Patriots beat the Bills, 29-25: Quick observations from a wild comeback win for New England
Mac Jones and the Patriots orchestrated a clutch game-winning drive in the fourth quarter.
Are reports of the Patriots’ demise in 2023 greatly exaggerated?
Despite relinquishing a 12-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Patriots delivered a signature win amid a season of misery.
Trailing 25-22 with 2:00 left on the clock, Mac Jones and the Patriots put together an eight-play, 75-yard drive to snatch a win away from Buffalo — with Mike Gesicki reeling in a 1-yard touchdown pass from Jones with 15 seconds left on the clock.
It was a much-needed victory for the Patriots, who showed signs of life on offense for the first time in over a month.
The Patriots are now 2-5 on the season, while the Bills move to 4-3.
Here are a few early observations from New England’s impressive win over Josh Allen and the Bills.
Delivering in the clutch
Say what you will about Jones and the Patriots offense through the first six weeks of the 2023 season.
Another lapse in execution when it came to ball security nearly cost them en route to a seismic fourth-quarter collapse.
But with their season already teetering on the brink of disaster, Jones and the Patriots came through when all hope was seemingly lost.
Little has gone right for Jones this season, with questions surrounding his future in New England — and even his standing as the team’s QB1 — hovering over him for weeks now.
But the Patriots’ signal-caller was money in this one, completing 25 of his 30 pass attempts for 272 yards and two touchdowns with a 126.7 rating.
A win like this may not signal that a second-half surge is on the horizon. But for a team where little has seemingly gone right, this was a much-needed result.
Avoiding disaster
In most years, a 12-point cushion midway through the fourth quarter would have offered more than enough breathing room for the Patriots.
This Patriots team tends to makes things a little harder on itself, with Jones’s final-drive heroics saving the team from what would have been a monumental collapse.
After Kendrick Bourne gave New England a 22-10 lead with 7:40 left in the game, the Patriots failed to execute on both sides of the ball.
With their backs against the wall, Josh Allen and the Bills subsequently put together a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive over just 2:04 of game time — with poor tackling from J.C. Jackson and Myles Bryant allowing Stefon Diggs to slip through for a 25-yard score to make it a five-point game for New England.
The Patriots still had plenty of time to run out the clock and seal the win, but Bourne fumbled on a nine-yard pickup that allowed Buffalo to regain possession on New England’s 29-yard line.
Buffalo then reeled off an eight-play, 29-yard drive to give itself its first lead of the game with two minutes left in regulation.
In a season with plenty of ugly losses, this would have been a tough pill to swallow if New England’s offense didn’t wake up for one final drive.
Mac Jones, offense right the ship
After weeks upon weeks of offensive ineptitude, Bill Belichick, Bill O’Brien and New England’s offense switched up their gameplan on Sunday afternoon against the Bills.
New England didn’t reinvent the wheel, nor did they wipe the slate clean with their playcalls.
Rather, they shifted their focus to some of the offensive schemes and wrinkles that initially offered up so much hope during preseason action — which feels like a long time ago.
- O’Brien dialed up heaps of RPOs (run-pass option) and pre-snap motions into their offensive playbook — putting Buffalo’s defense on its heels and creating space for New England’s short passing game to take off.
- New England finally started feeding Demario Douglas, relying on the shifty rookie wideout to consistently move the chains. He delivered with four catches for 54 yards, while also drawing two penalties.
- With Buffalo’s defense depleted up the middle, New England dialed up more runs up the middle for both Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott, especially in short-yardage situations. New England averaged four yards per carry, with Elliott scoring his second touchdown in as many games.
- And perhaps most importantly, New England’s offensive line stood tall and executed, with Mike Onwenu slotting in at right tackle stabilizing a unit that has been shredded all season long.
The end result? The strongest showing all season long from New England’s offense, which crossed the 20-point threshold for the first time all season and gained 364 total yards in Sunday’s win.
With Jones finally afforded time to throw, it should come as little surprise that New England’s offense operated smoothly for most of the afternoon. Keeping Onwenu in place at right tackle offers the best chance for that O-line to remain intact moving forward.
“When I have time I can go and read the offense how we’re supposed to,” Jones acknowledged postgame.
Even before New England’s last-minute drive, it was a night-and-day performance from a Patriots offense that looked broken from the top down to its foundations for most of the last month.
A fast start for once?
Slow starts have been a recurring trend for the Patriots all season long.
