The Buffalo Bills’ 23-20 divisional loss to the New England Patriots (3-2 OVR, 2-0 AFCE) on Sunday wasn’t the result that anyone was expecting, at least not to those hailing from outside of the greater New England area.
Riding a four-game winning streak and having the emotional high of facing a hated rival in front of a “whiteout” crowd at Highmark Stadium under the bright lights of Sunday Night Football, many expected the Bills (4-1 OVR, 2-1 AFCE) to take care of business against the Patriots and new head coach Mike Vrabel, just as they had in six of the previous eight meetings.
Instead, Buffalo looked disjointed for most of the night – committing 11 penalties and three turnovers – allowing New England to escape Orchard Park with a narrow victory thanks to a go-ahead field goal from rookie kicker Andrés Borregales, who drilled the ball dead center to the back of the net from 52 yards out with just seconds remaining in the game.
The win marks New England’s second straight against Buffalo, with the first coming in the regular-season finale last January.
Although it wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, Buffalo’s defense, despite struggling to stymie the connection between wide receiver Stefon Diggs (10 receptions for 146 yards) and second-year quarterback Drake Maye for much of the contest, surely played well enough for the Bills to come away victorious had the offensive unit held up its end of the bargain.
Following the aforementioned penalties and untimely turnovers, Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen described the performance as “piss poor” immediately after the game, and offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s assessment wasn’t any less bleak after watching the film.
“There was nothing that was the standard (Sunday) night, right? When you turn the ball over three times, (and) you have seven penalties (on offense) – it’s hard to beat any team in the NFL – it’s really hard to beat a team in the NFL while also having to overcome beating yourselves,” Brady said during his media availability at One Bills Drive on Monday.
“I mean, that first half especially, was about as bad as it gets, right? You have opportunities, with the way the defense was playing right there, you have opportunities – to not necessarily put the game away – but you have opportunities to take a lead, and instead we kind of gift wrapped them some points. So, disappointing from that (aspect). But, it definitely wasn’t the standard.”
The gift wrapping to which Brady spoke of could refer to a multitude of instances.
Whether it be wide receiver Keon Coleman’s fumble at Buffalo’s own 10-yard line that gave the Patriots prime real estate inside the red zone late in the first quarter, eventually setting up a field goal for Borregales to give New England an early 3-0 lead, or Allen’s interception inside the Patriots’ 20-yard-line with under three minutes remaining in the third quarter that led to a 11-play, 90-yard touchdown drive the other way by Maye and company to put the Bills in a 10-point hole in the fourth quarter, the mishaps by Buffalo were abundant to choose from.
Allen and Coleman, who finished the night with just four catches for 23 yards and a touchdown, were unable to get on the same page throughout the game, while Diggs and Maye stole the show in prime time.
Coleman was even benched to start the night due to an incident earlier in the week that head coach Sean McDermott deemed deserving of disciplinary action.
Needless to say, it was an evening to forget for everyone involved.
“Winning and losing is part of the game. I think it’s how you lose which kind of upsets the team. It definitely upset us how we lost. You know, we weren’t really paying attention to the details – just the small little things like every other team and every other loss. But, we responded well (Thursday) coming back to practice and especially in meetings the other day. I think everyone is trying to get the bad taste out of their mouth,” fellow wide receiver Josh Palmer said on Thursday.
“(It’s about) doing that more consistently and not giving the opponent a chance to even think they can play with us – you know, attacking it early. Sometimes we get in a slump, but you shouldn’t have to get into a slump to try to dig ourselves out of that hole. So, it’s just coming ready as soon as that whistle is blown.”
While it’s easy to obsess and nitpick over the fine details of the matchup, the gigantic opportunity missed by the Bills can’t be ignored in terms of the big picture, either.
Had Buffalo managed to win against New England, the team would have essentially held a three-and-a-half game lead in the AFC East and stood alone atop the overall AFC standings heading into its final game against the Atlanta Falcons (2-2 OVR, 0-2 NFCS) before a Week 7 bye.
