Bills' next game is against the 49ers on Sunday Night Football: What you need to know

ORCHARD PARK – Green Bay Packers can do it Buffalo Bills You did a favor by beating the Miami Dolphins, a team that had suddenly won three straight games on Thanksgiving night. Buffalo’s closest pursuer in the AFC East.

The Packers certainly didn’t do the Bills any favors by defeating San Francisco 38-10 at Lambeau Field on Sunday, as the Bills’ next game is Sunday Night against the injured 49ers, who will come to Highmark Stadium as a dangerously desperate team. Football match. .

“This is the worst thing that could happen, probably one of the worst I’ve ever been a part of,” 49ers linebacker Fred Warner said of the Packers-inflicted beatdown. “Shameful. You need to take it on the chin, accept it like a man, and move on.

The defending NFC champions are currently 5-6 and in last place in the NFC West, but that only means they’re one game behind co-leaders Seattle and Arizona. The 49ers are far from out of the woods, not only in the division race but also in the NFC wild card hunt, as Washington, currently 7-5, clings to seventh place.

But the 49ers have lost back-to-back games (losing at home to Seattle on Nov. 17) and unless they turn things around quickly, they won’t have the opportunity to defend their NFC crown.

In Green Bay, the 49ers played without four key players: QB Brock Purdy, LT Trent Williams, DE Nick Bosa and CB Charvarius Ward, and it showed. They managed just 11 first downs with Brandon Allen at QB, had three turnovers plus one turnover on downs, their defense allowed 169 rushing yards, including 106, and three TDs to Josh Jacobs, and they committed nine penalties for 77 yards; This happened for the third time. They committed nine violations in four matches.

“The whole game was disappointing,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “When we took those penalties we didn’t stop the run and had three turnovers in the second half. That’s how embarrassed you are.”

Yes, there will be an angry and motivated team coming to Orchard Park, a team that has reached the NFC Championship Game in four of the last five years, and all four of the star players who have not pitched could be back against the Bills. This is a game the 49ers really should have won.

Get back into the action after saying goodbye It’s something they’ve always done under Sean McDermott. The Bills have never lost the week after a bye since he arrived in 2017; A perfect 7-0. This year’s farewell has come at an appropriate time because The Bills had some injured players taking advantage of the week off. TE Dalton Kincaid, WR Keon Coleman and OT Spencer Brown missed the huge win over the Chiefs but could be ready to compete on Sunday.

The only downside to the bye was that it would disrupt the Bills’ push. Since they’re back to back Losses against Ravens And TexansThey’ve won five in a row and scored at least 30 points in the last four, so they need to make all the stops quickly against a talented 49ers team that has its back against the wall.

San Francisco 49ers key to victory

Whether Purdy plays or not, the 49ers need to move RB Christian McCaffrey. After missing the first eight games, McCaffrey wasn’t the same player who was the 2023 NFL offensive player of the year, leading the league in rushing (1,459 yards) and yards from scrimmage (2,023 yards).

He has so far caught 13 catches for 132 yards on just 49.7 yards rushing and a 3.5 per carry average, and has yet to find the end zone. All season long, opposing defenses tried to take away the running game (even when Mcaffrey was out) and dared the 49ers to take field goals. They’ve faced light boxes (meaning six or fewer defenders on the offensive line) at the lowest rate in the NFL, just 27.8% of the time, and they’ve seen stacked boxes (at least eight men on the line) in the league. high 32.3% of the time.

The Bills were in the light zone 52.2% of the time on base nickel defense, which ranks ninth-most, and they rank 30th in yards allowed per rush at 4.9, so this could be a chance for McCaffrey and his backup, Jordan. Mason prefers to deal some damage against a defensive formation they don’t see very often.

Must watch match

For the third week in a row, Bills WR Khalil Shakir, who has taken most of his snaps in the slot, will face an excellent slot CB in San Francisco Deommodore Lenoir. Shakir had to deal with the Colts’ Kenny Moore in Week 10 and had six catches for 58 yards, then faced Chiefs’ stud Trent McDuffie in Week 11 and had eight catches for 70 yards.

Shakir leads all NFL WRs in catch percentage with 84.8 and his 473 yards after the catch is second to the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase. But among all slot CBs, Lenoir’s passer rating of 65.7 is No. 1, and his 8.5 snaps per reception allowed is third-best among slot CBs with at least 250 snaps. Shakir has become the most important WR on the team and this is his must-win game.

Who wins? Bills 27, 49ers 23

If Miami loses on Thursday, the Bills will have a chance to go out and wrap up their fifth straight AFC East title. If Miami wins, that will be one more reason for the Bills, who have to go the way of the Rams and Lions from now on, to want to take care of business and keep the Dolphins on the brink of extinction in the division race.

San Francisco’s health will be a major factor. It’s too early to predict whether Purdy, Williams, Ward and Bosa will return, but there are indications that all four could return, making Buffalo’s task much more difficult than Green Bay’s. Still, the Bills are 5-0 at home this season and 32-6 since the start of 2020, and that could be the ultimate difference.

What time will the Buffalo Bills-San Francisco 49ers game start?

Kickoff time at Highmark Stadium is set for 20.20.

Who is the favorite to win Bills vs 49ers?

The Bills opened the game as 6.5-point favorites. The money line is Bills minus-275 (bet $275 to win $100) and 49ers plus-225 (bet $100 to win $225). The over-under is 46.

How to watch and broadcast Bills vs 49ers game on TV

Cable/Network TV: NBC. The game will be available locally through the following stations: WHEC channel 10 (Rochester area), WGRZ channel 2 (Buffalo area), WSTM channel 3 (Syracuse area), WKTV channel 2 (Utica area), WETM channel 18 (Elmira area), WNYT channel 13 (Albany area) and WBGH channel 20 (Binghamton area).

Online streaming services: You can watch games on NFL.com and the NFL mobile app and subscribe to NFL+, the league’s own streaming service, but you can’t stream games to your TV; You need to watch on your phone or device. tablet.

Streaming TV: You can also stream if you have a subscription to Spectrum, DirecTV, fuboTV, Sling, Vidgo, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and Peacock.

On the radio: How to listen to the Bills vs 49ers game

You can listen to SiriusXM satellite radio on channel 225 (Bills broadcast) and channel 226 (49ers broadcast), and on traditional radio, the Bills Radio Network has stations all over the state. Chris Brown handles play-by-play, Eric Wood is analyst and Sal Capaccio is sideline reporter. The network includes:

Rochester (WCMF 96.5 and WROC 950 AM)
Buffalo (WGR550, 550 AM)
Syracuse (WTKW 99.5/WTKV 105.5)
Binghamton (WDRE 100.5FM)
Ithaca (WIII 99.9/100.3 FM)
Bathroom (WVIN 98.3 FM)
Newark (WACK 1420 AM)
Dansville (WDNY 93.9 FM)
Elmira (WNGZ 1490 AM)
Auburn (WAUB 98.1 FM/1590 AM)
Geneva (WGVA 95.9 FM, 1240 AM)

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades, including 35 years as D&C’s full-time beat writer, and has written numerous books about the team’s history. She can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow her on X @salmaiorana and Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social. Sign up for the Bills Blast newsletter here: