It's only fitting that in the worst year in modern human history, the Patriots (6-9 overall, 4-3 home) have come crashing back to Earth after an unmatched nearly two decades long run of incredible success. We knew that life after Tom Brady would be rough but who could have guessed that it would get this ugly this fast? Tonight they hosted the AFC East champion Bills (12-3 overall, 6-2 away) at Gillette Stadium which used to be a place where the visitors could never do anything right. Not anymore. After a slow start, Buffalo rolled to a laughable 38-9 victory (the worst home loss in the Bill Belichick era) which puts them in good shape for the No. 2 seed in the AFC for the upcoming playoffs. It also gave them their first season sweep of New England since 1999; the Jets and Dolphins both swept the Pats in 2000, since then they had at least split with everyone in their pathetic division for the last 19 years. The Bills embarrassed the Patriots in every possible way including executing a successful fake punt throw that went for 13 yards and a first down conversion while also going a flawless three-for-three on fourth-down conversions.
With all their gross warts on full display for the world to see, perhaps the scariest aspect of this one-sided loss for the Pats was that the gap between them and the Bills is now immense and I don't know how that changes in the near future. Buffalo's star quarterback Josh Allen (27-of-36 for 320 yards, 4 TDs; 35 yards rushing) is playing at an MVP level-not that he'll probably get it in 2020 over Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers-while wide receiver Stefon Diggs (9 catches for 145 yards and 3 TDs on 11 targets) has made a huge impact right away in his first year with the Bills. He's at least entered the conversation of the top wideouts in the league and his connection with Allen is almost unstoppable. The Pats famously cannot draft receivers so they'll have to follow Buffalo's lead and trade for a top one or use all that cap space ($51 million?) to sign one hopefully this off-season.
The Patriots quagmire of a quarterback situation coupled with their lack of any weapons is downright horrifying. There are a million issues currently with this team but as this season has proven, even with Belichick the head coach, without a decent QB they have nothing. Cam Newton (5-of-10 for 34 yards; 24 yards rushing, TD) for some reason that only New England head coach Bill knows, still started but he was pulled in favor of Jarrett Stidham (4-of-11 for 44 yards) in the third quarter. After not scoring a touchdown in the past two games, the Pats finally found the end zone with a nine-yard touchdown run by Cam in the second quarter. It was a small morsel of 2015 MVP Cam that we've seen far too little of in a Patriots uniform. Forget that his 13th rushing TD set a new franchise record for QBs (sorry Steve Grogan), that's only an indictment on their lack of athletic signal-callers throughout their history. Also, please note that quarterbacks run way more now in today's NFL.
Just like it's hard to complain after the Patriots have brought us so many wonderful moments, it's also silly to bitch about the Bills finally looking like contenders again for the first time in this century. Even if you love the Pats like me, you probably hate other dynasties (Cowboys, Lakers, Yankees, Canadiens, Alabama football, Duke basketball, etc.) so it's impossible to have it both ways. Buffalo is our lovable, drunken neighbors that have been a laughingstock for ages but that has changed in their favor with Brady in Tampa Bay. Ditto for Miami (10-5) who have a chance to make the playoffs as well if they can beat the Bills on Sunday in the regular season finale.
This couldn't have featured a more perfect start that epitomized this waste of a season by the home team. For once, they actually ran a pretty trick play as a flea flicker from Newton to Damiere Byrd would have put New England on Buffalo's goal-line during their opening possession. The problem was that the open Byrd simply dropped the ball. Nick Folk eventually settled for a 45-yard field goal and a 3-0 Patriots lead-their only one of the contest. New England's defense stopped Buffalo at the goal-line on their first drive and Tyler Bass settled for a 22-yard field goal. It was 3-3 after a utterly thrilling first quarter that we all will be talking about for the rest of our lives.
The Bills woke up in the second quarter and as you can guess, the Patriots had no response. Rookie running back Zack Moss ran for a five-yard touchdown that gave Buffalo a 10-3 advantage before Newton's TD run that was capped off with a PAT miss by Folk (his 3rd of what otherwise has been a great season for him). Former Patriots great Lee Smith-a blocking tight end roughly the size of an interior lineman-caught a four-yard touchdown from Allen and Diggs started to heat up with a 50-yard catch-and-run for another score late in the second quarter.
The Bills led 24-9 at halftime and they never let up (no complaining since the Patriots did this for years) as Diggs caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Allen in the third quarter where he bounced off multiple hits from New England's useless secondary. Stats are for losers as we have been told but let the record show that Allen set a single-season record for passing yards by Bills QBs and Diggs set a single-season record for receiving yards by Bills WRs. That dynamic duo ended it with a diving eight-yard touchdown catch by Diggs in the back of the end zone early in the fourth quarter. With former Bills cornerback Stephon Gilmore on IR, Diggs repeatedly abused his fellow Maryland alum and Pro Bowl snub J.C. Jackson. It got so bad that the immortal Matt Barkley got some garbage time snaps at quarterback for Buffalo.
It makes me barf even thinking about it but the Pats do have one more completely meaningless game to look forward to on Sunday (1, CBS): they host the Jets (2-13) who bungled away the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft (which is sure to be Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence) by winning their last two games. That means the only thing left to be decided in this worthless matchup is New England's draft position in 2021. With a glut of 5-10 and 6-9 teams in the NFL this season, they could potentially finish anywhere from No. 7 to No. 15. New York is locked into the No. 2 pick and as they've shown the last few weeks, they are dumb enough to win when it does them no good at all. Therefore, here's hoping that Stidham starts and he stinks, Pats lose and boom they get a Top-10 pick. That wouldn't fully make up for this lost season but at least it would give us something positive to rally around. Otherwise, what else about the Patriots gives you any hope for 2021 and beyond?
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