ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Here are my five takes from the Buffalo Bills’ 27-21 victory against the New England Patriots Sunday at Highmark Stadium:
1. It wasn’t quite a case of the Bills playing down to the level of another of the NFL’s worst teams.
They also didn’t have to expend maximum effort for a win that, combined with the Dolphins’ loss against Baltimore, sets up the Bills to capture their fourth straight AFC East title at Miami next weekend as well as the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs.
With their fourth triumph in a row and fifth in their last six games, the 10-6 Bills have established an identity, which comes down to one word: resilience.
“They’ve been very resilient, very resilient,” Sean McDermott said of his players. “Today we knew wasn’t going to be easy and I thought their resilient nature was on display in the second half.”
Through the first half, the Bills’ engine mostly ran a little above idle. That was enough to build a 20-14 halftime lead after Jalen Reagor returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.
The Patriots did most of the work for Buffalo with four turnovers, the most by a New England team coached by Bill Belichick, that all came in the first half and resulted in all 20 points.
“It was definitely a point of emphasis this week, trying to take the ball away, giving it to our offense,” linebacker Terrel Bernard said. “To start the game like that, that’s what we want to do.”
Bailey Zappe threw three interceptions, the first coming on the Pats’ first play from scrimmage and the last returned by Rasul Douglas and 40 yards for a touchdown to make it 20-7. Douglas finished the game with two interceptions.
2. Josh Allen struggled badly, almost enough to single-handedly give the game away.
Allen's issues showed up well before he suffered what he described as “just a little stinger” injury to his left shoulder late in the game. He seemed out of sorts, especially in the first half as the offense repeatedly stalled. Allen fully owned the fact that he simply “was just off.”
“I thought we had some fundamental issues throughout the first two quarters, I would say for sure, with just throwing and catching,” McDermott said.
Allen threw for only 169 yards and had a paltry 53.3 passer rating. He was well off-target on a bunch of throws. He also had a typically questionable interception when he forced the ball into double coverage. That boosted his season total to 16.
“Just trying to find a rhythm early, just couldn’t seem to find one,” he said. “It felt like we got into a little bit of a groove in the third and fourth quarter. Got to start better than that. But, yeah, it’s never fun throwing incomplete pass after incomplete pass.”
Additionally, Allen had two fumbles that the Bills recovered. The second, coming late in the game, was the result of an ill-advised failed attempt to extend the ball for a first down.
But the game was proof, as we’ve seen several other times this season, that the Bills don’t always need Allen to be superb in order to win.
It’s also fair to point out that one area of strength for the Patriots is their defense.
“I think they had a good game (defensive) plan,” Allen said. “I think they did a good job of (pass) rushing and making me feel some stuff at my feet and just, again, got the timing off just ever so slightly. And that’s all it really takes. They played good coverage in the back end.”
3. Ed Oliver continues to show that the Bills made a wise investment in giving him that four-year, $68-million contract extension he received in June.
He had his first interception as a pro or collegiate player after grabbing a Bailey Zappe pass deflected by cornerback Rasul Douglas.
Oliver also had a sack to go with a pair of tackles. He has 9.5 sacks for the season.
Bernard had a significant impact with a pair of sacks to go along with applying strong pressure. The return of DaQuan Jones from a pectoral injury provided a boost to a defensive interior that has been doing mostly a good job of containing the run and generating pressure. And there was Douglas, who has done plenty to help the Bills weather the absence of Tre'Davious White to a season-ending Achilles injury.
4. Usually, when a punter is praised, it isn’t a good reflection on the offensive performance. But Sam Martin merits huge props for averaging 48.2 yards on six attempts, all of which he placed inside the Patriots’ 20-yard line.
The Patriots’ TD return on the opening kickoff set an ominous tone for the Bills’ special teams. But they did recover, especially with Martin consistently burying the Patriots deep in their territory with his punts.
The Bills would like to think they have an offense that wouldn’t cause them to punt frequently. However, when they need clutch punting, Martin, who always hasn’t been great this season, is proving he can deliver.
“He went through a stretch there of, I don’t know, a couple of weeks maybe where it wasn’t up to his and our standard, and he knows that,” McDermott said. “To me, that’s a microcosm of the journey of a season for a player, in this case, and for a team where you go through ups and downs, and can you get yourself out of it? And can you stay confident through it?
“Keep yourself in yourself, your belief in those around you. I think that’s if you keep your beliefs through the journey of a season, the course of a season, I think you can endure that you got something.”
5. Remember when a lot of us were wondering if the Bills would even reach the playoffs, let alone win another division championship?
It’s as if that version of the team has faded into a distant memory. “Just the things that they’ve learned, I think, through the journey that have gotten us to here and then using them week to week to find a way to win games,” McDermott said of his players.
No, the Bills haven’t looked dominant in all the five wins they’ve had since that Nov. 13 home loss against the Denver Broncos punctuated a six-week stretch of going off the rails. Yet, they have been finding a way to overcome, whether it’s the opponent or themselves.
“Something we’ve been talking about the past few weeks is just the resilience of the team, understanding we’re taking it one week at a time,” Bernard said. “We’ve got a lot of things we want to accomplish, but not looking too far ahead and not looking too far behind, staying in our process throughout the week and being prepared for Sundays.”