Monday Night Football picks and prop bets: The Patriots, the Bills, and the battle for the AFC

The fate of the AFC East -- and maybe the AFC in general -- rests in Orchard Park.

For at least one day, the New England Patriots are the top seed in the AFC. If they can upset the Buffalo Bills on the road on Monday night, they’ll extend their rule to at least two weeks.

This Week 13 showdown isn’t just a battle between divisional rivals; it’s a game that will have lasting implications on the conference’s playoff race. A 9-4 Patriots team would take a 1.5-game lead over the Bills into its bye week before a challenging four-game stretch to close the season. A Buffalo win would push Josh Allen’s team to 8-4 and into a four-way tiebreaker situation for the AFC’s No. 1 spot.

More importantly, a Bills victory would prove their November struggles were an aberration, not a warning. Buffalo struggled through a 2-3 stretch that threw debris on their path to a second-straight division title and nearly sent the team spiraling (losing to the Jaguars will do that). Handling the Saints on Thanksgiving was a step in the right direction, but knocking off the Pats in front of a raucous, cinnamon schnapps-smelling home crowd would serve as proof the Bills are, in fact, one of the truest contenders.

Can Buffalo make that statement in front of a national audience? Will New England keep its hot streak rolling and send a disappointed crowd back to a parking lot littered with broken folding tables?

Let’s talk about it. All odds via Tipico.