Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots blew a 21-0 lead, and a shot at clinching the AFC East title against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Even though they dominated matters early on in the contest, they were unable to maintain their momentum and eventually saw their division rivals not just claw their way back into the game but escape Foxborough with a 35-31 win.
Let’s get into our lessons learned from the Patriots’ 14th game, and third loss, of the season.
Drake Maye has been playing like an MVP all season, but he didn’t play up to his usual level when it mattered most on Sunday against the Bills.
While Buffalo was mounting their comeback, the Patriots had a single first down in the second half. Maye, meanwhile, missed some open receivers and finished with only 155 yards passing overall, his first game this season with under 200 yards. He also was able to get the ball to Hunter Henry and Kayshon Boutte once each, and hit Stefon Diggs only three times for 26 yards.
Sure, his run and block down the field on TreVeyon Henderson’s long fourth-quarter touchdown run was incredible, and you love to see your quarterback doing that, but Maye is going to have to be better if the Patriots want to win playoff games this year. He’s been great so far, but that doesn’t matter if he can’t perform in the big games such as Sunday’s.
Up 24-7, Patriots had a massive lead on the Bills at the end of the first half. However, the Bills offense ended up scoring touchdowns on five straight possessions, which ended up sinking New England despite the early advantage.
“It comes down to execution,” said safety Jaylinn Hawkins after the game. “There were some plays that we all left out there, it just is what it is. I have to look back at the tape and really critique it. We still have three more games left. We have to shake back, everybody shake back. We know what we should’ve done, we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and be like, ‘What can I do better to help the team?’ You know, all of us, and we’ll be alright.”
The Patriots have to be able to put teams away, and they weren’t able to do it on Sunday. They won’t go far if they don’t learn how to fix this.
The Patriots knew they had to slow down James Cook and the Bills’ league-leading ground game in order to earn a victory on Sunday. They just couldn’t.
Cook ended the game with 107 yards on 22 carries, and it felt like every run went for 7 or 8 yards. In the first half, they were bottling him up pretty well, but the dam broke in the second, and Buffalo could run at will against a run...
