We found out again late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game at Gillette Stadium exactly how much confidence Brian Daboll has in Josh Allen.
Supreme confidence.
Clinging to a five-point lead with 4:27 to go and facing a fourth-and-1 situation from the New England 34, Daboll called a naked bootleg for his quarterback.
Talk about a gutsy call. If Allen was stuffed for a 5-yard loss and the Patriots rallied to win, Daboll would be getting roasted by Bills fans everywhere.
Instead, put his faith in his best player – and best athlete – and it paid off.
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Here’s a closer look at plays that shaped the Bills’ victory:
Naked No. 17. Allen had run a quarterback sneak on third and 1 from the 27 for no gain. On fourth down, the Patriots made it their first priority to again stop the QB sneak by covering up the Bills’ center and guards with their three beefiest bodies, Carl Davis, Davon Godchaux and Lawrence Guy, leaving no gap open up the middle.
The Bills had an extra offensive lineman and two tight ends lined up off right tackle and faked a handoff to the right to Devin Singletary.
Dion Dawkins got an initial block on the defensive end off left tackle, Jamie Collins, but then wisely let him go to avoid a holding call. Allen gave Collins a quick fake to the inside and got past him. Cornerback J.C. Jackson had Allen dead in his sights, but the QB made a quick cut inside him and Jackson whiffed on a tackle attempt at Allen’s legs.
It was an 8-yard gain, and it led to the clinching touchdown.
“He has a good feel in the pocket, he did a pretty good job tonight, extended some plays,” Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. “We just got to do a better job of matching that same energy he had, and if not, bring a little bit more. He did a really good job tonight, props to him. They won the game.”
The Bills have had some memorable quarterback gaffes in tight moments over the years against Bill Belichick’s Patriots. One came in 2004, when the Bills ran a naked bootleg with Drew Bledsoe on a fourth-and-1 play in the fourth quarter of a tight game. It lost 15 yards, Bledsoe fumbled and the Pats returned it for a clinching touchdown.
Unstoppable shuffle. The clinching touchdown came from the 2-yard line when Allen ran a read-option play, faked the handoff to Singletary and ran toward left tackle. Safety Kyle Duggar was forced to charge toward the QB to prevent a rushing TD, and Allen simply shoveled a pass forward to tight end Dawson Knox, who had faked a block on Duggar.
Good pass protection. The Bills’ first score came on a 3-yard TD pass to Isaiah McKenzie on a fourth-down play in the first quarter.
McKenzie was in the right slot and ran a crossing route to the left against zone defense. Pats corner Myles Bryant passed McKenzie off to middle zone defender Adrian Phillips, who couldn’t stick with the Bills receiver.
But the play was made by the pass protection and the threat of Allen’s mobility. Spencer Brown held off Matthew Judon for a long time, although Judon was careful not to get caught rushing too far outside to give the QB a running lane to the end zone. Ryan Bates rode Christian Barmore well past the quarterback, which allowed Allen to slide in the pocket and wait for McKenzie to get open.
Jay Skurski weighs in with his grades for the Buffalo Bills after 33-21 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday at Gillette Stadium …
Great anticipation. Stefon Diggs scored the second Bills touchdown on a 12-yard pass. It gave Buffalo a 17-7 lead.
Allen did a good job reading the defense and made an anticipation throw just as Diggs broke inside on his slant route. That was key because the Patriots rushed three men and dropped eight into coverage. Diggs got inside of Pats star cornerback Jackson, and Allen looked left before the throw to move the linebacker, Collins, farther out of the passing lane.
Blitz at your peril. The Patriots didn’t run a lot of blitzes at Allen, probably because he burned them early on one. On a first-down play early in the second quarter, New England rushed middle linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley up the middle. Center Mitch Morse managed to ride him past the quarterback. Van Noy got a good jump on Brown, who was playing left tackle, but Brown also shoved the pass rusher behind Allen. That left a gaping hole up the middle of the defense, and Allen ran for 25 yards to the New England 13. It set up a field goal.
McKenzie's standout performance helped seal the Bills’ 33-21 win over the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. His 125 receiving yards and 11 catches were career highs.
Deep over. The Bills burned a New England zone defense with a 28-yard pass from Allen to McKenzie on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Allen’s accuracy on the move was on display. He was flushed out of the pocket to the left, which allowed McKenzie to cross the width of the field and make a leaping grab at the New England 25. It was a tough throw for Allen, against his body.
“He made a couple great catches,” Pats coach Bill Belichick said. “Hit him on a couple over-routes. Yeah, I mean, they had a lot of production in the passing game.”
Throwing against the grain. Allen burned another blitz on a drive to a third-quarter field goal. Duggar came free up the middle, and Dont’a Hightower got wide around right tackle against Brown. But Allen had the speed to race toward the right sideline and then throw against his body to the middle of the field – not a good idea for most quarterbacks.
Emmanuel Sanders had been running a crossing route in the opposite direction but stopped in a hole in the zone in the middle of the field and shifted back toward Allen for an 11-yard catch. It converted a third-and-10 situation.
