Despite sitting atop the AFC East, the New England Patriots enter a Week 15 matchup against the Buffalo Bills as home underdogs.
While Mike Vrabel has been made aware of the game line, the head coach does not pay much attention to it.
“No. Again, it gets brought to attention,” Vrabel shared Wednesday. “It’s every week you see in this league that records really don’t mean anything and the point spreads and survivor pools get blown up every week and all that other stuff. So, we’re just trying to focus
on our preparation here and get back into it. Had a good day Monday, excited about the meetings thus far today and then progress through the middle of the week.”
When wide receiver Stefon Diggs was made aware of their status as underdogs shortly after at his locker, the veteran had a one-word response.
“Good,” he said.
Oddsmakers have the Bills favored by 1.5-points in the rematch after the Patriots won the Week 5 matchup in Buffalo 23-20. New England is use to overcoming the odds this season, however, as their 11 wins have already seen them eclipse their preseason win total of 8.5.
According to Diggs, that has come from the team playing with an edge in part due to how the roster was constructed.
“Edge. A real edge. That’s why I said it was good,” said the receiver, who was once a fifth-round pick in the draft. “This team is full of guys that were castoffs and people who were cut or people who didn’t necessarily get the opportunity that they wanted. However you dice it up. I feel like that’s good for us.
“Being an underdog, people like us have been an underdog our whole life. We’re going to have something to prove regardless of it. I think the main thing is it gets exciting when you’re an underdog, when you’ve got a lot to prove, when you’re playing with that edge and you’re playing aggressive because nobody believes in us but us. The record is surprising to everybody. All we did is take it one game at a time and I think we’ll do the same thing.”
