PostGame Thread OFFICIAL POSTGAME THREAD: Patriots Fall 35-31 to the Bills

[Uptown]

Buffalo ran 46 plays in the 2nd half. The Pats had 18.

 

[Thunderhead]

Buffalo ran 46 plays in the 2nd half. The Pats had 18.

And how many of those 46 plays came after failed 3rd or 4th down conversions by BUF that were erased by ******** flags?

 

[Uptown]

And how many of those 46 plays came after failed 3rd or 4th down conversions by BUF that were erased by ******** flags?

Too many..

 

[TheRainMaker]

Look at this defensive scheme. Like what are we doing here fellas?

Looks like a poorly played cover 2. LB isn't deep enough and the Safties split way too far.

 

[p8ryts]

And how many of those 46 plays came after failed 3rd or 4th down conversions by BUF that were erased by ******** flags?

Too much concern over the flags. We benefit from calls sometimes also. I thought the Marcus play was PI and we all saw the Davis jersey tug.

 

[Steve102]

Look at this defensive scheme. Like what are we doing here fellas?

Look at what Chiasson is doing. Is he trying to cover the RB or chip him? wtf lol

It's just ugly. I don't believe they schemed a two high safety coverage that gets beat by three verts. I have no idea who's at fault here, but someone eff'd up. Whoever the receiver is on Gonzalez is open on the dig route as well.

 

[Huckleberry1]

What's wrong with saying he failed an exam? Which he did, mightily. I was thinking more last night and this morning. I was deployed or something when the Pats played Miami in Miami I want to say in '03 or '04. I missed the game but saw the highlights and iirc TB12 had something abysmal like 80 passing yards or something like that and they got blown out. I remember thinking, thats reaaaaaly blows by TB12, but that was A) in Miami in October I think, and B) he had won a SB or 2 by that point.

Maye hasn't done any of that so he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. He is a very, very good QB but the NFL is littered with those. We want him to be ELITE and there is plenty of time for him to get there. But I will **** on him for his performance yesterday, it was abysmal. No QB that is elite (rookie, second year etc etc) drops a nothing burger in multiple second halves of games, including a game that gets you a div title. I am very interested to see what him and the offense do on the road against a pretty decent Baltimore defense.

I have no problem with criticism or critical thinking, I do have a problem with the **** talkers, and those who have an agenda, like Sam or FCB. And you're wrong about his performance yesterday, it wasn't" abysmal," they scored 31 points and he had 2 touchdowns.

Bottom line for me, if people want to talk **** about him or this team that's their right, but don't be surprised when you get **** for it, it accused of being a frontrunner, because that's what you are.

 

[Uptown]

Schooler got schooled..

 

[jal]

Some reflection for me:

1) We got Josh Allen'ed. It happens. He's the best player in the NFL right now, and frankly he has been for the past 2-3 years as Mahomes (and the talent around him) has quietly regressed. It's his time, but his team may hold him back when they face a troublesome pash rush

2) Refs def hurt us repeatedly on critical downs that would've salted the game. It is what it is - can't control the refs, shouldn't have put ourselves in a position where that could happen

3) Drake Maye had an opportunity to step up in a bigtime clutch moment. Probably the second time in his career. The first time against Allen he came through big, the second time yesterday he didn't. He had some open guys in big moments and didn't see them. I hope he learns from this and gets better. He has passed every test so far and for the first time he failed yesterday. How he responds will tell us everything about where his future ceiling could be

4) Our coaches fell into the temptation of making this a Drake Maye vs. Josh Allen game in the 4Q. We were destroying them on the ground - we should've kept with the running game in the 4Q but we fell into the temptation. We don't have the pass weapons to go pure pass on what is still a very good Bills passing defense.

5) Overall it was an important lesson for this team on what playoff football is going to look like. Now they need to pick themselves up and finish strong. We still have EVERYTHING in front of us. Getting Milton Williams, Spillane, et al. back will be huge. The AFC, maybe even the NFL (with yesterday's injuries) is WIDE OPEN. We can put ourselves in a position to have a chance and next time, maybe Maye will come through. That's everything you could hope for - your best player having a chance to come through in big moments to win it all

 

[Vindicate]

during the 10 game winning streak the defense hasn’t allowed more than 23 points and sealed a game multiple times at the end when the offense often goes awol in the 2nd half.

The 10 game winning streak was a testament to our offense, facing decent defensive units but atrocious offensive units.

Can’t expect the D to held teams under 23 points every games. Yesterday was a game the Patriots needed Drake Maye to win. And they way he played in the second half like a scared puppy when it mattered the most don’t give me confidence in his ability to win a shootout.

They didn't have to hold to 23 points. They had to stop one of 5 consecutive TD drives. The offense gave them 31 points and the defense outright collapsed, even falling to a level of penalties we haven't since the beginning the year.

It’s really a repeat of the Raiders game. We stopped running the ball.
We had 5 drives in the second half and ran the ball 3 times. Despite one of them being a 65 yard run.
We threw 15 times with 3 of them resulting in sacks and a number of others in pressures.
We somehow managed to turn a 250 yard rushing day into a second half where the bills ignored our running game and attacked the pass rush.
All of that after building a 17 point lead by running 22 times and throwing 11 and dominating the game.
There is no excusing a defense allowing 5 straight TD drives but Josh bears a lot of responsibility for this loss after being the number 1 blame for the Raiders loss.
Stevenson ran 6 times for 50 yards in the first half, Maye 4 for 43. Neither had a rush in the second half.

