Patriots-Bills Week 18 news and notes

BOSTON -- Football feels secondary in the NFL at the moment, but the league is moving forward with Week 18. That means the Buffalo Bills, just a few days after watching teammate Damar Hamlin collapse on the field, will have to host the New England Patriots on Sunday.

It's an important game for both teams too. The 8-8 Patriots will clinch a playoff spot with a win. They could also clinch a postseason berth with a loss, as long as the Steelers (vs. Browns), Dolphins (vs. Jets), and Titans (Saturday night vs. Jaguars) all lose as well.

It's a little more complicated for the Bills, who remain in the running for the No. 1 seed in the AFC, but that will hinge on the NFL deciding what to do with Monday night's suspended game against the Bengals. 

But it's going to be a fascinating game, with the Patriots fighting to make the playoffs and the Bills taking the field for the first time since last Monday night's devastating scene.

Here are the news and notes to know heading into the big Week 18 tilt in Buffalo.

Week 18 notes

• Sunday will be the 127th meeting between the Patriots and the Bills, with New England holding a 77-48-1 edge in the series. Those 77 wins are New England's highest total over any opponent.
• The Patriots are 38-24-1 in Buffalo, including 31-18 at Highmark Stadium.
• The Patriots won 15 straight over the Bills and swept the season series 15 times between 2003-10, but the times are changing. On Sunday, New England will look to avoid a series sweep by the Bills for the second time since 2020.
• The Patriots can secure their 36th winning season since 1970 with a win on Sunday. Only Pittsburgh has more winning seasons (38) than New England over that span.
• Belichick currently has 21 winning seasons to his name, trailing only behind George Halas (34), Don Shula (27), and Curly Lambeau (27) on the NFL's all-time list.
• Buffalo ranks second in the NFL in total offense at 402.3 yards per game, while New England ranks 26th, averaging 312.9 yards per game. The Bills are averaging 28 points per game (fourth-most in the NFL) while the Patriots average 21.3 points (17th in the NFL).

Player notes

• Sunday will be Devin McCourty's 205th game played with the Patriots, which will move him past Stephen Gostkowski for fifth in team history.
• Kyle Dugger returned an interception for a touchdown last week against Miami, making him the first Patriots player to score three defensive touchdowns (two pick-sixes, one fumble recovery for a score) in a season. With another pick-six on Sunday, Dugger would become the first Patriots player to return three interceptions for a touchdown in a season.
• Ja'Whaun Bentley leads the team with 115 total tackles, which is also a career-high for the fifth-year linebacker. With five tackles in Buffalo, Bentley would become just the 13th Patriots player to reach 120 tackles in a season, and the first to do so since Jerod Mayo had 147 total tackles in 2012.
• Matthew Judon currently ranks third in the NFL with 15.5 sacks, trailing San Francisco's Nick Bosa (17.5) and Philadelphia's Haason Reddick (16). Only Andre Tippett has had more sacks in a season for the Patriots with 18.5 in 1984 and 16.5 in 1985.
• Marcus Jones heads into the final week of his rookie season second in the NFL with a 13.0-yard punt return average and fifth with a 24.5-yard kickoff return average.
• Running back Rhamondre Stevenson hits Week 18 needing just 14 yards on the ground to reach 1,000 rushing yards for the first time in his career. It would mark the first 1,000 rushing yard season for the Patriots since LeGarrette Blount went over the mark in 2016. 
• Nick Folk heads into Week 18 ranked seventh in Patriots team history with 435 total points. The veteran kicker needs just eight points to move past Tony Franklin (442) into sixth place.
• Bills quarterback Josh Allen is 4-4 in his career against the Patriots, averaging 216.8 passing yards per game to go with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions.   

Connections

• Patriots offensive lineman Conor McDermott played in eight games for the Bills during his three seasons with the franchise from 2017-19. New England drafted McDermott in the sixth round in 2017 but released him ahead of his rookie season, which is when he was signed by Buffalo.
• Former Patriots offensive lineman Ryan Wendell, who joined the team as an undrafted free agent in 2008 and won a Super bowl in New England, is currently an assistant offensive line coach in Buffalo.
• Bills receiver Jake Kumerow (currently on IR) spent two weeks on New England's practice squad during the 2017 season.

Tune in to Sunday's Patriots-Bills game on WBZ--TV -- the television home of the New England Patriots. Coverage begins Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. on TV38 with Patriots 1st Down, and continues Friday on WBZ-TV at 7 p.m. with Patriots All Access. Coverage kicks off Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay, followed by the Pats and the Bills at 1 p.m., and we'll wrap it all up after the game on Patriots 5th Quarter on TV38.