The setup could not have been better.
However, the Bills, with two of their turnovers against New England coming on fumbles, quite literally let the moment slip through their hands.
The team must now face the reality of the Patriots viciously nipping at its heels for the remainder of the season, and any other slip-ups along the road to the playoffs could prove to be costly when all is said and done in January.
Heck, if it were former Colts’ head coach Jim Mora coaching the Bills following their most recent performance, he may be driven to mutter his infamous statement: “Playoffs!? Don’t talk about playoffs. You kidding me!? Playoffs!? I just hope we can win a game – another game.”
Luckily, for everyone involved, it’s McDermott and not Mora leading the charge in Buffalo.
So, while fans and outside observers may have slightly soured on the Bills’ outlook moving forward, Buffalo’s head man knows that consistency will be the key moving forward.
“We played the game the way that (New England) wanted us to play the game, and we can’t do that. We’ve got to get back to reestablishing and really grooving our fundamentals, our detail, our discipline – those are the things that have made us good for so long, and you cannot get away from those things. The minute you do is the minute it starts looking like (Sunday’s performance). That’s just not who we are,” McDermott said when speaking to reporters earlier this week.
“It starts with all of us looking at ourselves and saying, ‘Hey – how can I be better and what do I need to do to grow?’… It’s not always just one player or one position. So, it really starts just with that foundation I mentioned (before) – just making sure we’re disciplined in our approach, we’re detailed, and we understand where I line up and how that affects the overall outcome of the play.”
Buffalo will now set its sights toward righting the ship on the road in Atlanta for Monday Night Football.
Doing so will be easier said than done, however, as the Falcons present plenty of challenges on both sides of the ball.
Led by second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (918 passing yards, 3 TDs, 3 INTs), running back Bijan Robinson (584 total yards, 2 total TDs), and wide receiver Drake London (24 receptions, 269 yards, 1 TD) on offense, as well as safeties Jessie Bates III (team-high 24 total tackles) and Xavier Watts (23 total tackles and a team-high 2 INTs), defensive ends Leonard Floyd (5 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2 TFLs) and Zach Harrison (11 total tackles, 2 TFLs, and a team-high 2.5 sacks), and former All-Pro cornerback AJ Terrell, who is expected to return from a hamstring injury suffered in week 2, on defense, the Falcons are coming off a bye week following an impressive 34-27 victory over the Washington Commanders in Week 4.
Undoubtedly rejuvenated coming off a victory and extra rest, the Bills know they’ll be in for a dogfight come Monday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I think (the loss was) a wakeup call, a reset – whatever you want to call it. You know, we had been getting by previous games maybe not playing our best football, and when you play a team – that again, did everything the right way – credit to (the Patriots) for coming into our home stadium and having a really good gameplan. It does wake you up in terms of like, ‘Hey, every week we’re going to get the team’s best – whoever we’re playing’s best.’ And, we’ve got to play up to our standard. At the end of the day, this is the NFL. Each and every week’s got to be earned, and that starts in practice,” quarterback Josh Allen said to reporters following practice on Thursday.
“We’re gonna’ have our hands full (against Atlanta) of making sure we’re ‘IDing’ things the right way, seeing things the right way in the run game, and then, ultimately, in the pass game we’ve got to throw it and we’ve got to catch it. And, again, limit the turnovers and just go out there and try to play a game that we know we can go play … When you play away, your ultimate job is to make sure that stadium stays as quiet as possible. And, that’s by doing your job, going in there and scoring points. Away environments can be very fun, but very challenging at the same time.”
Kickoff is slated for Monday at 7:15 P.M. ET in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of a Monday Night Football doubleheader on ESPN and ABC.
Editor’s babble: Many thanks to John Green for his contributions to our blog. You can also find John on Xwitter @JGreen_PRsports.
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