Judging by the performances of their blockers in the opening week of the season Kaleb McGary Jersey , it’s fair to wonder if there will be more sacks than points in Thursday night’s game between the Texans and Bengals. Cincinnati allowed Andy Dalton to be trapped five times, half as much as Houston yielded in its loss to Jacksonville. Yes, 10 sacks. At that rate, AJ McCarron might be on the field soon for Cincinnati because of the battering Dalton is taking. As for Tom Savage or Deshaun Watson or whoever is taking snaps for Houston, two words of advice: WATCH OUT! ”What we talk to quarterbacks about all the time is put us in the play that you can,” Texans QBs coach Sean Ryan said. ”We preach that all the time to those guys. They always do their best to see what’s going on defensively and get that done for us. ”And then the next thing for the quarterbacks is let’s have that clock in your head. Know when it’s time to get the ball out of your hands or know when it’s time to tuck and go. It’s something that you’re constantly working with the quarterbacks on and we still work on it and always will.” Looks as if more work is in order. No. 27 Cincinnati is a 4-point favorite over No. 24 Houston, which also has a slew of people in concussion protocol. It’s difficult to believe the Bengals are really as inept with the ball as the Ravens made them look. BENGALS, 20-13 KNOCKOUT LEAGUE TIP The Broncos made us sweat it out in the final game of opening week. We expect OAKLAND will be much kinder to our nerves. No. 32 New York Jets (plus 13 1-2) at No. 6 (tie) Oakland Thought about 10 seconds before making this … BEST BET: RAIDERS, 34-10 No. 23 Washington (plus 2 1-2) at No. 20 Los Angeles Rams Rams basically had bye vs. Luckless Colts. Redskins more formidable. UPSET SPECIAL: REDSKINS, 27-16 No. 4 New England (minus 4 1-2) at No. 26 New Orleans Tom Brady is mad and isn’t going to take it anymore. PATRIOTS, 30-20 No. 3 Dallas (minus 1 1-2) at No. 14 Denver Solid early season matchup that a true O-line will win. Bengals and Texans should pay attention. COWBOYS, 17-14 No. 16 Tennessee (minus 1) at No. 19 Jacksonville Titans have a quarterback, something Texans didn’t seem to have against Jaguars. TITANS, 22-17 No. 29 Cleveland (plus 7 1-2) at No. 12 Baltimore Can’t see Browns winning on road this early, maybe later in season. RAVENS, 13-7 No. 11 Philadelphia (plus 4 1-2) at No. 2 Kansas City Two of the NFL’s impressive teams in Week 1. CHIEFS Kendall Sheffield Jersey , 23-17 No. 1 Green Bay (plus 3) at No. 5 Atlanta If Packers win this, stamp them as NFC favorites. FALCONS, 31-30 No. 9 Minnesota (plus 7) at No. 6 (tie) Pittsburgh Steelers looked rather blah in their win over Browns. Vikings looked terrific vs. Saints. STEELERS, 24-20 No. 25 Buffalo (plus 7) at No. 10 Carolina Don’t be fooled by Bills’ home win vs. Jets. PANTHERS, 28-13 No. 22 Arizona (minus 7 1-2) at No. 31 Indianapolis A shame this game is missing David Johnson and Andrew Luck. CARDINALS, 24-7 No. 28 Chicago (plus 6) at No. 15 Tampa Bay Will Bucs be rusty or chomping at the bit? Go with the latter. BUCCANEERS, 23-13 No. 18 Miami (plus 4) at No. 21 Los Angeles Chargers Will Dolphins be rusty or chomping at the bit. No matter. CHARGERS, 28-27 No. 30 San Francisco (plus 12 1-2) at No. 8 Seattle Seahawks will show some offense this week. SEAHAWKS, 23-6 No. 13 Detroit (plus 5) at No. 17 New York Giants Betting on Beckham returning, making huge difference for Giants. GIANTS, 21-17 — 2017 RECORD: Season Totals: Against spread (6-9). Straight up: (9-6) Best Bet: 1-0 against spread, 1-0 straight up. Upset special: 1-0 against spread, 1-0 straight up — AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — For nine straight years, the final few weeks of the regular season for the Patriots have included the celebration of an AFC East title and typically an accompanying first-round bye in the playoffs.New England can lock up a 10th consecutive division crown Sunday with a win or tie against Buffalo, or a Miami loss or tie when it hosts Jacksonville. The Patriots would also