Josh Allen fights, but Buffalo escapes the Patriots

ORCHARD PARK – The Buffalo Bills weren’t ready to admit they dodged a bullet in their way-too-close 24-21 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon, but that’s exactly what they did.

Life as the hunted can be difficult, and that’s what Dion Dawkins cited as one of the main reasons why the 3-12 Patriots pushed the 12-3 Bills all the way and nearly pulled off one of the NFL’s biggest upsets of the season.

“Once you play well for a while, you become one of the big dogs,” Dawkins said. “They become the ones that everyone wants to come to and we are proud to say we were in that position. We’ve been AFC East Division champions for a while and people are going to bash us at every opportunity.”

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The Patriots threw punches, some of them landing, but despite faltering several times, the Bills regained their balance and managed just enough to win. And I mean, just enough.

“The start wasn’t the way we wanted it to be,” linebacker Terrel Bernard said, referring to the game’s first two drives in which New England moved through the Buffalo defense with alarming ease and took a 14-0 lead earned. “We made some adjustments and were able to play more like ourselves as we went along. I think it’s a good learning opportunity for us.”

Here’s the thing: It’s a little late to learn such lessons, because in less than a month, when the postseason begins, a start to a game as bad as the Bills’ on Sunday could lead to another ugly end to a season, and Sean McDermott knows the id.

“I thought we played sloppy, especially in the first half, and overall we need to clean up some things,” he said. “The second half was much better and we controlled the offensive line offensively and defensively with the takeaways. We can’t start a game the way we did, with a rebound and an overall bad start. I applaud the guys for finding a way and the coaching staff as well, but again there is a lot of work to be done to get out of this game.”

I would agree, and this feeling is reflected in my grades:

Pass offense: D

As I’ve said time and time again, miserable cold is usually never good for an offense, and it showed again in this game. Do you really think Josh Allen would have struggled as he did, completing just 16 of 29 for 154 yards with a touchdown and a pick, if it wasn’t like Siberia out there? Such temperatures always impact the offense more than the defense, and there was never a time when Allen looked in sync with any of his receivers.

Part of this was New England punching above their weight class as their defensive backs won far too often against the Bills’ WRs. Amari Cooper was once again invisible and only caught one pass. Dalton Kincaid’s team-high four catches went for a meager 15 yards. James Cook led the team with 26 yards and he caught Allen’s touchdown pass. The normally reliable Khalil Shakir caught just two of six targets for 22 yards and nearly lost a fumble.

That was a somewhat alarming performance against a defense that should have been as stingy as it was. It’s difficult to face an offense that has scored 30 points in eight straight games, but the Bills need to figure out some things, particularly Cooper’s role. He had a nice game in LA, but otherwise his performance since being traded from Cleveland has been underwhelming. Keon Coleman also hasn’t done much since returning from injury, as he only had one catch for 17 yards.

RUN OFFENSE: A-

If Cook doesn’t play as well as he did, the Bills will likely lose this game. He gave them a boost with his 46-yard TD run when it was 14-0, and then he made a really nice catch on Allen’s 4-yard TD pass that tied the game in the third quarter , a drive that ended the game. He started with a 25-yard run.

Cook was the only offensive player to shoulder the load on a day where Allen didn’t come close to performing at the level he’s shown most of the season.

Ty Johnson also came up big with 30 yards on the ground, including a huge 12-yard run on the first play after Buffalo caught an onside kick that ultimately helped the Bills run out the clock. The Bills finished the game with 172 yards rushing and an average of 6.1 per attempt. This works in the cold.

Pass Defense: D

Drake Maye seems legit, and that’s terribly disappointing for Bills fans who were probably hoping it would take the Patriots a few decades to find their next franchise QB after Tom Brady. However, Maye made a few crucial rookie mistakes as he committed two fatal turnovers in the second half.

Late in the third, he threw an end zone interception to Cam Lewis that prevented the Patriots from at least tying the game, and a fumble was recovered on his return pass to Rhamondre Stevenson, which was recovered by Taron for a TD in the fourth quarter Johnson. Those two plays scored maybe seven points from the field and gave the Bills seven, and that was the difference in the game. Still, Maye was better than Allen, as he threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns while also running for 30 yards.

Buffalo’s defense was banged up the entire game without Rasul Douglas, Taylor Rapp, Damar Hamlin and Matt Milano, and then without Johnson for part of it, so that’s something to take into account. New England’s first two offenses were terrible for the defense, with the last one cutting the deficit to 24-21. And the penalties were a major problem, as the defense was penalized eight points, including an absurd five pass interference penalty. Kaiir Elam had two of them.

The Bills need to get their starting defensive players on the field as quickly as possible because reserves have dwindled in two straight weeks.

RUN DEFENSE: C-

The Patriots pounded the Bills for 80 yards on the ground in the first half, earning 17 first downs. They came into the game averaging 17.4 first downs per game and finished the game with a whopping 28 yards rushing. The ground game yielded 126 yards at the end of the game, helping the Patriots finish with a total yardage advantage of 379-324.

This was really disappointing because the Patriots have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL, but for much of this game they won the line of scrimmage.

Stevenson had 60 yards and averaged five per attempt, while Antonio Gibson had 28 yards, adding to Maye’s 30. Terrel Bernard had 12 tackles and forced a fumble, which Williams recovered and set up Tyler Bass’s go-ahead field goal in the third. Williams and Cole Bishop each had eight tackles and Dawuane Smoot forced a fumble.

For some reason Baylon Spector started instead of Milano and not Williams. Williams was initially thought to be suffering from an elbow injury. He later appeared to suggest that was not the case, only taking charge in the second half after Spector was sidelined with another injury. Enough about Spector. He’s overmatched and if the coaching staff thought he was the better starting option, that’s a problem.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C

The Bills’ kickoff coverage allowed a 42-yard return on the opening kickoff by Gibson, setting up the Patriots for their first touchdown drive.

In the second quarter, the Bills’ punt team at the top was badly beaten by a fake when Dell Pettus took a direct snap, rushed forward on a fourth-and-1 at the New England 23 and converted. The Bills didn’t seem ready for the game, another failure from Matthew Smiley’s team.

There were two kickoff returns averaging 23 yards, one each from Ray Davis and Brandon Codrington. Bass made all four of his shots – a big 50-yard field goal and three extra points, and Sam Martin had two of his four punts inside 20 yards.

COACHING: D

The Bills didn’t seem ready to play, and this was definitely a case of playing down to the level of the competition. Considering they are still somewhat alive for the No. 1 seed and need to at least secure the No. 2 seed, this was a disappointing performance. The same went for the 13 penalties for 78 yards, which further highlighted how sloppy this performance was.

On defense, Bobby Babich had no answer on the first two drives and it was only because the Bills had three turnovers that they were able to win this game. This is the third week in a row where the defense has been poor and usually Allen and the offense bail them out, but they almost didn’t do it on Sunday.

Joe Brady also struggled as he couldn’t get his receivers open. The Patriots did an excellent job of stunning Brady at times.

Sal Maiorana has been covering the Buffalo Bills for four decades, including 35 years as a full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books on the team’s history. He can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social. Sign up for his Bills Blast newsletter here: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

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Josh Allen fights, but Buffalo escapes the Patriots

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