This game was the reason the Buffalo Bills drafted Josh Allen.
The big arm, suitable for cannon blasts through the biting wind. The big hands, making it easier to grip the pigskin in wet and frigid conditions. He had the mobility to elude rushers to buy time to throw and the wheels to take off, gobbling chunks of yardage on the ground, when necessary.
Then they built a team around him that can’t run the ball or stop the run.
The Buffalo Bills' 14-10 loss to the New England Patriots on Monday night was overshadowed by weather, weather and more weather.
The Bills’ quarter billion-dollar franchise quarterback, the runner-up for the NFL MVP award last season, did all he could to will Buffalo back into the thick of the AFC playoff race.
But Allen received little help from teammates on either side of the ball, as the Bills fizzled in a playoff atmosphere against the one-dimensional New England Patriots, losing 14-10 on Monday Night Football at wind-whipped Highmark Stadium.
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“I don’t know if it affected us too bad,” Allen said. “Maybe a throw here or there. But that’s why I’m here, to play in those types of conditions and we’ve got to find a way.”
The Patriots (9-4), winners of seven consecutive games, have tightened their grip on first place in the AFC East and own the best record in the conference, a half-game ahead of Tennessee, Baltimore and Kansas City with five weeks remaining in the regular season.
The Bills (7-5), now a game-and-a-half back, have just a 28% chance of winning the AFC East and hosting at least one playoff game, according to odds via the New York Times.
Forget about the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye. They have a 50% chance of earning a wild card berth and a 22% chance of missing the playoffs altogether.
Don't miss Katherine's Fitzgerald's quarter-by-quarter analysis of the Buffalo Bills' 14-10 loss to the New England Patriots on Monday night.
“This is crunch time,” Bills center Mitch Morse said. “We understand the implications of this game. We understand the magnitude of what this meant and this loss meant. That’s not lost on us.”
The remaining schedule includes next week's visit to Tampa Bay for a matchup against Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers, a home game against Carolina, a rematch against the Patriots in Foxborough the day after Christmas and home games against Atlanta and the New York Jets.
But there’s little reason to believe the Bills, who had 11 days to prepare for the Patriots, can turn this season around.
With sustained winds around 30 mph and gusts exceeding 40 mph, the Patriots attempted just one pass through three quarters Monday night and nevertheless ran roughshod against a Bills rush defense that had no excuses, with middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds healthy and defensive tackle Star Lotulelei returning from the Reserve/Covid-19 list.
New England piled up 222 rushing yards on 46 carries, including a 64-yard touchdown run by Damien Harris, who breezed untouched through the Bills’ defense in the first quarter, with the Patriots driving against the wind.
“There’s no reason a run should go for 64 yards,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I can see how you hand it off (46) times, occasionally you’re going to hit an eight yarder or a 10 yarder. That’s going to happen. This is the NFL. But 64 yards? No way.”
The toss sweep out of “heavy personnel” was the bread-and-butter play of the New England Patriots’ game plan on a blustery night in Orchard Park.
Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones didn’t attempt his second pass until late in the fourth quarter.
He finished 2 of 3 for 19 yards.
Bills safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer took exception to being asked whether they were embarrassed losing to a team that attempted just three passes, while Edmunds was matter-of-fact about the Patriots’ offensive gameplan and the Bills’ shortcomings.
“We knew they were going to come in and try to pound the ball,” Edmunds said. “We’ve just got to do a better job stopping it.”
Allen was 15 of 30 for 145 yards, a touchdown and a fumble, though that was more on Matt Breida failing to secure a handoff.
Allen also led the Bills with 39 rushing yards on six carries, with one of those runs going for 21 yards.
Dawson Knox had two drive-killing drops. Stefon Diggs dropped a deep ball in the end zone.
Allen's 21 yard scramble, the Bills’ longest run of the day, came on their penultimate possession, helping to set up first and goal on the 6. But they came away with no points after Tyler Bass’ 33-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right.
The Bills still had a chance to win the game, driving from their own 25 to the New England 13-yard line with 2:15 to play. Then a Knox false start turned third and 9 into third and 14. Allen dodged two tacklers and threw incomplete. His fourth down pass was knocked down by Myles Bryant.
“Not good enough,” McDermott said. “We’ve got to be able to run the football and stop the run, and those things don’t change. The message hasn’t changed, in terms of the necessity for physicality and what we do. … You’ve got to win the line of scrimmage.”
Here is how the AFC playoff picture looks following Monday night’s victory by the New England Patriots over the Buffalo Bills.
The Patriots had won 11 consecutive AFC East titles and 16 of the previous 17 until the Bills triumphed last season. Buffalo hadn't won the division since 1995.
No team other than New England has won the AFC East in consecutive seasons since the Bills won four in a row from 1988 to '91.
The Bills had been dominant against the rest of the division over the last two years.
Buffalo had won its last nine games against AFC East opponents since the meaningless 2019 regular season finale against the New York Jets, when the Bills were locked into a wildcard matchup at Houston.
A 10th consecutive victory would have tied a franchise record set from 1990 to ‘91.
Allen had played his best on the NFL’s marquee regular season stage.
The Bills’ quarterback threw for at least 300 yards and three touchdowns in each of his previous three games on Monday Night Football, joining Drew Brees as the only quarterbacks to produce those statistics in three consecutive Monday night games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Buffalo was coming off a decisive, nationally-televised victory in New Orleans, but had alternated wins and losses since defeating Kansas City in primetime on Oct. 10 at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bills dropped the following game at Tennessee, 34-31, on Monday Night Football when the offensive line failed to generate enough push and Allen slipped on an attempted quarterback sneak on fourth and inches at the 3-yard line.
Since then, the Bills beat Miami at home on Halloween, then fell 9-6 at lowly Jacksonville.
They clobbered the New York Jets, then got stomped at home by Indianapolis.
They slaughtered New Orleans, despite a sloppy performance, on Thanksgiving in the Superdome.
And then came the Patriots.
“This could be one that can rip us apart or bring us together,” Allen said, “and I think the latter. I think we’ll get things rolling. I don’t think, I know for a fact that we will, because of the makeup that we have.”
The schedule makers did the Bills no favors by waiting until December for both games against New England. The delay allowed Jones more than three months to get comfortable in his transition from Alabama to the pros. And the Patriots had been humming along nicely.
New England entered the game on a six-game winning streak, outscoring their opponents by nearly 25 points per game. They remain undefeated in six road games this season, a remarkable accomplishment with a rookie quarterback at the helm.
Ben Roethlisberger and Dak Prescott were the only other rookies since 1950 to win their first five road contests, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Both of their teams not only won their divisions but secured the top seed in the playoffs.
The Patriots are back on top and well on their way to doing the same.