become the first franchise in NFL history to earn a playoff berth in 10 straight seasons.But they enter the final two weeks of the regular season needing help to avoid playing in the wild-card round of the playoffs for the first time since 2009.Article continues below ...Following back-to-back losses at Miami and Pittsburgh John Cominsky Jersey , New England (9-5) began Week 16 on track to be the No. 3 seed in the AFC behind Kansas City (11-3) and Houston (10-4).The Patriots have not been a wild-card team since 2009, when they were blown out by Baltimore. They also failed to make it to the Super Bowl the other two times under coach Bill Belichick (2005 and 2006) that they played during the opening weekend of the postseason. New England has never started the postseason on the road with Belichick the coach and Tom Brady the quarterback.The first step to New England avoiding those fates is by continuing its dominance against the Bills (5-9), a team it has beaten four straight times — including a 25-6 win at Buffalo in October. It was one of the few successes the Patriots had on the road this season, where they’ve gone just 3-5.While they will be at home Sunday and for their regular-season finale on Dec. 30 against the Jets, coach Bill Belichick is not counting it as an advantage.“I think playing well creates an advantage,” he said.New England is as healthy as it’s been all season, but will have to adapt after receiver Josh Gordon was suspended indefinitely by the NFL on Thursday for violating an agreement that allowed him to play after multiple drug suspensions.Gordon was thriving in New England, where he landed in September in a trade after the Browns felt it was time to cut ties. In 11 starts with the Patriots, he had 40 receptions for 720 yards and three touchdowns, five years removed from an All-Pro season in 2013 with 87 catches for 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns.Bills linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said Buffalo, which is coming off a close win over Detroit last week, is embracing the role of spoiler.“It’s huge,” Alexander said. “Obviously, they’ve been the standard of our division for the last 15 years, and they’re in the division chase. So for us to go up there and be able to beat them would be huge obviously for this city Qadree Ollison Jersey , for our team and organization. Because they’re a team that’s really had our number since I’ve been here.”Here are some things to watch for in Sunday’s game:WHO STEPS UP?With Gordon out, Brady will be looking for someone to fill his production for the remainder of the season. That will likely mean a lot more will be put on veteran receiver Julian Edelman and tight end Rob Gronkowski, though both struggled at times this season. Edelman has 63 catches for 711 yards and four touchdowns, while Gronkowski has 45 catches for 658 yards and three TDs.But Gronk was limited again this week by ankle and back issues. And between them, they have just two touchdowns over the past three games.OFFENSIVE IMPROVEMENTWith rookie quarterback Josh Allen back on the field for four games since missing four with a sprained right elbow, the Bills’ offense is improving despite RB LeSean McCoy’s ongoing struggles.Allen is 57 for 114 for 801 yards, four TDs and four INTs in in his last four starts. Meanwhile, the Bills have topped 100 yards rushing in five straight games, matching last season’s high.McCoy has topped 100 yards just once — 113 yards and two touchdowns — in a 41-10 win at the New York Jets on Nov. 11. Otherwise, with 479 yards rushing, he’s in jeopardy of finishing with the lowest production of his career. He had 637 yards as a rookie in 2009, when he had four starts in 16 games.CHARTING BRADYBrady owns a 29-3 record against Bills. His 29 wins against Buffalo are the most victories by a quarterback against a single opponent. Next is Brady’s 26 wins against Jets.Brady passed for 324 yards in the last meeting with Buffalo and needs 21 to join Peyton Manning (14) and Drew Brees (12) as quarterbacks with 10 seasons of 4,000-plus yards passing.