Proof old tricks still work
Mac Jones, the New England Patriots’ rookie quarterback, threw a 12-yard pass to tight end Jonnu Smith in the first quarter Monday night against the Buffalo Bills. In the fourth quarter, he threw an incomplete pass to wide receiver Nelson Agholor and a 7-yard completion to running back Brandon Bolden.
What was so interesting about those three seemingly unimportant passes? They were the only ones that Jones threw all game.
In the face of strong winds in Orchard Park, N.Y., coach Bill Belichick turned the clock way, way back and made the NFL a running league again, and the Patriots beat the Bills, their AFC East rivals. The final score looked like a throwback, too: New England 14, Buffalo 10.
“It was just a weird day,” Jones said. “I haven’t seen that much wind, probably, ever.”
Yet the concept of turning back the clock does not really do justice to the oddity of Monday night’s game. Even in the days of smashmouth football and 3-yards-and-acloud-of-dust running games, NFL coaches and their quarterbacks still chucked the ball up once in a while.
An NFL team attempted three or fewer passes in a game only seven times in the 1940s, and just once each in the ’50s, ’60 and ’70s. But no team had done it since then. Until Monday night.
Asked about the game plan, the laconic Belichick said only, “That’s the way it worked out.” He chalked it all up, in fact, to weather conditions that he described only as “somewhat challenging.”
Was the innovative game plan successful? Not really, given how many Patriots drives ended in three-and-outs and punts. But in a larger sense, definitely yes, given the scoreboard.
On the other side of the line of scrimmage, Josh Allen and the Bills went with a more traditional playcalling scheme, although not a very effective one: He completed 15 of 30 passes for only 145 yards.
“It wasn’t too bad,” Allen said of the wind. “A couple throws obviously it may have affected. You’ve got to play the conditions here.”
All victories, though, no matter how weird, count as one win. Monday night’s game was also crucial for the AFC East race. The Patriots are now 9-4, to the Bills’ 7-5, and look increasingly well placed to reclaim the division title they won 11 years in a row before surrendering it to the Bills last season.