Patriots Likely Thankful That 2023 Is Over
(PHOTO: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 4 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots Commentary
(PHOTO: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 4 minutes
New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports) ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – We’re on to 2024. When is the NFL Draft?
The Buffalo Bills are nowhere near the championship level team most everyone thought they would be. The biggest telltale factor is that the Bills had four takeaways against the Patriots and won by only six points. In the end, the Bills are clearly better than the Patriots, and held on to win 27-21 on Sunday at Highmark Stadium. The game was not as close as the score would indicate, as the mistake-prone Patriots had their fans yelling in anger for most of the game.
Bailey Zappe threw three interceptions, and Pharaoh Brown had a lost fumble, all in the first half. The subsequent mistakes completely negated a terrific opening of the game for the Patriots, as Jalen Reagor took the opening kickoff and raced 98 yards for a touchdown. It resembled the opening of last year’s game in Buffalo, as Bills fans celebrated the return of Damar Hamlin to Highmark with Nyheim Hines taking the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown.
But the Patriot joy was short lived. Three of the next four Patriot drives ended in turnovers.
Zappe’s first pick came on the first play from scrimmage (following a Buffalo three and out). He tried to hit Mike Gesicki in the left flat, but the ball was deflected up in the air by Rasul Douglas and was picked off by Ed Oliver. This wasn’t really on Zappe, but the next one was even though television commentators tried to tell you otherwise.
Two drives later, and again on the first play, Zappe tried to hit DeVante Parker in the left flat. Douglas jumped the route and made the pick. Trent Green of CBS tried to explain to the audience that “sometimes, defenders just guess right”, but to the naked eye it looked like either Zappe threw the ball right to Douglas or that he didn’t see him lurking. In any case, it was not a good decision or throw by Zappe.
On the next possession, the Patriots were able to at least extend this drive to two plays. Zappe found Brown in the left flat, and had good yardage until Christian Benford stripped the ball and literally took the ball away in Tedy Bruschi fashion. One has to wonder if Benford ran to the sideline and started yelling “They ain’t got it! They ain’t got it!”
The Patriots had to be happy that the Bills only scored 13 points off these three turnovers. It was still only 13-7 in the second quarter, but the Patriots would not be so lucky with the next turnover. Two drives later, Zappe tried to hit Reagor in the left flat, but Douglas picked him off and took it 40 yards for a pick-six. To his credit, Zappe led the Patriots on a scoring drive right after the pick-six and finished it off himself with a 17-yard scramble for a touchdown to make it 20-14 Bills at the half. It should have been 20-17, but Chad Ryland missed a 47-yard field goal wide right with 1:54 left in the half.
The Bills more or less put the game away on the first drive of the second half, as a 51-yard completion to tight end Dalton Kincaid led to a one-yard run by Josh Allen to make it 27-14. After an exchange of punts, Zappe led the Patriots on an 84-yard scoring drive, with a 39-yard completion to Reagor setting up a run of six yards for a touchdown by Ezekiel Elliott.
The Patriots did get the ball back with 6:41 left in the game and the game still a one-score affair. But they were pinned back at their own three-yard line. The Patriots could do nothing with the horrible field position, Buffalo got the ball back and killed off the last five minutes to seal the game.
At press time, the Bills needed losses by Pittsburgh and Cincinnati to wrap up a playoff berth. With Miami getting blown out by Baltimore, the Buffalo-Miami game next week will decide the AFC East.
Arizona helped the Patriots’ cause by winning, and Washington lost to make the Cardinals, Commanders and Patriots all 4-12. The first tiebreaker for draft position is strength of schedule, so the Patriot loss earlier this season to Washington doesn’t matter just yet. Carolina was blanked by Jacksonville, which clinches Chicago getting the top pick in the 2024 Draft. Positions 2 through 4 will be settled next week.
The Patriots end this season at home against the Jets. Bill Belichick hates the Jets so much that he would never entertain the notion to play just bad enough to lose to keep the Patriots in the conversation for maybe the two pick. But if the Patriots do lose next week, which would still take something given how abysmal the quarterback play has been for the Jets this year, it will actually help the Patriots more than it will brand them as a pitiful team.
The 12 losses by the Patriots are the most since 1992, when former UMass head coach Dick MacPherson led the team. 2023 ends tonight, and the Patriots could not be happier.
As for you members of Patriot Nation, have fun, obey all laws, and have a wonderful 2024. And here’s hoping the Blue team wins tomorrow in Pasadena.
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Good job Bob