A recap of Buffalo’s Week 16 game against New England.
Buffalo Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
Patriots second-half surge sinks Bills
Location: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts
Regular season records: Buffalo (8-7), New England (12-3)
In a nutshell:
Like several times before, the Bills looked like they had the New England Patriots on the ropes in their own stadium, but some negative plays and some untimely officiating prevented any threat of an upset. Buffalo took a precarious 16-13 lead into the latter stages of the third quarter, but they couldn’t make it stand up. New England scored the last 24 points of the game in route to a 37-16 win over Buffalo.
Unfortunately, the officials played a role in the outcome. At the end of the first half the officiating crew overruled what appeared to be a clean touchdown catch by Kelvin Benjamin in the right rear corner of the end zone.
With six seconds left, Benjamin pulled the pass in from Tyrod Taylor over the head of cornerback Stephon Gilmore, got his left foot down and dragged his right toe on the turf before going out of bounds. The play was ruled a touchdown, but replay ruled it incomplete.
Had the touchdown counted Buffalo would’ve been ahead at the half 17-13. Instead they had to settle for a short field goal to tie the game at 13.
The second-half surge by the Patriots rendered the controversial call somewhat moot. Buffalo was outscored 24-3 in the second half falling to 8-7 on the season. The Bills now have a ‘must win’ situation in Week 17 when they travel to Miami to face the Dolphins to stay alive for a possible AFC Wild Card berth.
How it went down:
-Buffalo scored on their opening possession putting together a clock-chewing 16-play drive that took more than eight minutes and culminated with a 41-yard field goal from Stephen Hauschka with 5:30 left in the opening quarter.
-New England evened the score when Stephen Gostkowski hit a 21-yard field goal at the start of the second quarter (3-3).
-The Bills regained the lead when Jordan Poyer intercepted a Tom Brady pass and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown with 10:37 left in the half (10-3).
-The Patriots tied the game on the ensuing possession when Brady found Rob Gronkowski for a 17-yard touchdown to cap a nine-play, 75-yard drive midway through the second quarter.
-New England took the lead on a 40-yard field goal by Gostkowski to finish off a 66-yard drive with two minutes remaining in the half.
-The Bills tacked another Stephen Hauschka field goal on their first possession of the second half as Buffalo’s kicker hit from 30 yards out for a 16-13 lead with 10 minutes left in the third quarter.
-Again the Patriots answered as Gostkowski hit a 34-yard attempt at the end of a 13-play, 59-yard drive with 5:12 left in the third quarter (16-16).
-New England took the lead with under a minute to go in the third quarter when Mike Gillislee scored on a one-yard run after a pass interference penalty gave the Patriots a first-and-goal situation (23-16).
-Dion Lewis took a 12-yard screen pass from Tom Brady to the end zone to put the game away with nine minutes remaining (30-16).
-Lewis put another touchdown on the board with four minutes remaining as he took a carry in from four yards out to make the final score 37-16.
Subplots:
-Buffalo’s offense went 0-for-4 in the red zone and 0-for-2 on fourth down attempts. They scored just three points in the second half.
-Kelvin Benjamin had one of his most productive days as a Bill making five catches for 70 yards. Had his four-yard touchdown reception not be overruled as incomplete it would’ve been even bigger.
-LeSean McCoy went over 100 yards from scrimmage for the fifth straight game against the Patriots. He had 71 yards rushing and 76 yards receiving for a total of 147 in the game.
-Tyrod Taylor went 21-38 passing for 281 yards, but was sacked six times. He had a passer rating of 78.9.
-Deonte Thompson was an effective deep threat in the game with catches of 46 and 33 yards on scoring drives.
-Kyle Williams’ sack of Tom Brady gave him 43.5 in his career pushing him past Mario Williams for sixth in the team’s all-time sack list.
-Jerry Hughes also had a sack giving him 40 for his career.
-Stephen Hauschka had seven points in Sunday’s game giving him his fourth consecutive 100-point season. His only miss came on a 50-yard attempt in the fourth quarter.
-Jordan Poyer had an interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter. It was his fourth INT of the season to tie Tre’Davious White for second on the team.
-Tom Brady threw an interception in his fifth straight game when Jordan Poyer picked off a second quarter pass. It matched the longest streak in Brady’s career, set back in 2002.
-Inactive for Buffalo on Sunday were E.J. Gaines, Andre Holmes, Breon Borders, Conor McDermott, John Miller and Brandon Reilly.
Up next:
The Bills travel to Miami to face the Dolphins in the regular season finale on Sunday for a 1 pm kickoff.