In New England’s previous losses this season, they trailed:
16-0 to Philadelphia
17-3 to Miami
28-3 to Dallas
21-0 to New Orleans
Against the Raiders last week, New England was only staring at a 3-0 deficit after the first 15 minutes of action. But the Patriots’ offense gained -2 yards during that extended stretch of play in Las Vegas.
Sunday’s matchup against the Bills was a much-needed step in the right direction, with New England jumping out to a 10-point lead before the Bills even ran two plays.
New England opened the game on an 8-play, 63-yard drive that ended with Chad Ryland connecting on a 30-yard field goal. Allen’s first play of the afternoon ended in disaster — with Jabrill Peppers picking off an ill-advised throw and Elliott punching his way into the end zone just seven plays later to give the Patriots a rare double-digit lead out of the gate.
Peppers, Barmore keep making plays
In what has been a recurring trend this season, Jabrill Peppers generated a momentum-shifting play on Sunday that helped his team jump out to an early lead.
Granted, Allen’s first throw of the game nearly hit the Patriots safety square in the chest. But Peppers has developed a knack for delivering in timely situations. Of the four takeaways that the Patriots have generated this season, Peppers helped force three of them.
Elliott’s eventual touchdown run from two yards out on the subsequent drive marked the first time this season that New England has generated points off of a turnover. They led the league in that category (114) during the 2022 campaign.
Along with Peppers in the backfield, Christian Barmore dominated for the second-straight game in the trenches. The defensive lineman regularly made things miserable for Allen by forcing him out of the pocket, with ESPN’s Mike Reiss noting that New England pressured the Bills QB on half of his dropbacks just before the end of the first half.
New England’s defense labored as the game went on when it came to getting Allen and the Bills off the field. But amid their continued tackling woes, they still managed to scrap together a few big plays — with Ja’Whaun Bentley forcing an incompletion after rocking Dawson Knox on a 4th-and-2 situation earlier in the fourth before things went awry.
Odds and ends
Regardless of JuJu Smith-Schuter’s injury status moving forward, the Patriots need to keep giving plenty of snaps to Douglas moving forward. Not only was he productive in the passing game, but he also reeled off a 25-yard punt return. Whenever he touches the ball, good things tend to happen.
New England was’t stung by the injury bug as much as previous games. But the Patriots’ O-line did take a hit late in Sunday’s contest. Trent Brown was questionable to return in the final minutes of the fourth quarter due to a knee injury, with his backup in Vederian Lowe also listed as questionable just a few plays later due to an ankle ailment. Brown ultimately returned to the field on New England’s game-winning drive.
Pharaoh Brown – big-play target? New England brought in Brown to serve primarily as a blocking tight end. But the 29-year-old veteran reeled in catches of 25 and 26 yards on Sunday — with another 22-yard pickup negated by an illegal man downfield penalty.
LIVE UPDATES
3:58: Mike Gesicki with the touchdown. Patriots take a 29-25 lead with 12 seconds to go.
Wow.
3:56: Patriots first and goal at the 1-yard line. Here we go.
3:51: Stevenson explodes for a 34-yard pickup.
3:47: Bills score. Buffalo takes a 25-22 lead with 1:58 left in the game.
Mac Jones and the Patriots will get the ball with 1:58 to go.
3:36: Kendrick Bourne fumbles the ball and the Bills take over on the 20-yard line. Brutal.
3:34: Trent Brown questionable to return with a knee injury.
3:30: Patriots tackling issues continue to hamper this team. Diggs makes it a 22-17 game after New England can’t bring him down.
3:21: Kendrick Bourne reels in 4-yard touchdown pass. Biggest lead of the season for the Patriots, who finally hit 20 points on the season.
22-10 Patriots.
3:20: Surprise, surprise. Another huge pick-up for Douglas.
3:16: Jones shaken up after the strip sack. New England recovers and Douglas also draws a call.
3:13: Pharaoh Brown – big-play tight end? A 26-yard pickup. Great throw from Jones.
3:10: Huge play by Bentley, who breaks up a pass to Knox on a 4th-and-2 situation for the Bills. Patriots offense takes over.
3:09: Nice pass-break up by JC Jackson in the end zone.
3:05: End Third: Patriots hold a 16-10 lead.
3:02: Jennings was banged up, but he eventually jogs off the field.
2:59: Dugger misses an open-field tackle and the Patriots are unable to get Allen and the Bills off the field.
2:55: New England drives down the field, but Patriots need to settle for another field goal from Ryland.
