Josh Allen got six hours with a rented Elvis Presley before the Bills survived the Patriots, 24-21, on Sunday. But now that the Buffalo defense has allowed 107 points and 1,357 yards over the last three games, Western New York is battling a bit of a Blue Christmas.
In his first game against Buffalo, rookie Drake Maye led the Patriots (3-12) to touchdowns on each of their first two possessions to jump out to a 14-0 lead. The Bills (12-3) needed three takeaways and another outstanding effort from running back James Cook to come back and survive New England.
“What happened to the Bills today?” asked Jason Fitz Sunday night on the Inside Coverage podcast. “The Bills beat the Patriots, 24-21, but they were in a 14-nothing hole within seconds, it felt like. And look, I appreciate them spotting New England 14 points so we had an entertaining game to watch but, man, even after that, the Bills never really got on track in this game. I kept looking at that game and said, ‘This can’t happen this late in the season with everything that’s still on the line with playoff seeding for Buffalo. And you cannot be in this situation if you’re the Bills.”
Buffalo, which halted Detroit’s 11-game winning streak the previous Sunday, allowed New England to convert each of its first four third-down plays as Maye orchestrated TD drives that consumed a combined 13 minutes. The second possession was a 16-play, 91-yard march that took 9:57, ending with Rhamondre Stevenson’s commanding 14-yard touchdown run. Maye hit Kayshon Boutte on a perfectly placed, 28-yard touchdown to cap the first drive.
However, just four plays later, Cook exploded on a 46-yard touchdown to cut the lead in half. And on Buffalo’s first series out of the locker room, Cook piled up 40 yards on five carries to set up his 4-yard touchdown reception and knot the game, 14-14, five minutes into the second half. Cook scored two scrimmage touchdowns, finishing with 100 yards on 11 carries (9.1 avg.) and 26 yards on three receptions.
Missing three starters in their secondary, the Bills stiffened in the third quarter, halting each of New England’s two drives in the period with a takeaway. Following Cook’s touchdown catch, Greg Rousseau forced a Stevenson fumble and Dorian Williams recovered at the Patriots’ 42-yard line. Six plays later, Tyler Bass’ 50-yard field goal gave Buffalo its first lead, 17-14, with 6:07 remaining in the quarter. Then, after Maye drove the Patriots into the Bills’ red zone, Cam Lewis picked him off in the end zone.
“We came out, didn’t start the way we wanted to, made some adjustments, and then we were able to play more like ourselves down the stretch there,” said linebacker Terrel Bernard. “I think it’s a good learning opportunity for us to come out and have the right mindset to start fast.”
While they didn’t start fast, they finished in strong fashion after the day’s most important takeaway. With just over 10 minutes in regulation, Rousseau blew up Maye’s screen pass to Stevenson near the Patriots’ goal line. Because the pass was slightly backward, officials ruled it a fumble and Taron Johnson pounced on the loose ball in the end zone.
Undaunted, Maye again engineered a long scoring drive, this time 13 plays and 75 yards before completing a 9-yard touchdown to tight end Hunter Henry with 1:13 left in the game. The Patriots then used all three timeouts before Allen’s 2-yard run converted a fourth-and-1 and allowed Buffalo to run out the clock.
Buffalo hosts the Jets (3-12) on Sunday before finishing the season with another game against New England, this time at Gillette Stadium. Two full games behind Kansas City despite being the only team to defeat the Chiefs this year, Buffalo has to root for the Steelers to beat the Chiefs on Christmas Day in order to have a shot at the AFC’s No. 1 seed. More than likely, Buffalo will wrap up the No. 2 seed and host the lowest-seeded team in the first round of the playoffs.
No laughing matter: Allen bruised his right funny bone in a collision with Yannick Ngakoue early in the fourth quarter, at the end of a 7-yard run. “It took a good five to 10 minutes,” Allen said. “Just making sure, trying to get some blood flow back in there, some activation. … When it’s cold like that, too, the more you leave it out, the number the whole hand gets. So, it was a weird feeling. Just glad it’s gone now.” The MVP front-runner finished 16 of 29 for 154 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also had 30 yards on six carries.
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