MORSE: Good, Bad, and Ugly From Patriots' Loss to Bills

The Patriots had the opportunity to win the Eastern Division of the AFC and let it slip through their fingers. Nobody expected the Patriots to win out through the remainder of the season. Today they played a quality opponent and got beaten by a better team. They made several simple mistakes, like they have done in previous games this season. However, they were playing a quality opponent, and the Patriots needed to be at their best, and they weren’t on Sunday. Drake Maye lost any chance of winning MVP with a poor second half and an inability to lead his team from behind at the end of the game. The Patriots only had 18 plays in the second half on Offense.

Good

TreVeyon Henderson had an outstanding game with 148 yards, 2 TDs, including 52-yard and 65-yard runs. Henderson also had 2 catches for 13 yards.
His 8, 50-yard games in a row are the first time since Corey Dillon.
The Pats have 4 rushing TDs of 50+ yards this season. They had 2 in the last 15 years before this.
Maye was incredible in the 1^st half, going 9 for 11 for 108 yards. One incompletion was in the endzone, in which Hollins was interfered with, but should have caught the ball anyway. The other was an incompletion on 3^rd and 1 when Hollins appeared to look the wrong way. He had two rushing TDs and a 24-7 lead.
I have been all over Bryce Barringer this year, but he performed great today. He had 3 punts and averaged 54 yards per punt.
The Offensive line needs to get credit for their run blocking, which led to 246 yards rushing, the largest amount by the team this season.
Drake Maye needs to be given credit for his sprinting downfield and throwing a sealing block for Henderson’s 65-yard TD run.
The Patriots’ secondary held Josh Allen under 200 yards, 19/28, but three of those were for TDs.

Bad

This was a total collapse of the Defense. They allowed 5 straight TD drives by the Bills. The Bills were 5 of 6 in the Red Zone. The Defense got exposed.
The Patriots cannot cover a TE, with both Knox and Kincaid getting 3 of 4 and 2 TDs. Hawes was 1 -1. By the last drive, they were exhausted and spent.
Bills won Time of Possession 35:21 to 24:39. Part of that was the two quick TDs by Henderson (52 and 65 yards). The 2^nd TD was just 14 seconds after the Bills went ahead, and the Defense went right back out there.
Credit to Nick Cattles, who called this in the Pre-season. Robert Spillane was the MVP of the team, and if he were injured, they didn’t have the depth to fill in for him. Jack Gibbens tries hard, but he is just not physical enough in the middle, and the Bills ran all over him in the 2^nd half.
I wasn’t impressed with Jared Wilson today. He stood around way too much, and when he pulls, he is so focused on the guy he is supposed to block that he ignores what is in front of him. I would rather have Brown in at Guard.
The Patriots had 15 yards rushing in the 2^nd half, other than the 65-yard run by Henderson.
Maye had 47 yards passing in the 2^nd half and was 5 /12 with an Interception.
No Turnovers by the Patriots’ Defense is a big problem.
I thought the Officiating was pretty bad. The Patriots had 7 penalties for 65 yards. The Bills had 2 for 15 yards. What was a penalty on the Patriots wasn’t called on the Bills. Christian Gonzalez was clearly held on a big run by Cook. Keon Coleman had both hands outside his shoulder pads and no call. On the last play of the Patriots offense, Diggs ran his route in the middle, and when he spun away, the defender wrapped him around the waist and spun him, no call. Brandon Cook going down the sideline against Charles Woods pushes off and no call. I don’t understand the call against Marcus Jones when it appeared that he had an interception. Never mind, they called him for pass interference. He has as much right to the underthrown pass. How about Mack Hollins being face-raked by Tre’Davious White in the endzone? They call a penalty on Carlton Davis (which it was) then you need to call the face rake by White, and it just wasn’t that way the whole game.
Special Teams were awful today. They let up three returns of over 30 yards to Ray Davis, including a 58-yarder. Those kickoff returns set up Buffalo in Patriots territory and a short field. They also had three penalties. Marte for holding was a joke, which wiped out a big Kyle Williams return. Schooler had a facemask and Julian Ashby got called for the 3^rd time this year for an illegal procedure on a longsnap.
Jaylin Hawkins and Marcus Jones were the leading tacklers and that was because the runningbacks were getting into the secondary.
James Cook ran all over them with 22 carries for 107 yards, 4.8 YPC and 2 TDs.
The Defense just couldn’t get off the field, especially in the 2^nd half as the Bills were 8 of 14 on 3^rd down.
I found it interesting that 5 rookies were inactive and three rookies that played (Ponder, Wilson and Woodson) all made key mistakes that cost the Patriots today. It was like a playoff environment, and the rookies weren’t ready for it.

Ugly

Drake Maye had the opportunity to put the team on his back and make a 4^th Quarter comeback, and he failed miserably. So far in his short career, he has never had to do this, and when faced with it today, he was awful. It didn’t help when passes went right through the hands of your usually reliable TE Hunter Henry.
Play calling in the 2^nd half was pretty bad. Josh McDaniels went away from the running game. The quick 3 and outs put the defense right back on the field.
Why was Mack Hollins the leading target by Drake Maye? I understand the Bills were not going to allow Stefon Diggs to beat them again. He was bracketed by two players the whole game. Why did they throw at Tre’Davious White, when the replacement for Christian Benford wasn’t targeted? Why only one pass to Kayshon Boutte and none to Pop Douglas? Boutte had 38 snaps on Offense, second only to Mack Hollins with 40 snaps.
Marcus Jones intercepted that pass, but somehow the official said that Shakir caught it. If it was Pass Interference on Jones, which I don’t think it was, it would have been an 8^th penalty and 95 yards in penalties called by this crew. That call was crucial and led to a 4^th down conversion which should have been a turnover. That was a key 1st down on the way to a TD drive. That TD was the difference between a win and a loss. Don’t tell me the officials didn’t have a big impact on this game. That would also have reduced the total passing yards of Allen from 193 to 163 yards. If you had told me before the game that the Patriots would run for 246 yards and hold Allen to 163 yards passing, I would have said the Patriots must have dominated the game.

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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