The Buffalo Bills visit the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night, Nov. 9, at 8:15 p.m. ET, which is 3:15 a.m. Tuesday in Cairo. Both teams are 6-1. Buffalo has won three in a row. Minnesota is coming off its first loss, 19-15 at Detroit.

The Bills have scored 233 points in seven games, 33.3 a game, the most in the NFL. The Vikings have allowed 93, 13.3 a game, the fewest. Something has to give.

Points per game, through Week 8

Fewest points allowed per game, through Week 8

The other sides of the ball look very different. Buffalo allows 25.9 points a game, and Minnesota scores 20.0, sixth fewest in the league.

The Bills have not scored fewer than 24 points in any of their seven games, and they have scored 33 or more in five. Three of the six wins were by five points or fewer.

Bills points by game

1. Sept. 13Won 36-31 at Houston. Josh Allen threw for 334 yards, and the Bills averaged 7.9 yards a play.
2. Sept. 17Won 41-31 against Detroit on a Thursday night. The Bills ran for 203 yards and Allen scored two rushing touchdowns.
3. Sept. 27Won 24-16 against the Chargers despite five turnovers. James Cook ran for 154 yards.
4. Oct. 4Lost 29-26 to New England, the only loss. The Bills were scoreless in the first and third quarters.
5. Oct. 12Won 37-34 in overtime at the Rams on Monday night. Allen ran for 121 yards and Cook scored twice.
6. Oct. 18Won 33-30 at Las Vegas, outscoring the Raiders 10-0 in the third quarter.
7. Nov. 1Won 36-10 against Baltimore after a bye week. The defense held the Ravens to 144 yards.

The Vikings have allowed 22 points or fewer in all seven games, and 16 or fewer in five of them. Their only loss came by four points.

Points allowed by the Vikings

1. Sept. 13Won 39-22 against Green Bay. Minnesota scored 22 points in the fourth quarter, and had only 239 yards.
2. Sept. 20Won 9-3 at Chicago. The Vikings did not score a touchdown, and the Bears had two turnovers.
3. Sept. 27Won 23-16 at Tampa Bay. The Vikings sacked Tampa Bay six times.
4. Oct. 4Won 15-10 against Miami. Minnesota held the ball for 39:11.
5. Oct. 11Won 23-13 at New Orleans. The Saints gained 142 yards and had three turnovers.
6. Oct. 25Won 16-10 against Indianapolis after a bye. The Colts gained 64 yards passing.
7. Nov. 1Lost 19-15 at Detroit. Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 153 yards and the Lions had 230 on the ground.

The quarter-by-quarter totals show where each team is strong. Buffalo has outscored opponents 84-44 in the second quarter. Minnesota has outscored them 62-10 in the fourth, which is 44 percent of its season scoring, and has allowed 10 fourth-quarter points in seven games.

Fourth-quarter points, seven games

Buffalo’s defense is the weak side of that comparison: it has allowed 72 points in the fourth quarter and 38 in the first. Minnesota’s offense has scored 17 points in all its third quarters, and only 22 in the first quarters.

Josh Allen has accounted for 20 touchdowns: 11 passing and nine rushing. He has thrown for 1,793 yards, 256.1 a game, and run for 270 more on 55 carries, and he has thrown five interceptions.

Allen's touchdowns (passing + rushing) by game

The run game is no one-man show. James Cook has 707 yards and seven touchdowns on 138 carries, and Buffalo has run for 1,039 yards, 148.4 a game, while also averaging 244.7 passing yards.

Minnesota is 6-1 with a bad offense and an unsettled quarterback spot. Carson Wentz played the first two games, both wins, and was 23 of 39 for 276 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Kyler Murray has made the five starts since, and the Vikings have never scored more than 23 points in any of them.

Vikings points by game

Murray has a sore hamstring from the Detroit game. Coach Kevin O’Connell said he is the quarterback going forward if he is healthy, and Wentz is the backup option.

The Lions ran for 230 yards, 164 of them after halftime, and Gibbs had 153. It was 76 more rushing yards than Minnesota had allowed in any other game this season.

Rushing yards allowed by the Vikings

Flores also said Minnesota will keep its blitzing style against Allen, but “we’re not going to be reckless.” The Vikings blitzed on 26 of Detroit’s 29 dropbacks.

Allen’s first game in Minnesota came in 2018, in his third NFL game, when he hurdled linebacker Anthony Barr. The last meeting was in Buffalo in 2022, when the Vikings won 33-30 in overtime, a game that included Justin Jefferson’s one-handed 32-yard catch on fourth-and-18.

1. Mon., Nov. 9Bills at Vikings, U.S. Bank Stadium, 8:15 p.m. ET (3:15 a.m. Tuesday in Cairo)
2. Sun., Nov. 15Vikings at Packers and Bills at Jets, both 1:00 p.m. ET (8:00 p.m. in Cairo)
3. Sun., Nov. 22Vikings at 49ers, 8:20 p.m. ET (3:20 a.m. Monday in Cairo); Dolphins at Bills, 1:00 p.m. ET
4. Thu., Nov. 26Chiefs at Bills, 8:20 p.m. ET (3:20 a.m. Friday in Cairo)

The league’s best offense against its best defense. Buffalo is the AFC’s No. 1 seed at 6-1, and Minnesota is the NFC’s No. 2 seed behind San Francisco, also 6-1.