By Alex “MereKat” LeMere
The Buffalo Bills take a straglehold of the AFC East as they beat the New England Patriots and move to 6-2!
The wind is howling, and the rain is coming down on the first Sunday of November as the New England Patriots come to Buffalo. Something that used to strike fear in #BillsMafia…but now, it just seemed different, like a changing of the guard. Buffalo came into this matchup at the top of the division with a 5-2 record while the Patriots were just 2-4 in third place of the AFC East.
The Brady Era is over in New England, and it seems as though the Patriots were prepared to call it quits on the season. Trade rumors were beginning to swirl around guys like Stephon Gilmore, half the team had opted out before the season, and the other half hurt at some point this year, and a three-game skid has derailed the start to their season. A perfect recipe for Buffalo to destroy New England and claim the AFC East as theirs to lose.
A true test for Buffalo and an opportunity to get the hype train back on the rails. I think they succeeded. Let’s get into what happened.
The Patriots received the opening kickoff and attacked the Bills’ defense with small chunk plays as their first four plays go for 7 yards, 7 yards, 4 yards, 9 yards (a nice Cam keeper). That quickly changed the next play as a penalty stunted the Patriots’ momentum, a bad Cam throw and big tackle for a loss lead to a fourth-and-14 and a punt.
Buffalo’s offense took the field for the first time with the swirling winds and looking to build off a solid outing (even without a TD) last week. With the wind swirling and a need to get the run game going, Singletary got the call for the first five plays (four rushes and a catch). After a nice completion to Beasley for 12 yards, Allen takes the ball himself and scampers for 19 yards to get us to the NE 29-yard line.
Zack Moss getting involved again, takes his first carry of the game for 21 hard-fought yards setting up Buffalo with a first goal. The next play, Moss, finds a big hole and gallops into the end zone for the game’s first score.
Buffalo takes an early 7-0 lead. A nearly perfect drive by Buffalo to open the game offensively. Getting backfield production has been a worry this season, and Moss/Singletary both were heavily involved here.
Newton opens the Patriots’ drive with a nice completion to Jakobi Meyers, a guy fighting for a shot, for 16 yards. Another nice throw to Meyers is negated due to an offensive holding and giving the Patriots a first and 20. On third-and-18, James White took a pass for 10 yards and paired with an Ed Oliver penalty (did he deserve hat cheesecake Al??) to give New England a first. Undisciplined plays in inopportune situations, hurting us again. Newton tries to tuck it and run but is shut down by Quinton Jefferson for a loss of four on third-and-8 to force a NE punt.
The wind doesn’t seem to bother Allen as he opens this drive with a 20-yard dart to Stefon Diggs, his first catch of the day. Allen flashes his power as he attempted to hit Gabriel Davis on a deep one that ends up being overthrown.
This year’s not a trend like it was last season, but that’s a pass you want to see him hit. A false start on human traffic cone Brian Winters puts us in a third-and-17 where Allen throws it away under heavy pressure. Buffalo sends out Bojo, whose punt goes out of bounds after just 36 yards, one of his worst punts this season after not punting once last week.
Tremaine Edmunds makes a great read (a rarity lately) on a Newton keeper to contain him for a couple of yards. A great play, but Edmunds can only wrap up Newton and needs help to bring him down…I think he’s still hurt. James White goes back to his Wisconsin days and takes a pass 28 yards after moving to the Buffalo 28-yard line. A bad incompletion, a 2 yard rush by Harris, and Newton keeper for just 4 on third down bring out the Patriots’ FG unit. A weird decision to run it on third there, and it looks like Belichick might not trust his starting QB. Folk has no problem with the 43-yard field goal and cut Buffalo’s lead down to 7-3.
Buffalo faces a quick third-and-4 after two short rushes to Singletary, but thanks to a neutral zone infraction on the defense, Buffalo gets a free first down. A couple of plays later, Allen was facing heavy pressure and, while trying to extend the play, stepped out of bounds for a loss of five before throwing it away.
A really dumb play by Allen, where he makes a mistake trying to do too much. It’s not a turnover or a game-changing play but “doing too much and making a bad play” is an area Allen has to improve. That mistake put the Bills offense at their own 31-yard line and facing a third-and-9. Allen fires the ball to a completely covered John Brown for the incompletion and our second straight punt.
Patriots keep grinding the ball on the ground taking their first three plays, including a rush on third-and-2 for a loss, for just five total yards and punt the ball away in just two minutes. A great defensive drive against Cam and New England’s offense that is refusing to throw the ball.
