Bills take control of AFC East race
FOXBOROUGH, MASS. With their season on the brink and several key players unavailable, the Buffalo Bills trudged into Sunday’s pivotal matchup against the New England Patriots needing somebody to step up.
They wound up having too many to count.
Josh Allen threw for three touchdowns, Isaiah McKenzie had a career-high 11 catches, Micah Hyde made two interceptions and the Bills hung on to beat the Patriots 33-21 and vault back into first place in the AFC East title race.
Buffalo now holds tiebreakers over New England (both 9-6) and Miami (playing Monday night) and is in the driver’s seat to win its second straight division title.
“We’ve got two more games left and we’ve gotta keep going,” said Allen, who finished 30 of 47 for 314 passing yards, plus 64 rushing on 12 carries. He’s the first player in Bills history to eclipse 4,000 yards through the air in back-to-back seasons.
The Bills are the first team to win at New England in consecutive seasons since the Colts in 2005 and 2006.
The loss was the Patriots’ second straight following their seven-game win streak.
McKenzie took the place of Bills receivers Cole Beasley and Gabriel Davis, who were both on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and had a big day with 125 yards and a touchdown.
“With them being out, I just had to step up,” said McKenzie, whom the Bills shied away from using even to field kickoffs during the blustery Week 13 loss to the Patriots in Buffalo. “It was my turn and I felt like I had to step up for my team.”
The Bills never trailed and played one of their cleanest offensive games of the season, with no punts or turnovers. They were also aggressive, going for it on fourth down three times in the first half — including a fourth-and-two that helped set up a 12-yard pass from Allen to Stefon Diggs for a 17-7 lead.
That grew to 26-14 early in the fourth quarter after running back Devin Singletary’s two-yard touchdown run. Buffalo was denied on its two-point conversion attempt.
The Patriots got it to 26-21 with 7:37 to play on Damien Harris’ eight-yard TD run, his second of the game, but rookie quarterback Mac Jones struggled to find openings against the Bills’ top-ranked defence, ending his day 14 of 32 passing for 145 yards and two interceptions.
“We just need to execute better. It really just wasn’t our day,” Jones said.
“There’s no excuses.” Buffalo quickly faced third down on its next series before Allen hooked up with McKenzie for 15 yards along the sideline. The Patriots forced a fourth-and-one on their own 34, but Allen was able to get outside for eight yards.
The Bills were staring at thirdand-10 with under four minutes to play when Allen came through again, this time creating space before flicking a pass to Diggs for 19 yards. Two plays later, Allen tossed a two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dawson Knox.
In Week 13, the Patriots dominated on the ground, grinding out 200plus yards in their 14-10 win on a cold, wet and windy night. Jones attempted only three passes in that first meeting, but got there in just two drives Sunday.
“It’s too late in the season not to be playing your best football,” Patriots safety Devin McCourty said. “It didn’t feel like we really did anything well enough.”