Bills 35, Patriots 31

As a keen follower of Buffalo Bills history and an observer of NFL football’s occasional symmetry, I must begin with a look-back to the events of September 25, 2011. In a game I attended, the Bills entered week three of that season, what would be their 12^th of 17 consecutive years finishing out of a playoff position, with a 2-0 record and the mighty New England Patriots visiting Orchard Park. After an opening touchdown by Wes Welker, native son Rob Gronkowski (he’s from Amherst) scored two touchdowns of his own to stake the Patriots to what seemed like an insurmountable 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. Game over. Probably. But quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, cornerback Drayton Florence and place-kicker Rian Lindell scripted an alternative narrative as the Bills stormed all the way back to a late lead on Florence’s interception of Tom Brady’s tipped pass which he returned for a touchdown. Brady then led his team to another touchdown to tie the game at 31. Fitzpatrick crafted his own game-winning drive which was capped by Lindell’s field goal as time expired for a 34-31 Bills win which sent Bills fans home in celebration with a 3-0 record and the prospect of a return to the playoffs. Shortly afterward, Fitzpatrick was rewarded with a lucrative contract extension as the Bills seemed set to revive their winning ways of 20 years earlier. They finished the season at 5-11 and Fitzpatrick was run out of town a year later.

To say that the Bills got off to a slow start yesterday in Foxborough would be like saying that the 2011 season didn’t play out as planned. With no first downs in the first quarter, they found themselves down by that familiar 21-0 score. “We’ve got them just where we want them” I said, recalling the game from 14 years earlier as the Bills did manage a score on a pass to James Cook before the Patriots got a late second quarter field goal to take a 24-7 lead into halftime. The Bills then stormed all the way back with three touchdowns to take a 28-24 lead before the teams traded touchdowns again which put the Bills up 35-31 in one of the best games in yesterday’s early window. Joey Bosa got a hand on Drake Maye’s final fourth down pass to seal the massive win for Buffalo. Dawson Knox had two touchdowns on the day to bring his career total to 26, passing Pete Metzelaars on the Bills all-time list for tight-ends. Cook had another big game with three touchdowns and over 100 yards rushing. Matt Milano whose impact seemed to have diminished this season, had a big game with two sacks.

Had the Bills lost yesterday, the issue of the role of replay assist would be top-of-mind this morning. On the Patriots first drive, Maye’s deep pass to Kayshon Boutte down the right sideline was allowed to stand while replay assist quickly nullified Josh Allen’s pass to the Brandon Cooks who could not tap his second foot down before going out of bounds. I don’t share the outrage as the replays of the Boutte pass did not clearly show that he may not have maintained control of the ball as he hit the ground. Replays of the Cooks pass did clearly show that it was incomplete and replay assist quickly corrected the call on the field. Easy for Monday morning quarterbacks to say but Sean McDermott should have used one of his challenges on the Boutte pass but he did not. CBS rules analyst and former NFL referee Gene Steratore said on the broadcast that the Boutte pass would probably have been ruled incomplete on review. On this Victory Monday morning, the point is moot.

I am a fan of one Greg Cossell, seasoned NFL analyst, senior producer at NFL Films and nephew of Howard Cossell. He appeared last week on the Colin Cowherd show previewing the Bills v Pats game. He told Cowherd that, in his learned opinion, the Bills do not have a particularly strong roster. The receiving corps is weak and there really is really no impact player on defence. Drafting near the bottom of the first round for the last five years may be catching up with the Bills, he said, and he was not confident that they could win against a motivated Patriots team seeking their first division title since 2019. Cowherd commented that beyond Josh Allen, “I don’t know what Buffalo is”. Well, Buffalo has proved over the last two weeks to be resilient, if nothing else. Is their roster skilled enough to carry them deep into the playoffs this season?  We will see.

Up next for the Patriots is a trip to Baltimore to face the Ravens who are battling the Steelers for a division title. Baltimore is an early 2.5 favourite and will present a significant challenge to the Patriots who may be feeling a small measure of self-doubt creeping in after posting ten straight wins before yesterday’s loss. A loss and a Bills win in Cleveland would pull the two teams even atop the AFC East at 11-4. The Patriots still hold the tie-breaker (after head-to-head where they’re also now tied) which for a division title is each team’s record within the division. The Patriots now stand at 3-1 against AFC East teams with games remaining against the Jets and Dolphins in weeks 17 and 18. The Bills stand at 3-2 and face the Jets at home in week 18.

The Bills travel west along the south shore of Lake Erie to face Shedeur Sanders and the Cleveland Browns. They are 10-point road favourites. Teams out of contention playing out the schedule can be dangerous and unpredictable and with nothing to lose, they can and often do pull out fake punts and other trick plays and generally take risks they wouldn’t take early in the season. The Bills would be well-advised to get off to a better start against the Browns than they have over the last two games – if only to save their fans another nerve-racking Sunday afternoon.