Allen kicks things off the next drive hitting Beasley for a 12-yard gain and then Diggs for eight yards for both of their second receptions of the day. Moss gets stuffed for just a yard on second-and-2 but Allen sneaks it for a first with his giant body. Allen follows it up with a PERFECT throw to Diggs for a first down along the right sideline. Following a Brian Winters penalty and a short pass to Diggs, Allen throws a rough interception targeting Diggs again on third-and-8.
New England gets the ball back in Buffalo territory with just 1:38 left on the clock following the turnover and return. After a couple of misses by Newton, he escapes heavy pressure and dumps the ball to Izzo, who takes it for 14. Another pass to Izzo takes the Patriots to the BUF 24 but following some timeout mismanagement, and another incompletion leads to another FG. Folk is good from 33, and Buffalo has just a 7-6 lead before halftime.
Buffalo has some big plays, both good and bad, and lead just 7-6 over New England at half.
Halftime Grades:
Bills – B- … Another week where Buffalo hasn’t played bad football but has screwed up in crucial situations. Josh Allen’s interception was a bad throw that will draw most of the attention after a 7/12 for 75 yards even though he did make some great throws and a few good runs. Singletary isn’t doing much on the ground, but Zack Moss has been great. Penalties are killing us as well, and I would be okay with launching Brian Winters into the sun. The defense has looked good despite being banged up, and Tremaine Edmunds is having his best game of the season so far.
Patriots – C … A couple of field goals have the Patriots on the board, and just a point in a game they could easily be down a couple of scores. Some head-scratching calls on third downs and little trust in Newton’s throwing ability by Belichick have held back the Patriots’ offense. Their secondary has looked making things hard for Allen and has brought a decent amount of blitzes to throw Allen off his rhythm.
Buffalo gets the second-half kickoff and needs to do something coming out of half to try and put this game away after a rough first half. Singletary and Moss each take a rush for six yards to open things up before Singletary has his best run of the day for 18 yards and into NE territory. A much needed big-play play, and I mean BIG PLAY, as Allen hits Diggs, who takes it and drags defenders for 41 yards to set up another Zack Moss touchdown from four yards out! A beautiful five-play, 75-yard drive in under three minutes has Buffalo up 14-6 early in the third quarter. A big drive to open the second half and make a statement to extend their lead and get the whole offense going.
New England continues to attack the Bills’ defense with their rushing attack taking 4 straight rushes for 19 yards before Jerry Hughes (reigning AFC Defensive Player of the Week) sacks Newton for a 9-yard loss on first down. Newton dumps it off to some guy named Zuber for 13 yards instead of taking a shot downfield and end up punting it again. Missing Harry and Edelman is crushing their offense’s ability to take any deep shots.
Kicking things off on their own 8-yard line, Moss takes it for just two yards leading to a bad incompletion from Allen targeting Diggs. In a third-and-8 situation, Allen scrambles for just two yards, and the Bills punt again.
A short punt and 15-yard return have the Patriots start at the Buffalo 37-yard line. After four straight plays of five yards, five yards, 10 yards and 5 yards. Damien Harris takes it right up the gut for 22 yards to the house and gives the Patriots their first touchdown of the day. A successful two point conversion from Newton to Meyers ties things up at 14 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter.
New England comes out with some typical Belichick BS with an onside kick of out nowhere but didn’t account for return specialist Tyler Matakevich who recovers for Buffalo at the NE 45-yard line. Singletary continues to get fed and carries three straight times for 31 yards and starting to really get going. Zack Moss gets in on the action taking three straight runs for 17 yards to New England’s two-yard line.
Allen is shut down on a QB power run for a loss of two yards, which Moss gets back the next play. Josh Allen takes it himself on the third-and-goal from two yards out for the score. Buffalo has another great drive for a TD while putting an emphasis on their running game. Buffalo retakes the lead 21-14 at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
The Patriots came out HOT to start this drive with an opening 22 yard pass from Cam to Byrd to midfield. They took their next four plays for nine yards, 13 yards, 18 yards, and seven yards to the Buffalo three-yard line, leading into a two-yard rushing touchdown by Newton to cap off a dominating drive by New England. This game is all tied up at 21 with 9:36 left in the game.
The Bills’ offense was looking for a score this drive in response to the Patriots’ quick score and to build off their last drive. Singletary and Moss take a few nice runs for 22 yards, and a pass for 12 yards to Kroft gets the Bills to their opponents 37- yard line in a hurry.
