FOXBOROUGH – Two playoff teams led by impressive defenses met in a rare late-season meaningful AFC East battle Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium. In the end, Bill Belichick’s Patriots took care of their business with the hard-fought 24-17 win over the Bills.
New England made the first mistake of the day when Rex Burkhead’s fumble on the game’s opening possession gave the Bills a short field on the way to a 35-yard Steve Hauschka field goal for the Buffalo 3-0 lead early in the first quarter.
The Patriots answered with a long, precision scoring drive in which Brady completed all five of his passes, including an 8-yard touchdown to Matt LaCosse, to take the 7-3 advantage.
The home squad continued to matriculate the ball down the field on a 17-play drive in the second quarter, including a fourth down conversion, on the way to a 36-yard Nick Folk field goal for the 10-3 lead.
Buffalo answered with a late drive that was jumpstarted by a 34-yard completion from Josh Allen to Dawson Knox that was ruled down at the 1 via replay followed by a 1-yard touchdown pass to eligible left tackle Dion Dawkins to send the game to halftime tied at 10-10.
The Patriots took the lead back in the third quarter with a short drive to a 51-yard Nick Folk field goal to go up 13-10.
That lead didn’t last long, though, as Allen answered with another big play on a 53-yard touchdown pass to John Brown to pull ahead 17-13. New England cut the game to 17-16 on a 20-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter after Brady was stopped short of the goal line on a third-and-goal scramble.
Rex Burkhead picked up the go-head touchdown with a tackle-breaking 1-yard score in the fourth quarter, with the home squad adding a two-point completion for the 24-17 lead.
Before turning the page to next Sunday’s season finale against the Dolphins in Foxborough, here are some of the personnel highs and lows from the Patriots’ latest clawed-out win.
Thumbs up
Tom Brady – There have certainly been questions about Brady’s performances this season, including five straight games with a completion percentage below 60. But TB12 got off to a hot start against the Bills’ defense that held him in check in the first meeting. Brady completed his first eight passes of the evening against the NFL’s No. 3 pass defense, included an 8-yard score to LaCosse that was his 539th touchdown pass of his career, tying Peyton Manning for No. 2 all time. Brady was accurate and in control of his ofense for most of the hard-fought game against a tough D. He finished completing 26 of 33 passes (78.8 percent) for 271 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions for a 111 passer rating. He walked off the field to "Brady" chants from the home crowd celebrating yet another division title.
Run defense – A week after getting run over and around by Joe Mixon, New England’s run defense was up to the task of impressive Bills’ rookie running back Devin Singletary. The young back had just 22 yards on six attempts in the first half for a Buffalo team that needs to be balanced to move the ball. Singletary finished the game with just 46 yards on 15 attempts for a 3.1 average, a big drop for a guy averaging 5.4 yards per carry on the season. Buffalo’s only real success on the ground came on Allen scrambles/draws.
Run game – It wasn’t necessarily easy going against the NFL’s No. 3 defense, but Sony Michel and his line found a way to grind out a productive day on the ground. It was an all-around effort that included Michel leading the way with 21 carries for 96 yards. Overall the group ran it 35 times for 143 yards.
Third down defense – Other than a couple big pass plays allowed – a real rarity this season – it was another solid all-around day for the New England defense. The unit continued to thrive in the key area of third down. Buffalo converted just two of 11 third-down chances (18 percent). The Patriots defense has lived off turnovers and third down all season. The former didn’t factor in on Saturday evening, but the latter sure did.
Julian Edelman – After limping around the field in Cincinnati a week earlier due to a knee injury, Edelman looked more like his usual productive self against Buffalo. Edelman caught four of the five balls thrown his way in the first half for 42 yards, including three third-down conversions. Edelman did go to the locker room with a head injury for a while in the second half, but returned to flip the field on a 30-yard catch-and-run midway through the fourth quarter during the comeback efforts. He also hauled in the two-point play on the go-head touchdown late. Edelman finished another gusty performance with five catches on six targets for 72 yards, plus the two-point play that made it a touchdown advantage late.
Thumbs down
Rex Burkhead – The Patriots were moving on their opening drive of the game when Burkhead caught a well-timed, well-designed screen pass. He was in the midst of an 18-yard gain when Buffalo safety Jordan Poyer punched the ball out from behind for the turnover that set up the Bills’ short field on the way to a game-opening field goal. Burkhead actually had a pretty productive day – including 77 yards receiving and a tough touchdown late to go ahead – but his early mistake gave the Bills early life. Those kinds of plays can be costly in the postseason.
Mohamed Sanu – The veteran receiver’s time in New England has been lackluster so far. He’s failed to find much production and failed to come up with key plays at key times. He’s had two fourth-down drops over the last month. Sunday he came up short of the sticks with a 4-yard third-down catch late in the second quarter. The Patriots chose to go for it on fourth down from the Bills’ 41 with 36 seconds in the half. N’Keal Harry was tasked with a jet sweep to the left, where Sanu completely whiffed on his block to allow his receiver teammate to be upended for no gain. The Bills took possession and marched to a game-tying touchdown before halftime. Add in just three catches on five targets for 24 yards and Sanu had another less-than-impressive game.
Cornerback depth – Jonathan Jones was inactive due to a groin injury that kept him from practice all week. Jason McCourty returned to the lineup after missing three of the last four games to his own groin issue. McCourty then left in the first half against Buffalo and did not return. Rookie Joejuan Williams was forced into extra reps in his absence. The secondary has been the strength of the defense all season, but its depth is being tested down the stretch.
Offensive PI Penalties – A blatantly-obvious offensive pass interference call on Julian Edelman wiped out a would-be Ben Watson touchdown. A blatantly-obvious offensive pass interference call on Watson wiped out a possible third-down conversion for James White. The Patriots passing game is sputtering and isn’t helping itself out with penalties. When you play tight games like New England has all season, key penalties can be a key costly factor in losses.
