Many expected the Buffalo Bills to continue on their merry way on Sunday night when Drake Maye and the New England Patriots rolled into Highmark Stadium, but Mike Vrabel's team had other ideas.
A stunning 23-20 win for the Patriots was helped by Buffalo's numerous self-inflicted wounds with fumbles and a Josh Allen interception as the offense was driving into the redzone, which meant New England was always in the game.
James Cook was held to just 3.3 yards per carry (49 yards on 15 attempts) while the Bills had a total of 11 penalties that consistently put them behind the chains.
For Allen, when asked about the performance, he didn't hold back in his assessment.
“We just played sloppy,” Allen said. “Not going to win a football game turning the ball over three times in our red zone. Gave them one in their red zone. That's just bad, bad football. We just did not play good.”
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Bills suffer first loss in sour fashion
Buffalo's biggest question mark entering this season was the defense, and with the Patriots getting the ball with a little over two minutes left in the fourth quarter, Sean McDermott's defense needed to force one stop...and it couldn't.
Maye led a 12-play, 37-yard drive to put his team in position for a game-winning field goal, which was converted, leaving Allen under 20 seconds to get into field goal range for Matt Prater...and he didn't.
The same issues plagued the Bills here, and while the offense for most of the season has been a well-oiled machine, the defense, when the pressure was on, couldn't get it done.
As such, Buffalo slumped to its first loss of the season and invites a battle for the division.
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