Report Card: Coaching, run defense come up small in damaging defeat to New England

Running game: F

Would it surprise anyone if the Bills had an entirely new backfield next season? Week after week, the production from Devin Singletary, Zack Moss and Matt Breida ranges from “meh” to miserable. Monday was decidedly the latter. Singletary ran for 36 yards on 10 carries, while Moss gained just 21 yards on eight attempts. Go back and watch his first-and-goal carry from the Patriots’ 6-yard line. His vision on that play was severely lacking – if he bounces outside, he walks into the end zone. Breida chipped in a lowly 3 yards on one carry. His inability to cleanly field a handoff from quarterback Josh Allen led to a costly turnover. Combined, the Bills’ running backs averaged 3.2 yards per attempt on 19 carries. On a night when it was plainly obvious that running the ball was a must because of the weather, the Bills couldn’t do it nearly consistent enough. Allen was the Bills’ leading rusher, with a 21-yard gain highlighting his six carries for 39 yards.

“We’re going to try our darndest to fix it. It’s tough,” coach Sean McDermott said of the run game’s struggles. “I’m not going to sit up here and lie to you guys. To fix that part of your game this time of year is tough. That’s why we try like heck to do it in training camp. That’s where you develop the toughness of the football team. That’s why we run the football in training camp.”

Passing game: D

Once again, Allen didn’t get much help. Tight end Dawson Knox had an absolutely brutal game, with three passes that were off his hands that fell incomplete. Even if not all were classified as drops, they were plays a team needs its starting tight end to make. Knox finished with just two catches for 17 yards, despite being targeted six times. No. 1 receiver Stefon Diggs had trouble tracking a deep throw that would have gone for a touchdown, with the ball bouncing harmlessly off his wrist to the turf. Cole Beasley was a non-factor, with just one catch for 11 yards. On a night when short passes figured to be a bigger part of the game plan, it’s odd that Beasley wasn’t more involved. Allen finished 15 of 30 for 145 yards and a touchdown. Comically, he described the wind as “not too bad,” after the game, which is an asinine thing to say.

“Overall, when you lose, I’m not going to single out a guy good or bad, at the end of the day it’s a team deal here. Like always, there’s some plays he wants back and I thought there were some opportunities on the ball and we dropped it,” McDermott said.

Run defense: F-

What a joke. That’s about the only thing to say after Damien Harris went 64 yards – untouched! – to open the scoring in the first quarter on a third-down carry when the Patriots were very clearly not going to throw the ball.

“There’s no reason a run should go for 64 yards. I can see how you hand it off 45 times or whatever it is and occasionally you’re going to hit an 8-yarder or 10 yards. That’s going to happen. This is the NFL. But 64 yards? No way,” McDermott said.

Star Lotulelei’s long-awaited return from the Covid-19 list amounted to a whole bunch of nothing. The fourth quarter started with linebacker Matt Milano making a pair of tackles for loss – it was nice to see someone on the defense had a pulse – but that doesn't cover up the collective no show through the first three quarters.

Pass defense: Incomplete

Why even give it a grade? The Patriots threw the ball three times. Hey, at least Tre White’s absence wasn’t all that impactful Monday. As for next week, however …

Special teams: B-

Tyler Bass missed a 33-yard field goal wide right. That’s not a huge surprise given that kicking to the scoreboard end of the stadium was all but impossible. Should he even have tried? More on that later. Bass did hit one from 35 yards going the other way. Punter Matt Haack was surprisingly good, averaging 38.6 net yards on five punts. He did put two punts in the end zone, but again, it was tough to stop the ball kicking toward the tunnel end. Siran Neal recovered a muffed punt to set up the Bills’ only touchdown. Micah Hyde returned one punt for 8 yards and Breida’s only kickoff return went for 27 yards.

Coaching: F

Where do we start? The decision to challenge a spot late in the game was doomed from the start. Rarely does the spot of the ball get overturned, and in a close game, that was a wasted timeout. So, too, was the second timeout of the second half, which came with 8:18 left in the fourth quarter and came after a run for no gain. Clearly, there was a huge problem getting the next play in. The timeout at the end of the second quarter was a strange one, seeing as that it could have given the Patriots one more play to throw a Hail Mary (why they didn’t is a mystery). Allowing 222 yards on the ground is bad enough, but when it comes in a game when it’s clear what the opposition is going to do, that makes it a whole lot worse.

“That’s been their formula – run, don’t make a mistake, play good defense, play good special teams," McDermott said. "Eventually, they’ll take the ball away. So, and then when you add the weather on top of that, again it wasn’t a surprise. I can promise you that. It wasn’t a surprise.”

Why, then, did it happen is a question fans should be asking. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll is a popular target for fan angst after losses, but he deserves to take plenty of heat. Why did Allen, easily the team’s best runner, have only six attempts on a night rushing the ball was going to be so important? Why was such good field position consistently squandered? Why are the issues in the red zone not getting any better? There is a lot for this coaching staff to sort out on a short week.