By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Buffalo Bills were hopeful to make things difficult for the New England Patriots heading into the playoffs.
The Patriots (10-5) typically have a easy route to a first-round bye. They don’t this season, but they sure did look like the Pats of years past against the Bills (5-10) on Sunday en route to a 24-12 win.
With that, here are five takeaways from the Bills loss to the Patriots:
Run defense woes
In a shocker, New England quarterback Tom Brady looked fairly average against the Bills in Week 16. The Pats didn’t need him though. New England’s run game did all the heavy lifting offensively and the Bills had no answers. It started from the get-go as Sony Michel had 43 yards on the Pats’ first scoring drive which was 55 yards in total. On numerous occasions, the Patriots offensive line opened big holes for the likes of Michel, James White and Corradelle Patterson. In total, the Pats had 273 yards rushing, the most the Bills have allowed this season. Michel led the way with 116 yards and a touchdown.
Buffalo’s edge defenders often failed to set the edge, along with the huge holes Michel had to deal with. The Bills linebacking group appeared to miss Matt Milano a bunch in this one as plenty of runs were aimed at his replacement, Corey Thompson. Against the pass, Rex Burkhead also had four catches for 40 yards. Out of the backfield, the Patriots owned the Bills.
Allen not spectacular
Rookie quarterback Josh Allen didn’t get much help in this game from those around him, but he didn’t look great himself, either. Allen fell back into holding onto the ball too long and he was not accurate. What the Bills the most on the day was Allen’s inability to keep drives alive. The Bills were only 1-for-11 on third down.
Even when Allen did check down to a shorter pass, he looked hesitant to get it there. LeSean McCoy, despite his struggles running the ball this year, is still a playmaker in space and Allen only targeted him three times.
Allen wasn’t sacked in the game, but he was hit four times and pressured plenty of other times. On one occasion, Allen held the ball far too long while throwing out of his own end zone, nearly taking a sack and safety. He also telegraphed two interceptions as well. It wasn’t an abysmal effort by Allen, his garbage time score reminded you of Big Ben, but it wasn’t a highlight game for the rookie, either.
No help for Allen
The Buffalo’s offensive line problems are well noted. They’re mostly of the run-blocking variety, but the pass-blocking is below average and certainly was against the Patriots. The more apparent problem against New England was the Buffalo playmakers, though.
Jason Croom and Logan Thomas had more opportunities to prove they can stick as Buffalo’s tight end moving forward as Charles Clay was a healthy scratch. Thomas dropped a potential touchdown pass while Croom fumbled a ball once again while trying to earn more yards. The drop problem snuck over to the wideouts as well. Robert Foster lost a pass in the sun, Isaiah McKenzie had drops and only caught one of seven targets. Zay Jones only contributed one catch for most of the game before his late touchdown pass came. Allen’s decision making wasn’t great, but his teammates around him were far worse.
Special teams dud and coaching questions
Against the Lions, it was smooth sailing last week for Buffalo’s special teams, which has become a rarity this year. Things reverted back to the bad special teams this week.
Punter Matt Darr had his first bad game kicking for the Bills. His punt average was 38.3 yards. Darr had one of his kicks blocked and another he left so short that Julian Edelman caught it on the run and ran the ball from midfield to near Buffalo’s 20-yard line, giving his team great field position. Late in the game, Darr botched the hold on an extra-point kick as well.
The biggest question was Stephen Hauschka, though. Buffalo’s placekicker was 2-for-3 booting it in the game, but his miss was telling. From 43 yards out, Hauschka missed. The way he missed was the telling part. His kick was short, not something we often see from him. Why were the Bills running him out there the past two weeks if he can’t kick it? There’s no sense in it.
In his debut, Victor Boldin didn’t overly impress as a returner, but he did have one of his three go for 28 yards.
Takeaways don’t lead to much
Buffalo’s offense handled takeaways in the worst possible way against the Patriots. First off, they gave the ball away three times. Allen made two throws with bad touch on them which were jumped by Patriots defensive backs JC Jackson and Jason McCourty. Croom also fumbled away the ball.
In addition, the Bills offense couldn’t capitalize on the three turnovers the Patriots had. Rex Burkhead had a fumble and Tom Brady tossed interceptions to Jordan Poyer and Lorenzo Alexander. On those ensuing drives, the Bills only cashed in three points. On the other two, the Bills turned the ball over on downs and missed a field goal. Even the drive that the Bills did score on, the Bills went three-and-out and settled for the field goal. It seemed like the Bills couldn’t get a single thing going on offense in this one, even with momentum-building turnovers.