ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Here are my five takes from the Buffalo Bills’ 29-25 loss against the New England Patriots Sunday at Gillette Stadium:
1. It might not be too early to panic as the Bills’ season has gone from bad to worse.
Let’s dispense with the “they-played-down-to-their-competition” talk of the past two weeks. Sunday’s game makes it clear that “down” is, in fact, the Bills’ current level and that they do not belong in any conversation as a serious contender.
For the third game in a row against a supposed inferior opponent, the Bills played poorly enough to lose. For the second time in three games, they lost.
They were outplayed and outcoached by a team that began the day with a 1-5 record and had averaged a mere 12 points per game. The only thing that made the Patriots worth discussing before kickoff was the increasing buzz about the future of Bill Belichick as their head coach.
Now, there will be a louder buzz about the mounting problems the Bills are having on both sides of the ball. Their offense started slowly for the third week in a row, generating only a field goal in the first half and producing a mere 10 points through the first two quarters during that stretch. The Bills’ first play from scrimmage set the tone with Josh Allen throwing an interception.
What kind of day was it for the Bills? The kind that ended with coach Sean McDermott having to answer a question about how much confidence he has in his team. His answer was predictable: “I’m confident in our plays, I’m confident in our coaches.”
Still, doubt is growing as to whether the Bills should be regarded as anything more than mediocre.
2. Perhaps the most jarring aspect of the Bills’ performance was their defense’s inability to stop the Patriots after the Buffalo took a 25-22 lead with just under two minutes left on the clock.
A week ago, the Bills barely prevented the New York Giants from scoring the winning touchdown on the final play. On Sunday, they let the Patriots drive 75 yards in eight plays to Mac Jones’ 1-yard touchdown pass to Mike Gesicki for the decisive points.
Yes, that was Mac Jones methodically leading that march! The same Mac Jones who had been playing terribly all season, raising questions about whether he would even continue to be the Patriots’ starting quarterback.
“It’s a situation that, as a defense, we’d like to feel like we can thrive in those types of situations that you want to be in at the end of the game to be able to close the game out for your team,” safety Jordan Poyer said.
“When it comes down to it, you’ve gotta close the game out,” McDermott said. “Just better overall tackling. Fundamentally, defensively, we’ve got to do a better job there. That starts with me.”
It does. Though it matters that the Bills were missing key defensive players due to injury, McDermott’s game-planning and signal-calling as defensive coordinator also left plenty to be desired.
The Patriots also made it look way too easy on the game’s opening drive when they marched 63 yards in nine plays to a field goal.
3. The Bills’ offense is in a serious funk.
Josh Allen does not look right. He says his right (throwing) shoulder, which he injured against the Giants, is fine. But something is wrong. He misfired repeatedly against the Patriots. He showed a lack of poise and was constantly under duress as the Pats used a variety of pressure packages and coverages to confuse him and the offensive line.
McDermott says he has confidence in his coaches, but offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey has to be feeling all kinds of heat and could very well find himself being removed from his role if there isn’t significant improvement soon.
Among the Bills’ few offensive bright spots was rookie tight end and first-round draft pick Dalton Kincaid having his best game as a pro. He caught all eight passes thrown his way for 75 yards, an average of 9.4 yards per catch. He consistently found openings underneath coverage and kept the chains moving.
Another plus was that Allen completed passes to nine different receivers, which had been a formula for strong offensive production in back-to-back wins against the Raiders and Commanders. Stefon Diggs finished with six catches for 58 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown that came when he caught the ball falling to the ground, got up, ripped away from a would-be tackle, and scored. That cut the margin to 22-17 before a Patriot turnover led to Allen’s 1-yard TD run.
But it wasn’t enough to allow the Bills to seal a win Sunday, with miscues continuing to hurt the offense. A pass-interference penalty on running back Latavius Murray wiped out a TD pass to Dawson Knox in the first quarter and Tyler Bass hooked a 42-yard field-goal attempt wide right in the second.
So, what’s wrong with the Bills’ offense?
“I wish I could tell you,” McDermott said. “We talk about it. We talk about being more detailed, getting into a rhythm early, playing complementary football, and all three phases working together. We haven’t been able to get into a good rhythm in the first quarter, let’s just start there. So just, overall, got to find the answers there.”
Allen said the problem with the Bills’ offense is that it isn’t executing properly but had no answer as to how they can solve it because if he did, “we’d have it fixed by now.”
4. The Patriots merit some credit for rising from the ashes to stun the Bills and the rest of the NFL.
Who knows? They might not win another game, but that doesn’t matter. They won the game that had the potential to be among the more embarrassing of Bill Belichick’s time in New England.
Allen and the Bills had owned the Patriots, winning six of the teams’ previous seven encounters, including the postseason. Allen had seemingly found the secret sauce to solving the Pats’ complex defensive scheme.
Not so much on Sunday.
The victory will restore at least some of the credibility Belichick had lost, especially for the underwhelming work he has done as a general manager.
5. The Bills have only three days to prepare for their next game, Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Highmark Stadium, and realistically it will amount to one full day of on-field work. That doesn’t hold great promise for a sharp showing from a slumping team, but it at least will help create another topic besides the one that lingered after Sunday’s loss.
And that topic is: Are the Bills in severe trouble?
“Our season is not over,” Allen said. “It’s a long season. Feels pretty bleak right now, but we’re going to figure it out.”
“No panic, none of that,” safety Micah Hyde said. “It’s a week-to-week league. Good thing we have a Thursday night game coming up. Short week to flush this, learn from it and we have another game coming up.”