Sunday afternoon, whoever bothers to show up at Gillette Stadium, and anyone who chooses to spend three hours watching on TV, will be watching the Buffalo Bills play the New England Patriots in a game neither team cares about winning.

This doesn’t happen all too often in the NFL, but that’s the situation in the regular-season finale between two teams that are separated by a whopping 10 games in the AFC East standings.

Would the players and coaches on both sides like to win? Well, yeah, winning is always better than losing. If you buy $5 worth of lottery tickets, you’d like to win something, even if you just get your money back, right?

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But for the Bills, the only thing that matters is to get out of the game completely healthy. If they win, great, that would be a franchise-record 14 for the season, and it would complete a perfect 6-0 against AFC East rivals, two nice little nuggets. If they lose? No one is going to lose sleep because they are locked in as the No. 2 AFC playoff seed.

“We want to win the game, so that’s goal number one, and two is making sure we’re as fresh as possible coming out of this week and healthy as possible,” coach Sean McDermott said. “Stay with our process, being consistent with how we approach each and every week and wanting to see some things out there that we’re anxious to see and eager to see and curious to see, quite frankly, of how certain players take advantage of the opportunity.”

For the Patriots, it’s a little trickier. The players and coaches want to win because they have only done so three times in 2024, and it would be nice to go into the offseason with one more notch. Plus, these guys are playing for jobs, whether that’s in New England or elsewhere. But strap owner Robert Kraft to a lie detector and if he said winning this game mattered to him, he would fail because with a loss, the crumbled remnants of the Evil Empire would lock up the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 draft.

And with the Patriots having already found their franchise quarterback in Drake Maye, they could trade that ultra valuable asset and bring back a haul of several high picks which is clearly the best way to rebuild a woefully broken roster. Or, just pick the best player in college football, whoever they think that is.

Weird game, for sure. Here’s my preview:

The QB Matchup: Mitch Trubisky vs. Drake Maye

Josh Allen is going to extend his consecutive games started streak to 115 and then he’ll get placed in bubble wrap on the sideline as Trubisky finishes out the game. I’m certainly not expecting much on offense, and the Bills’ preference would be for Trubisky to do as little throwing as possible.

Ideally, the Bills want to run the ball effectively and keep the clock moving so as to limit the number of snaps in the game, theoretically lessening the chance for injuries, particularly to the starters who have to play because you can’t sit everyone.

In keeping with the whole protecting of the No. 1 pick scuttlebutt, there were whispers in New England that ownership may instruct coach Jerod Mayo to keep Maye out of the game. Draft position is the main reason, but also to make sure Maye doesn’t get hurt and can enter the offseason ready to rock as he prepares for his second year. That first offseason for an NFL rookie is always vital to his development and the Patriots certainly don’t want Maye rehabbing from surgery, or an injury.

Mayo, who may be fired as early as Monday, said, “Drake is our starting quarterback. If he’s healthy and ready to go, as we go through this week of practice, then he’ll play. He’s a competitor, he wants to play and he’s still developing. He’ll be ready to go.”

Buffalo Bills who should impact the game

➤ QB Mitch Trubisky: There are so few competent backup QBs in the NFL, it’s rather startling, and Trubisky falls into that category. If something were to happen to Allen, the Bills would be toast turning to Trubisky for any length of time. I expect Joe Brady to keep things vanilla and simple, and here’s another reason why: Allen will end up being the backup once he’s taken out, and if Trubisky were to then get hurt, Allen would have to go back in, and you know the Bills won’t want that.

➤ FB Reggie Gilliam: The Bills have 13 different players who have a caught a TD pass this season which ties an NFL record. They would love to break that tie and I think you will see a concerted effort, if they get down around the goal line, to try to make this happen and Gilliam is the most obvious candidate. He’s going to play more than usual, perhaps several snaps at TE as Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox get time off, and I could definitely see the Bills setting up a pass play to get Gilliam a TD. Another candidate could be offensive lineman Alec Anderson, or perhaps a practice squad WR like KJ Hamler.

➤ LB Joe Andreessen: With Terrel Bernard out, Buffalo Joe is going to start and probably play the entire game. Last week against the Jets when the Bills emptied their bench, Andreessen made eight tackles in about one quarter of action. He is not the biggest nor most physically gifted player, but he’s got grit and athleticism. The Patriots will try to exploit him both on the ground in the air, so this will be a big test to see how far he’s actually come as a rookie.

➤ S Cole Bishop: McDermott said this week that he’s been very impressed with how Bishop has grown during the season, especially lately when he has had to fill in for injured Damar Hamlin. He still struggles a bit in play recognition and coverage, and he needs to improve as a tackler, but he’s making an early bid to be a starter in 2025 and he’ll get another chance to bulk up his resume in this game.

New England Patriots who should impact the game

➤ WR Kayshon Boutte: The 2023 sixth-round pick caught just two passes as a rookie, but this year he’s had an expanded role and has 36 catches for 472 yards and two TDs. Two weeks ago, he had the best game of his brief time in the NFL against the Bills as he made an outstanding 28-yard TD reception in the first quarter and finished with five for 95 yards, both career highs.

➤ C Cole Strange: Probably the best offensive lineman on the team, he missed the first 15 games with an injury and finally made his season debut last week against the Chargers. Predictably, he was rusty and did not fare well in a blowout loss, but with a game under his belt, Strange figures to be more effective, especially with Andreesen playing MLB and the Bills likely leaning heavily on backup DTs like DeWayne Carter and Austin Johnson in the middle where the Patriots would love to run the ball.

➤ S Marte Mapu: The 2023 third-round pick had a tremendous game in Buffalo as he picked off an Allen pass, broke up another, made five tackles and he forced a James Cook fumble in the fourth quarter when it was still a 17-14 game which could have been a huge play if the Bills’ hadn’t recovered. Mapu is a player the Patriots are hoping becomes part of their future.

➤ LB Christian Elliss: A journeyman who began his NFL career with the Eagles in 2021 as an undrafted free agent, he has earned playing time this season, including four starts, because he has been a decent blitzer and acceptable against both the run and pass. And for the 2024 Patriots, acceptable makes you a starter. He had seven tackles and a pass breakup in the first game against the Bills.

Sal’s prediction: Patriots 20, Bills 13

It’s impossible to forecast this one with so many personnel decisions up in the air for the Bills. Playing their ‘B’ team most of the day would signal that New England could certainly win, especially since their players will be trying to put a good performance on film heading into an offseason when so many things will be changing and many of them could be playing for new teams in 2025.

Still, the Patriots are so devoid of talent that it’s not crazy to think the Trubisky Bills could go into half-empty Gillette Stadium and do just enough to win. I’ll base my pick on this: The Bills don’t need the game, it’s a division opponent and those are usually competitive, and the Patriots gave them a tough test in Buffalo with the Bills playing their ‘A’ team and needing to win the game.