Atlanta Falcons at Buffalo Bills: Game Preview and a Prediction

Buffalo looks to keep prolific offense churning as it closes in on AFC East crown.

Thanks to their big win over the New England Patriots last week and all of the previously COVID-19-infected players on their active roster being healthy enough to play as of Friday, the needle is pointing up for the Buffalo Bills (9-6) heading to their interconference matchup with the Atlanta Falcons at home.

By beating the Falcons this Sunday and then wrapping up the regular season with a victory over the New York Jets at home the following Sunday, the Bills would capture the AFC East crown for a second year in a row. That's something no team other than New England has done since the early 1990s, when the Bills did it as part of their run toward four straight Super Bowls.

Here's a closer look at the game:

THE BASICS

Game: Atlanta Falcons at Buffalo Bills.

Date: Jan. 2, 1 p.m.

Venue: Highmark Stadium, Orchard Park, N.Y.

Records: Falcons (7-8); Bills (9-6).

Betting info: Bills by 14½. Over/under, 44.

TV: FOX.

Falcons depth chart

Bills depth chart

ABOUT THE FALCONS

Coming off a 20-16 win over the Detroit Lions last week, the Falcons are clinging to a slim chance at a playoff berth that will require them to win their final two games and have many other things break the right way for them.

Like the Bills, they have experience bouts of inconsistency but have some dangerous weapons on offense in running back Cordarrelle Patterson (career-high 1,102 yards from scrimmage) and rookie tight end Kyle Pitts (64 catches, 949 yards).

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Longtime quarterback Matt Ryan has been compiling credentials since 2008 that could land him in the Hall of Fame. He has passed for more than 59,000 yards and has thrown 366 TD passes, 19 of them this season.

Ryan owned a 7-5 record against the Carolina Panthers during the six seasons in which Bills coach Sean McDermott was their defensive coordinator.

Middle linebacker Foyesade Oluokun leads the defense with 166 tackles, second-most in the league, to go with four pass breakups, two sacks and two interceptions.

Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett leads the team with 12 quarterback hits.

ABOUT THE BILLS

Quarterback Josh Allen (37 TD passes last season, 34 this season) is the only Bill in franchise history to have thrown 30-plus TD passes in back-to-back seasons. He also is the only player in NFL history with 100 passing touchdowns and 20 rushing touchdowns in his first four seasons.

His favorite target has been wide receiver Stefon Diggs (89 receptions, 1,092 yards this year), who has become the first in team history to surpass 80 catches and 1,000 yards for two straight seasons.

Diggs and left tackle Dion Dawkins were named to the Pro Bowl this season.

Wide receivers Cole Beasley (76 catches, 640 yards), Emmanuel Sanders (42 catches, 626 yards) and Gabriel Davis (29 catches, 470 yards, six TDs) and tight end Dawson Knox (46 catches, 538 yards, nine TDs) have been productive at various points this season.

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Then little-used Isaiah McKenzie stepped in last week and caught 11 passes for 125 yards and a TD. Both figures were career highs.

Running back Devin Singletary continues to lead the Bills in rushing yards (672) and is averaging 4.6 yards per attempt.

Linebacker Matt Milano has a career-high with 14 tackles for a loss this season.

The Bills also rank first in the NFL in allowing only 173.1 passing yards per game and a 64.4 cumulative passer rating.

Safeties Micah Hyde (67 tackles, five interceptions, two fumble recoveries) and Jordan Poyer (86 tackles, five interceptions) man the back end of that defense.

INJURIES

Falcons: CB Fabian Moreau (ribs) is doubtful.

Ten players from their active roster were on the Reserve/COVID-19 list as of Friday afternoon.

Bills: DT Ed Oliver (ankle) and WR Emmanuel Sanders (knee) are questionable.

PREDICTION

The confident Bills may have surprised a lot of people but certainly not themselves with last week's convincing win over the Patriots to take back control of the AFC East.

Now the mission is to keep their first winning streak since October going and finish off the job by securing one of the conference's top four playoff seeds.

The feeling here is that they cleared a major hurdle with that win and should be able to take care of any double-digit underdog, especially at home.

Blood is in the water now, and the sharks (aka Bills) are circling.

Bills 31, Falcons 20.

Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.