What we learned from Patriots vs. Bills in NFL Week 15

The New England Patriots blew a 21-0 lead, and a shot at clinching the AFC East title against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Even though they dominated matters early on in the contest, they were unable to maintain their momentum and eventually saw their division rivals not just claw their way back into the game but escape Foxborough with a 35-31 win.

Let’s get into our lessons learned from the Patriots’ 14th game, and third loss, of the season.

Drake Maye might not be ready for the moment yet

Drake Maye has been playing like an MVP all season, but he didn’t play up to his usual level when it mattered most on Sunday against the Bills.

While Buffalo was mounting their comeback, the Patriots had a single first down in the second half. Maye, meanwhile, missed some open receivers and finished with only 155 yards passing overall, his first game this season with under 200 yards. He also was able to get the ball to Hunter Henry and Kayshon Boutte once each, and hit Stefon Diggs only three times for 26 yards.

Sure, his run and block down the field on TreVeyon Henderson’s long fourth-quarter touchdown run was incredible, and you love to see your quarterback doing that, but Maye is going to have to be better if the Patriots want to win playoff games this year. He’s been great so far, but that doesn’t matter if he can’t perform in the big games such as Sunday’s.

The Patriots struggle putting teams away

Up 24-7, Patriots had a massive lead on the Bills at the end of the first half. However, the Bills offense ended up scoring touchdowns on five straight possessions, which ended up sinking New England despite the early advantage.

“It comes down to execution,” said safety Jaylinn Hawkins after the game. “There were some plays that we all left out there, it just is what it is. I have to look back at the tape and really critique it. We still have three more games left. We have to shake back, everybody shake back. We know what we should’ve done, we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and be like, ‘What can I do better to help the team?’ You know, all of us, and we’ll be alright.”

The Patriots have to be able to put teams away, and they weren’t able to do it on Sunday. They won’t go far if they don’t learn how to fix this.

Run defense is a major concern

The Patriots knew they had to slow down James Cook and the Bills’ league-leading ground game in order to earn a victory on Sunday. They just couldn’t.

Cook ended the game with 107 yards on 22 carries, and it felt like every run went for 7 or 8 yards. In the first half, they were bottling him up pretty well, but the dam broke in the second, and Buffalo could run at will against a run defense that had its issues since the last time those two teams met in Week 5 — issues that are becoming a major concern.

Simply put, if you can’t stop the run, you’re not going to win in the playoffs.

The hope is that getting Milton Williams and Robert Spillane back will be a boost to them, because they have been struggling against the run since losing Williams in Week 11.

TreVeyon Henderson is somehow faster than we thought

The Patriots were looking for a game-breaker when they drafted TreVeyon Henderson in the second round of this year’s draft, and he has certainly delivered on that promise. After his two long touchdowns on Sunday, he now has four touchdown runs of 50-plus yards this season. No one else in the NFL has more than two.

His second long touchdown was even more impressive when you consider that Maxwell Hairston has 4.2 speed, and he made him look slow. When Henderson gets into the open field, he is almost impossible to stop, and he just destroys any angle that defenders may take on him. He might not be the most efficient runner, but his big plays are a huge complementary piece on offense, and could be big for the Patriots as they finish the season.

The red zone offense is unlocked by the QB run game

Despite all their success, the Patriots have been one of the worst red zone teams in the NFL this season. On Sunday, they finished 2-for-3 inside the Bills’ 20-yard line, with the one “failure” being at the end of the first half resulting in an Andy Borregales field goal to move the team up 24-7.

The quarterback run game was a big part of that, with Drake Maye scoring two rushing touchdowns in the red area. Giving the defense another thing to worry about in that part of the field is an advantage for the Patriots, and should only help them be more efficient in the red zone moving forward.

Unfortunately, though, the Patriots defense was on the other end of the spectrum. The Bills went 5-for-5 in the red area, and could have made it 6-for-6 had they not taken a knee to end the game.

The defensive red zone performance needs to improve, regardless of what it looks like on offense. Otherwise, any playoff trip is bound to be a short one.

Special teams was atrocious

New England’s special teams operation has been solid this year, but it was awful on Sunday against the Bills. Ray Davis had returns of 45 and 38 yards early in the game, and a 58-yard runback to start the second half. Those returns set Buffalo up with great field position, and in two cases directly resulted in touchdowns. The hope is that this was a one-time collapse, and not the Bills finding something that the Patriots don’t do well that can be replicated by someone else in the future. 

This could be a good loss in the long term

The Patriots were on a hot streak, and had won 10 games in a row entering Sunday. The media was talking about how great they were, and it was hard not to hear the noise getting as loud as it was, especially when it comes to the Drake Maye MVP buzz. Blowing this lead, and letting a game they should have won slip out of their fingers is something that should make this team better, just like the loss to the Steelers in Week 3 made them better.

Obviously, it’s never a good thing to lose a game, especially one that would have otherwise clinched the division. However, if the Patriots can learn from this and make improvements, it could be something that galvanizes them and makes them better when the games are of a win-or-go-home nature.

Officiating did not lose them the game, but…

I want to be clear about this, the Patriots did not lose the game because of the refs. They did not, however, get a lot of help from them either.

There were multiple questionable calls in the second half, and all of them seemed to go in Buffalo’s favor. Were the pass interference infractions against Carlton Davis, and the defensive holding on Craig Woodson penalties? Yes, but similar plays happened on the other side of the ball, and there were no flags thrown: the Stefon Diggs non-penalty on fourth down, for example, and a hold on Hunter Henry.

The worst call of the day, however, might have come against Marcus Jones. First, it wasn’t pass interference, and second, Jones caught the ball, not Khalil Shakir.

“I would say I was trying to get back in the phase, and I jumped around and came out with the ball,” Jones later said. “But the referee called a pass interference, so that’s what he called it.”

The breaks going to the Bills in multiple big moments in the second half on Sunday certainly didn’t help the Patriots keep their lead. That said, I’m not going to blame the refs for this loss, and neither should you.

Josh Allen is still incredible

Josh Allen reminded people why he is the reigning NFL MVP, and, with Drake Maye struggling on Sunday, he might be right back in the conversation this season as well.

Allen continuously made big plays for the Bills all game, and, while his counting stats may not have been incredible, he had three passing touchdowns and led the Bills to those five straight touchdowns to erase the Patriots’ big lead and win the game.

New England had a chance at the end, but Allen and the Bills controlled the ball for most of the second half and never allowed the Patriots to get into a rhythm on offense. Maye has been incredible this year, but Allen proved that he’s still the best quarterback in the division — for now, at least.

Confidence needs to get back up

The Patriots are back in action with a trip to Baltimore against the Ravens, who shut out the Bengals on Sunday. The game was flexed into Sunday Night Football, and it should be a good matchup.

Lamar Jackson hasn’t looked the same since his injury, but the defense can still ball, and there is always Derrick Henry to worry about as well. The good news for the Patriots is that this game doesn’t really matter for them seeding-wise. Denver won on Sunday, giving them a two-game lead on the Patriots for the No. 1 seed (because they own every tiebreaker), and the Patriots will win the AFC East with wins against the Jets and Dolphins.

Where it could matter, however, is with the Jaguars, who have the conference tiebreaker over New England and also beat the Raiders this season. If they were to finish tied with the Patriots, they could end up at the second seed in the AFC, and the Patriots might drop to the third spot.

The game may not be “necessary” to win, it would be a good victory for peace of mind, and, more importantly, would build the team’s confidence back up after the loss this weekend.