Pats Pulpit
Ahead of this year’s training camp, New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel explained that he was looking at his team’s performances in three distinct categories. There is the good, the bad, and, as he called it, the s—t that gets you beat.
The Patriots’ 35-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday saw a mix of all three. Early on, the team played on a high level worthy of the AFC East title. From intermission on, however, Buffalo dominated proceedings to erase a 24-7 deficit and come away with the W.
So, if the coach wants to look at the Patriots through all three of those categories, who are we to disagree? Let’s break down the Week 15 game in exactly that manner.
Statistically, the matchup between the Patriots’ rushing offense and Bills run defense fell into the “weakness vs. weakness” category. Neither group had managed to play successful football on a consistent basis so far this season resulting into some hideous rankings no matter what number you would look at.
On Sunday, only one of the two units lived up to that dubious billing: Buffalo’s run defense was shredded by the Patriots to the tune of 246 yards on 25 carries, resulting in a franchise-record average of 9.8 yards per carry. New England also scored four times on the ground, and registered 0.59 expected points added per rush — an absolutely absurd number.
The Patriots set the tone from the first drive on. Rhamondre Stevenson burst through the middle for a gain of 15 on the first play from scrimmage, with Drake Maye later capping the series with an 8-yard touchdown on a quarterback option. Stevenson and Maye finished with 50 and 48 rushing yards, respectively, with the latter finding the end zone twice, and yet both had to take a backseat to rookie TreVeyon Henderson.
While overshadowed by the end result, the second-round draft pick was impressive as a runner on Sunday. Henderson scored touchdowns of 52 and 65 yards and finished the day with 148 rushing yards on just 10 carries.
As with all things Patriots on Sunday, however, most of the production came in the first half: 177 of those 246 yards came in the first two quarters, and New England ended up running the ball just three times in the third and fourth periods.
There is a lot to choose from in this category, unfortunately, but the Patriots’ kickoff coverage takes the cake. The unit was outmatched throughout the day, allowing Bills return man Ray Davis to average 41.0 yards on four runbacks — clearly above his season-long average of 30.6 entering the game.
What was an above-average outing for Davis, was a massive disappointment for New England. Even with core special teamer Brenden Schooler back in the fold, the group failed to live up to its usual standards. The Patriots had surrendered just under 24 yards per kickoff return over their first 13...
