Allen, Bills look to clinch 7th straight playoff berth as Browns’ Garrett goes for NFL sacks record
Buffalo (10-4) at Cleveland (3-11)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS.
BetMGM NFL odds: Bills by 10.
Against the spread: Bills 7-7; Browns 5-9.
Series record: Browns lead 13-10.
Last meeting: Bills won 31-23 on Nov. 20, 2022, at Detroit.
Last week: Bills beat Patriots 35-31; Browns lost to Bears 31-3.
Bills offense: overall (3), rush (1), pass (13), scoring (3).
Bills defense: overall (12), rush (30), pass (2), scoring (16t).
Browns offense: overall (30), rush (29), pass (30), scoring (29t)
Browns defense: overall (3), rush (14), pass (1), scoring (19t)
Turnover differential: Bills even; Browns minus-4.
Bills player to watch
RB James Cook. The fourth-year running back ranks second in the NFL with 1,415 yards rushing and is coming off his eighth 100-yard outing. He scored on two TD runs and caught a touchdown pass against New England. The Bills are 7-1 when Cook tops 100 yards rushing.
Browns player to watch
DE Myles Garrett. With 21 1/2 sacks, the All-Pro pass rusher needs 1 1/2 to pass the single-season record held by Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan (2001 with the New York Giants) and Pittsburgh’s TJ Watt (2021). He has eight straight games with at least a full sack, which is tied for the third-longest in-season streak in league history. Garrett, who also leads the league with 32 tackles for a loss, has one sack against Buffalo’s Josh Allen in two meetings.
Key Matchup
Cook vs. Browns defense. Cook has at least 100 yards from scrimmage in a league-high 11 games this season. The Browns have allowed 137.9 rushing yards per game in their last seven contests, the seventh-highest in the league in that span.
Key injuries
Bills: DT Jordan Phillips (ankle) and K Matt Prater (quadricep) have already been ruled out. … CB Christian Benford’s status bears monitoring. He in position to return after missing one game with a toe injury. … LB Terrel Bernard is also trending toward returning after missing three games with an elbow injury. … TE Dalton Kincaid’s status is uncertain after he did not practice Wednesday due to a knee injury.
Browns: OG Wyatt Teller is expected to return after missing the past two games due to a calf injury. … OT Jack Conklin (concussion), DL Aidan Huntington (quad), OG Teven Jenkins (shoulder), TE David Njoku (knee), RB Dylan Sampson (hand) and CB Denzel Ward (calf) didn’t practice Wednesday.
Series notes
The teams’ last meeting was scheduled to be played at Orchard Park, New York, but moved to Detroit due to a snowstorm hitting the region. … The Bills have won five of the past seven, with both losses coming at Cleveland. … On Dec. 16, 2007, the Browns defeated Buffalo 8-0 in Cleveland in an outing played in near whiteout conditions. The Bills were forced to bus home a day later after their plane skidded off the runway. Two years later at Orchard Park, the Browns beat the Bills 6-3 in a game in which Cleveland’s Derek Anderson went 2 of 17 for 23 yards and an interception. The game was decided on Billy Cundiff’s 18-yard field goal in the final minute and after Buffalo’s Roscoe Parrish fumbled a punt at his own 16.
Stats and stuff
The Bills can clinch their seventh straight playoff berth with a win and either an Indianapolis loss or tie, or a Houston loss or tie. The Bills would also clinch with a tie against Cleveland and either Indianapolis or Houston losing. … The Bills are 24-4 in regular-season games played in December and January since 2020, with three of the four losses coming on the road. … Allen has 299 career touchdowns (passing/rushing/receiving) entering his 126th start. With a TD, he’d become the first player to reach 300 before turning 30, and achieve that milestone in the fewest games. Aaron Rodgers scored his 300th in his 134th outing. … Allen is 39-7 overall and 7-0 this season when not committing a giveaway. … Buffalo leads the NFL averaging 158.5 yards rushing per outing and is tied with the Colts for the league lead with 24 rushing TDs. … Buffalo has scored 28 points in the second half in each of its past two outings, and done so three times this season. In each outing, but Bills have overcome double-digit deficits, including being down 21-0 in the second quarter against New England. … The Bills are 7-4 when tied or trailing at halftime. … The Bills allowed a season-high 246 yards rushing against New England. … Buffalo has allowed 23 touchdown runs this season, the most during coach Sean McDermott’s nine-season tenure and tied for second-most in team history (1978, 2012). The Bills allowed 26 touchdown runs in a 14-game season in 1972. … This is the 16th time since the Browns returned in 1999 that they have lost at least 11 games. … Cleveland has had three games this season during which it has not scored an offensive touchdown. … Shedeur Sanders is 1-3 as the starting QB. He has five TD passes and six interceptions in five games. … RB Quinshon Judkins leads rookies in yards rushing (805) and is tied for the most rushing touchdowns with seven. … WR Isaiah Bond has three receptions of at least 40 yards in the past four games. … TE Harold Fannin leads NFL rookies with 66 receptions and is fourth in yards receiving (667). He has a TD catch in the past two home games. … The Browns haven’t allowed a 300-yard passer in 42 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NFL and the longest since the Colts went 52 games from 2005-08. … Cleveland leads the league with 107 tackles for a loss and is third with 47 sacks. … LB Carson Schwesinger leads NFL rookies with 125 tackles and has six straight games with at least 10. … CB Tyson Campbell is tied for second in the NFL with 16 passes defensed.
Fantasy tip
Buffalo WR Khalil Shakir has only one touchdown in the past seven games and has been held to eight catches for 86 yards the last three weeks after having eight receptions for 110 yards on Nov. 20 against Houston.
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