Christian Benford

ANALYSIS
Benford recorded his second interception of the season Sunday, when he jumped in front of an Aaron Rodgers pass intended for Allen Lazard midway through the fourth quarter. Benford's 24-yard return, coupled with an unnecessary roughness penalty on Rodgers, set the Bills up in Jets territory, and Buffalo capitalized on the good field position with a five-play drive that ended with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Josh Allen to Amari Cooper to extend the lead to 19 points. Benford is up to 64 tackles (50 solo), including 1.0 sacks, 10 pass defenses (including two interceptions), two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery through 15 regular-season games. It's unclear how much work Benford and the rest of the Bills' defensive starters will see against the Patriots in Week 18 since Buffalo is locked into the No. 2 seed in the AFC heading into the playoffs.

ANALYSIS
Benford's absence is one of several injury-related issues the Bills defense is dealing with going into the matchup against a quarterback in Patrick Mahomes who has bedeviled them in the postseason thus far in his career. In addition to being without Benford, who recorded 54 tackles, two interceptions, eight additional defensed passes and two forced fumbles across 15 regular-season games, Buffalo will also be managing the absence of key reserve safety Taylor Rapp due to a calf injury and has listed the cornerback duo of Taron Johnson and Rasul Douglas as questionable due to a concussion and a knee injury, respectively.