16-10 game.
2:42: Bills open the second half with a touchdown — Allen to Cook.
13-10 game with 9:53 left in the third quarter.
2:39: Tough call on Jack Jones there with the roughing the passer penalty.
2:33: Second half is underway. Bills will open with the ball.
2:19: HALF: Patriots hold a 13-3 lead at halftime.
2:18: Mac Jones not happy after New England has to punt.
2:15: New England’s defense doing a great job against Allen.
2:11: Tyler Bass misses a 42-yard field goal — it sails wide right.
New England holds on to a 13-3 lead and will get the ball with 1:51 left in the first half.
2:00: New England has been very conservative in the red zone with their play calls. Points are clearly at a premium, given the state of this offense.
1:58: New England once again needs to settle for a field goal, but Ryland’s second field goal of the game gives New England a 13-3 lead with 7:36 left in the half.
1:56: Offense looks night and day with Onweni stabilizing the line at RT.
1:55: 33-yard pickup from Jones to Bourne. New England already on the Bills 13 yard line.
1:53: Pop Douglas continues to … well, pop. A nice 25-yeard pick-up on that punt return.
1:52: Buffalo forced to punt once again. Jennings gets a tackle for a loss, while Barmore has been a wrecking crew up front.
1:47: Jack Jones getting his first snaps here in the second quarter.
1:45: Baringer with a 64-yard bomb on that punt. Sheesh.
1:44: New England goes 3-and-out and are forced to punt on their third drive of the afternoon.
1:40: Bills knock 7 minutes off the clock, but Buffalo ultimately settles for a field goal. 10-3 game.
1:34: Bills score on a Knox touchdown catch, but it’s negated by an offensive pass interference. Bills will open the second quarter on a 3rd and 17 on New England’s 18.
1:20: Elliott runs it in from 2 yards out. The Patriots have a 10-0 lead with 6:58 left in the first.
New England capitalizing early in this one. Night and day from what we’ve seen from this team.
1:18: Douglas now with 3 catches for 35 yards.
1:16: Pop Douglas moves the chains with a 10-yard pickup.
1:12: Jabrill Peppers snags Josh Allen’s first throw of the game for an interception. Brutal throw from the Bills’ QB.
1:08: Patriots ultimately settle for a field goal. Ryland is good from 30 yards out.
3-0 Patriots.
1:07: Patriots getting plenty of success out of the gate running ip the middle, especially with Buffalo missing their best DTs and Milano out with a leg injury.
1:05: The Patriots are moving the ball with authority out of the gate. Stevenson gains 14, then Pharaoh Brown gains 25 yards.
1:04: Mac Jones with the keeper for a first down.
1:03: Pop Douglas opens with a 9-yard completion. More of that, methinks.
1:00: Buffalo wins the coin toss. They defer. Mac Jones and the Patriots will get the ball first.
12:52: Dante Scarnecchia rings the bell at the top of the lighthouse.
12:36: Some interesting news regarding Bill Belichick and his future in New England.
12:33: Not much of a surprise, but both Mike Vrabel and Dante Scarnecchia are here at Gillette Stadium following their induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame yesterday.
12:32: Based on warmups, this is New England’s starting O-line. Onwenu shifted over to right tackle.
LT – Trent Brown
LG – Cole Strange
C – David Andrews
RG – Sidy Sow
RT – Mike Onwenu
12:30: Can Seymour … still play?
12:25: Matthew Judon out on the field catching passes with Steve Belichick. He’s still recovering from a biceps injury.
12:10: JuJu Smith-Schuster set to miss his second straight game with a concussion. With Douglas back, he could earn plenty of reps out of the slot today.
12:08: Jack Jones is also set to make his season debut after missing the first six games of the season due to a hamstring injury.
11:58: Some good news on offense regardless of Cunningham’s status. Pop Douglas is set to return, while Cole Strange will be needed up front on the O-line against a potent Buffalo pass rush.
11:50: Another puzzling set of roster moves with Cunningham being inactive. Really didn’t see much of him last week in Vegas, and now he’s on the outside looking in at today’s game. Expected a bit more, considering he was signed to the active roster.
11:40: Patriots inactives today:
– T Calvin Anderson – WR JuJu Smith-Schuster – WR Kayshon Boutte – LB Josh Uche – DE Keion White – QB Malik Cunningham – QB Will Grier (emergency QB)
Zappe is once again New England’s QB.
11:30: Greetings from Gillette!
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