BSJ Game Report: Bills 33, Patriots 21 - New England outplayed again in dropping division lead

FOXBOROUGH — Everything you need to know from the Patriots’ loss to the Bills in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

HEADLINES

Patriots dominated in all three phases again: You'd like to say it was all the defense giving up 428 yards and allowing every meaningful Buffalo drive to go inside the New England 7-yard line and not forcing one punt. You'd like to say it was just the offense, including Mac Jones (43.8 percent completions), for falling behind early and only threatening Bills' territory once in the first half. You'd also like to poke the special teams, which struggled with punting (again) and with kickoff coverage. But it was, really, for the second-straight game, the Patriots getting beaten in all three phases to lose again to a playoff contender. Outside of Damien Harris rushing for 103 yards and three touchdowns, there wasn't much you could point at and say, 'The Patriots outplayed the Bills there.'

Patriots now fighting for playoff seed: The Patriots dropped down to the AFC's 6th seed behind the Colts due to the head-to-head tiebreaker and barring a Buffalo loss the Falcons or Jets, will be playing on the road as a wild-card in the first round. As long as New England doesn't lose at home to the Jaguars next week, they appear to be in the playoffs. Even a loss to Miami shouldn't cost them a playoff berth at 10-7. Now the question is whether they're the 5th seed (opponent could be the Bengals) or the 7th seed (could be at Tennessee or Indianapolis).

The Bills became the first team to win back-to-back games at Foxborough since the 2005-06 Colts. They are the first team to win by 10+ points in both games since the 1995-96 Broncos.

Defense very disappointing: The Patriots seemed to determine that they would play coverage in this game against Josh Allen — he was often way too comfortable — and that backfired as Allen was able to take his time and pick out good matchups which included unheralded Isaiah McKenzie (who was a healthy scratch in the first matchup) roasting the Patriots and Myles Bryant for 11 catches on 12 targets for 125 yards and a touchdown. Allen finished with good numbers (314 yards, 3 TDs, 64 yards rushing), but he left the Patriots some openings with some key misses, but this time the Patriots could not cash in.

The Bills did not punt in a game for the fifth time in franchise history.

And this could be the most damning stat of all: The Bills are the first team with 0 punts in a game against a Belichick-coached team (474 games, including playoffs).

Mac Jones will be under pressure: The book is now being written that if you get Jones and the Patriots offense down by double digits and they don't have a dominant running game and defensive stops/turnovers, that they will have a hard time moving the ball consistently. Hard to argue with that after Jones was 14 of 32 for 145 yards and 2 interceptions for a passer rating of 31.4 (one INT was in desperation mode). And the Patriots are now 0-4 when they trail by double digits. It's totally fair, and they'll keep hearing it until they themselves change the narrative.

TURNING POINT

Despite playing largely like crap for over three quarters, the Patriots had a chance to get the ball back trailing 26-21 with less than 8 minutes left. But JC Jackson dropped an interception, and then McKenzie got loose for 17 yards on 3rd and 10. If the Patriots get a stop there early in that possession, they're probably taking the lead (no faith the defense would have held, but still). 

SECOND GUESS

The Patriots likely went into this game, since the Bills were without WRs Gabriel Davis and Cole Beasley, that they could play coverage against Josh Allen since they only had to cover the likes of Stefon Diggs, Emmanuel Sanders, Dawson Knox, McKenzie and Eric Kumerow.

Well, they were sorely mistaken. 

Not only did McKenzie basically turn the tide of this one singlehandedly, but Diggs still had 7 for 85 and a touchdown. And Allen was content to take the wide-open zone checkdowns. 

THREE UP

RB Damien Harris: He still didn't look like he was all the way back from the hamstring, but he gutted out 103 yards and three touchdowns to give the Patriots something to rely on offense.

RT Trent Brown: Looked to be the one guy who was consistently dominating up front but he did get a dumb taunting penalty (so did David Andrews ... and both were legit calls that were uncalled for if you're a good, disciplined team).

WR Jakobi Meyers: Kind of by default. Only target to have more than two receptions with this 6 for 59 day.

FOUR DOWN

CB Myles Bryant: At some point the Patriots were going to be made to pay for not having Stephon Gilmore (trade) or Jonathan Jones (injury) in the secondary and today was that day. It's not Bryant's fault, really. McKenzie has elite speed, Allen had time to find him, and McKenzie just played out of his gourd.

QB Mac Jones: For the second-straight game he appeared to not be ready for a big spot unless a lot of things went right for him. 

DE Matthew Judon: In the biggest games against a team that wants to pass the ball, you need your best pass rushers to come through and Judon, outside of one hit on Allen, was largely invisible in this game. He's been quiet for the last four games, actually. We worried what would happen if someone took care of Judon. Well, we found out today it doesn't look good. The Bills allowed zero sacks for the second time this season. 

Defensive coaches: They sincerely overestimated how much pressure and coverage they were going to be able to bring in this game. They did not send enough pressure and Allen made them pay.

INJURIES

CB JC Jackson (arm): Returned to the game.

TOP PLAYS

THREE TAKES BEDARD WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

Patriots' weaknesses got exposed in this game: We wondered what would happen if a team with weapons and a capable QB spread the Patriots out, took care of Matthew Judon and Christian Barmore, and then picked them apart. We also wondered if a defense was going to make the Patriots' offense all about Mac Jones. Well, it was on full display on Sunday as the Bills largely dominated the Patriots, who fell to 3-5 at home this season.

That being said, Patriots played terrible and still had a chance: It's a little bit of too-little-too-late again, but the Patriots did just need one more stop (that Jackson INT would have been nice) and they could have taken the lead. But just like the Saints, Bucs, Dallas and Indy games, the Patriots couldn't get the key loss.

Forget 2001, this is starting to have a 2019 feel to it: Two years ago, with much of the same cast, this defense was the tops in the league and then completely wilted down the stretch, including a finale loss to the Dolphins (bad omen alert). What we realized in hindsight was that defense feasted off bad QBs and offenses. Well, we're starting to get that feeling again. The Patriots have largely been great on defense since the 2-4 start but they've been a bit exposed of late. They're going to have to change things up or we could be headed for another first-round exit in the playoffs.