John Brown, returning from injury, takes a pass upfield for a huge 21-yard gain on his first catch of the game. A few ineffective plays and an incompletion to Gabriel (not Gabe) Davis on third-and-5 in the end zone brought Tyler Bass out for the first time today. The Bills’ rookie kicker knocks it in from 28 to put Buffalo back on top 24-21 with just over 4 minutes left in the game. A good drive that is once again halted in the red zone, a theme that was common last week.
Down three points late with a chance to win the game following their best offensive drive of the game, Newton and his batch of misfit players come out against an unpredictable defense. Tremaine Edmunds gets hurt on the first play of the drive, which is a big blow to the Buffalo front seven. The Patriots take advantage of his absence and start to drive the ball downfield with time running out.
Newton for a huge 19 yards with a nice run to the Buffalo 29-yard line with just a minute and a half to play. Burkhead converts a third-and-1, and things were starting to look bad for Buffalo. Cam Newton, riding high, takes the ball around the line’s left side and has the ball punched out by newly signed Justin Zimmer, and Buffalo recovers the ball. What a massive play by the Buffalo defense in a crucial moment to end this game
Allen takes a few kneel downs and this one is OVER folks!
Buffalo wins another close, hard fought game and beat New England 24-21 to move to 6-2.
Fulltime Grades:
Bills – B+ … Can’t bring myself to give them an A here, I’m sorry. They did enough to win today, but things would have got real interesting had Zimmer not forced that fumble to end the Patriots’ late push. Allen wasn’t great on the stat sheet today through the air. Although he had just 18 attempts, he had a bad interception and a few poor throws that would’ve made this win a lot smoother. The run game dominated for the first time all year, which was nice, and we beat our division rivals at home for the first time in nine years.
Patriots – C+… This grade would probably have been lower, but I’m considering the number of players that are out for them right now and how that hinders the whole team. Newton wasn’t awful today, but there were times you could tell Belichick didn’t have faith in Newton’s arm as they ran on multiple third and longs. Their secondary played pretty well today, and the front seven was able to dial up some pressure on Allen. They had a chance to tie the game late, and a turnover crushes their hopes, but this game should not have been this close.
Kat’s Korner Takeaways:
- Buffalo is now 6-2 to start the season, and New England is 2-5 and on a four-game skid with no end in sight for them right now. This was Buffalo’s first home win against the Patriots in nine years when Drayton Florence graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. I know the Patriots’ circumstances come into play today (injuries, opt-outs, and trade rumors), but it seems like a changing of the guard in the AFC East. Buffalo is a young team with a bright future behind Josh Allen while the Patriots are in a tailspin since letting Tom Brady leave after what seemed like a 30-year reign of terror. It’s over Bills’ fans. The AFC East is ours to lose.
- Buffalo got some big contributions from some less than likely places on defense today. Dean Marlowe stepped up in a big way with Micah Hyde out for today’s game, making multiple open field tackles and reading plays well. Marlowe had six tackles, one TFL, and the crucial recovery on Newton’s fumble at the end of the game that sealed the win. After being promoted and signed to the 53-man roster a couple of weeks ago, Justin Zimmer has been a welcome addition on the defensive line. Zimmer had just a tackle today but made an incredible play to punch the ball and force the game ending fumble.
- WE GOT LEGIT PRODUCTION OUT OF THE BACKFIELD TODAY!!! After a slow start to the season and limited usage, Devin Singletary and Zack Moss went off in a big way today when given an opportunity. Singletary had 14 carries for 86 yards while Moss contributed 14 himself for 81 yards and 2 scores. As a team, we carried the ball 38 times for 190 yards (five ypc) and three touchdowns. We proved we can win on the ground and hopefully got some momentum building in our young backfield now.
- Penalties continue to be a big problem for the Bills. Whether it’s the offensive line or a sloppy penalty like hands to the face, we’ve committed it these last few weeks. When you look at the stat sheet, we had just five for 30 yards, but there were some big ones in bad moments *cough cough* Brian Winters *cough cough*. It’s a trend we need to stop before it becomes a bigger problem.
- MONGO FELICIANO’S RETURN! After missing the previous seven games due to injury, Jon Feliciano made his return to a Bills’ offensive line that needed a boost…and boy did he deliver. This was the first game all year we’ve had holes consistently open between the tackles for our rushing attack, which was partially due to Feliciano’s return. Then when starting center Mitch Morse left the game injured, Feliciano was able to help and step right into the spot. On one of Zack Moss’s touchdowns, you can literally see Feliciano grab Moss and carry him into the end zone. A huge piece is back on this Buffalo offense.
That’s all from me (@Merekatkat) and hope you enjoyed! Follow @TrainwreckSprts for all of your Bills and Buffalo content!
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