With The Regular Season Winding Down, The Pats Are Fading Away After A 33-21 Loss To The Bills

 

    The ups and downs of this season for the Patriots (9-6 overall, 3-5 home) have been nothing short of insane: they started a hapless 2-4 then reeled off seven straight wins before losing last week at Indy (9-6) and then falling 33-21 to Buffalo (9-6 overall, 5-3 away) in a huge divisional showdown this afternoon at Gillette Stadium. With a chance to put the Colts loss behind them not to mention to sweep the season series with the Bills, the Pats did a face plant in a major way. Unlike New England's fluky 14-10 wind-and-weather aided win in Buffalo three weeks ago, this felt like a more true representation of these teams at the moment. Bills quarterback Josh Allen (30-of-47 for 314 yards, 3 TDs; 64 yards rushing) was unstoppable and Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones (14-of-32 for 145 yards, 2 INTs) was predictably no match for him. With two games left now in the regular season, Buffalo has the inside track to another AFC East crown. A few weeks ago, the Pats seemed to have a legitimate shot at the No. 1 seed in the AFC, now they will have to scramble to hang on to a playoff spot. 

    To say that New England's overrated defense could not get off the field was not a bland statement but rather a depressing fact. This was the first time in Pats head coach Bill Belichick's exceptionally long and successful career that the opposing team never had to punt against him. Buffalo simply wore down the Patriots as they racked up eight more first downs (28-20), they possessed the ball for more than 10 minutes longer than the home team (35:09-24:51) and their defense forced two turnovers (2 INTs by safety Micah Hyde) while the Bills never coughed it up. With wide receivers Cole Beasley and Gabriel Davis both out due to Covid-19 protocols, you figured that the Patriots could focus on Stefon Diggs (7 catches, 85 yards, TD) and nobody else would be able to do much against them. Wrong. Wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie set a career-high in catches (game-high 11) and yards (game-high 125) as Belichick watched undrafted second-year cornerback Myles Bryant repeatedly get burned by McKenzie. 

    After a terrible start doomed them against Indianapolis, you knew that the Patriots would play much better to start this game. Except that never really happened. Running back Damien Harris (18 carries, 103 yards, 3 TDs) was fantastic for New England but the same could not be said about any of his teammates on this day. Buffalo had the lone score of the first quarter: a three-yard touchdown pass from Allen to McKenzie and kicker Tyler Bass added the point after for a 7-0 lead. Harris responded with a 16-yard touchdown run (and Nick Folk PAT) to tie it up at seven early in the second quarter. Buffalo's issues in the red zone meant that Bass had to kick a 25-yard field goal for a 10-7 advantage. Allen zipped a sweet 12-yard touchdown pass to Diggs with 1:45 left in the first half. Bass' point after made it 17-7 in favor of the Bills at halftime. 

    Once again New England's defense held strong in the red zone and Bass had to salvage things with a 34-yard field goal which gave Buffalo a 20-7 lead early in the third quarter. Harris answered with a one-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter that coupled with Folk's kick trimmed Buffalo's lead to 20-14. The Bills closed strong in the fourth quarter thanks to a two-yard touchdown run by running back Devin Singletary but they failed on the two-point conversion attempt to leave it at 26-14. Harris' last touchdown run (of the 8-yard variety) and Folk's final PAT brought the Patriots within five points but Allen and Co. proceeded to march down the field methodically and clinch the victory with a two-yard shuffle pass from Allen to tight end Dawson Knox. That backbreaking play coupled with Bass' point after sent most of Gillette streaming for the exits (and the endless traffic in the parking lots and on Route 1, good times!). 

    The only positive news that I can think of for the Pats is that they have the good fortune to host the Jaguars (2-13 overall, 0-7 road) next Sunday afternoon (1, CBS)-their first contest in 2022. That is about as close to a guaranteed win as you will find in the NFL which is otherwise impossible to predict from week-to-week. New England will definitely have an eye on Monday Night Football tomorrow (8:15, ESPN) as Miami (7-7) visits New Orleans (7-7). Other than the Chiefs, the Dolphins are the second-hottest club in the league as they have surprisingly won six straight games. A triumph for the Saints would go a long way to bolstering the Bills and Patriots' playoff hopes. Most importantly, Jones has to get some of his confidence back because he's been a mess in these consecutive losses. I was never under any illusion that he will be a superstar but I think that Jones could be a very solid game manager type (I know, everybody hates that phrase) in the NFL for years to come. This is also not all on him either since almost all of the other Patriots have struggled recently too. 

This Miserable Season For The Pats Can't End Soon Enough After A Humiliating Defeat To The Bills

 

    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?