Normally Josh is so committed to the run, even when it wasn't working, because the play action runs through that, make some fans very frustrated (however, most of us know that you need to. Ironic, that, when it's working, we abandoned it. We abandoned a lot of what normally works, when we had a thorough lead nonetheless. Just odd decisions coming out of the half.

 

[Huckleberry1]

To all the morons-Who the **** do you think put them ahead in all of these games this season? You must be pining for the return of Mac Jones.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Adjustments will need to be made by Josh and they are going to have to do a better job answering TD drives to not only stop the bleeding, but also give the defense a rest. 5 straight TD drives is inexcusable. I like running the ball as much as anyone, but more urgency was need after the Bills scored their 2nd straight TD. I would've like to have seen Maye start throwing for chunk yardage.

Their front 7 looked 2002 soft. If they don't revert back to their early season form with Williams back in the lineup, it's going to be too difficult for them to win in January when RB's are running wild. It seemed like the Bills constantly had 3rd and 2 or 3rd and 4 at worst. When a poor pass rush is facing a QB like Allen who can take off running, it's impossible to stop. You have to hope he makes the wrong decision.

 

[Uptown]

Adjustments will need to be made by Josh and they are going to have to do a better job answering TD drives to not only stop the bleeding, but also give the defense a rest. 5 straight TD drives is inexcusable. I like running the ball as much as anyone, but more urgency was need after the Bills scored their 2nd straight TD.

Their front 7 looked 2002 soft. If they don't revert back to their early season form with Williams back in the lineup, it's going to be too difficult for them to win in January when RB's are running wild. It seemed like the Bills constantly had 3rd and 2 or 3rd and 4 at worst.

Yep. The only thing that could end up saving them is if we somehow draw a warm weather/dome team like Jacksonville or Houston & they can’t keep up with us offensively due to their inexperience in cold/inclement conditions & they’re forced to abandon the run. Of course we can’t bank on that scenario..

 

[patsinthesnow]

Look at this defensive scheme. Like what are we doing here fellas?

Look at what Chiasson is doing. Is he trying to cover the RB or chip him? wtf lol

Vrabel needs to borrow from some of BB's 3rd & long defensive looks. First, they should be in big dime with Pettus replacing the 2nd LB. Their All-Pro CB should be trailing the #1 option in man coverage (Kincaid). Go from there.

Gonzalez, Davis & Jones are the best CB trio in the NFL. Their LBs are mediocre & even worse with Spillane out of the game. The safeties are fine but Woodson is still a rookie. Third & long should be almost exclusively cover 1 & 2 man with their personnel.

 

[Uptown]

We also need to force some more turnovers. Many of the picks we almost get are dropped. We need to start capitalizing on those; especially if we want to go where we aim to go. Jones has been the only one consistently taking the ball away.

 

[Real fan 02]

This isn’t Baltimore of old, or even the last few years. If we can stop Henry, we should be fine..

Until we can go back to consistently handling the run game I'm going to have concerns..

 

[Real fan 02]

It’s really a repeat of the Raiders game. We stopped running the ball.
We had 5 drives in the second half and ran the ball 3 times. Despite one of them being a 65 yard run.
We threw 15 times with 3 of them resulting in sacks and a number of others in pressures.
We somehow managed to turn a 250 yard rushing day into a second half where the bills ignored our running game and attacked the pass rush.
All of that after building a 17 point lead by running 22 times and throwing 11 and dominating the game.
There is no excusing a defense allowing 5 straight TD drives but Josh bears a lot of responsibility for this loss after being the number 1 blame for the Raiders loss.
Stevenson ran 6 times for 50 yards in the first half, Maye 4 for 43. Neither had a rush in the second half.

Great, Great post. Agreed all on fronts.. it simply came down to being up 21 points.. not covering kicks and and allowing 5 TD drives.. probably a safe bet to say any team that allows 35 points to an opponent probably should lose..

 

[Huckleberry1]

Drake Maye comes in and turns the fortunes of this franchise completely around, playing at MVP level this season and because they lost a game there are people talking **** and taking shots on him, it's disgraceful, and so are the people doing the ****ting.

 

[Real fan 02]

The Dolphins game will be difficult if they still have something to play for, the Jets have been blown out the last two weeks, down to to their third string QB, they should win that by ten points at least.

Yes, we traditionally struggle with Tua.. even that week 2 Match up came down to the wire..

 

[Real fan 02]

I don't think so. None of those teams have the offense buffalo does. And the defense on all 3 of those teams is not good.

Lamar is not Lamar right now and doesn't have great weapons, Henry might be able to do some thing but they will probably be the focus of the defense

Meh.. until we can do a better job in the running game I'll have reservations.. Lamar won't necessarily have to beat us.. if Henry gets going it's a long day.. agreed.. the focus is on the D.. kurh is going to have to tweak some things.. seriously.