good news and bad news if you’re a part of Bills Mafia.

The good news is that Tom Brady is finally gone. Long considered to be Public Enemy No. 1 in the western New York sports scene, Brady’s safely tucked down in the NFC South with the Buccaneers in 2020 and beyond. Unless he and Josh Allen both make the Super Bowl, Buffalo fans won’t have to worry about Brady at all this year.

The bad news is that Bill Belichick is still roaming the Patriots sideline. He’ll be extra motivated this year to prove that all of New England’s success these past two decades was largely his doing and not his quarterback’s, so the rest of the NFL had better watch out.

If any team can wrestle away the division from the Pats, it’s the Bills. The Dolphins are probably an ascendant team under Brian Flores with Tua Tagovailoa waiting in the wings now at QB. The Jets are … well, the Jets are a mess under Adam Gase. They’re probably finishing last in the AFC East this year.

But Buffalo — Buffalo is legit. That offense, that defense. That head coach — Sean McDermott, he’s the real deal.

The only thing working against the Bills in 2019 — other than Belichick and a ferocious Patriots defense — is history. Buffalo hasn’t won the AFC East since 1995. Even the Dolphins (2008) and the Jets (2002) have won the division at least once this millennium. Only the Bills can say they haven’t.

McDermott, Allen, and the rest of Bills Mafia will be hoping that 2020 is the year that all changes. If Buffalo wants to win their first division crown in a quarter-century, they probably need to beat New England at home this time around in this Week 8 game on November 1.