Flattened by a Bills stampede
Patriots suffer worst playoff loss of the Belichick era
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Mac Jones era was born from pain.
A legend’s exit, a losing season and the temporary loss of a franchise’s championship identity.
That suffering, spread over 12 months, allowed the Patriots to recover in record time. And for a while, pairing a rookie quarterback with the largest free-agent haul in NFL history proved to be a winning formula. The Pats won seven straight, clinched a playoff berth and began to frame their present with the expectations of their past.
But en route to racing toward a future that felt promised, pain returned. The Patriots’ smooth regular-season ride that hit a few speed bumps late blasted into a brick wall at Buffalo.
And then that brick well fell on them, extinguishing any expectations and the rest of their season.
The Bills pummeled the Pats over a 47-17 AFC Wild Card showdown, unleashing two decades of division frustration in a single night. The Patriots defense suffered its worst outing of the Bill Belichick era, allowing Buffalo to score touchdowns on all seven of its drives. Saturday marked the third-worst playoff loss in franchise history and the worst ever under Belichick.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen was again masterful, completing 21-of-25 passes for 308 yards and five touchdowns. He was never bothered, never fooled and hasn’t led a drive against the Patriots that resulted in a punt since their first regular-season meeting on Dec. 6.
The Patriots finish at 10-8, with losses in four of their last five games and a sense of wonder of what could have been. Again, they started slowly and committed a first-half turnover, hallmarks of their poor play since an early December bye week.
Offensively, all of Mac Jones’ safest outlets — screens, out routes and checkdowns — were eliminated by Buffalo’s topranked defense until the Pats trailed by four scores in the second half. He finished 24-of-38 for 232 yards, two touchdowns and a pair of picks, numbers boosted late touchdown drives in garbage time.
Electrified by their first capacity crowd for a home playoff game in 25 years, the Bills robbed the Patriots any hope of any early lead by marching to an openingdrive touchdown.
In the first sign of a special night brewing in Buffalo, Allen rolled right inside the red zone flipped an apparent throwaway toward the end zone. Instead, his fluttering pass found tight end Dawson Knox in the back right corner for an 8-yard touchdown. After a Jones interception, Allen followed his first touchdown with another strike to Knox, who beat Pats safety Adrian Phillips for an 11yard score.
Trailing 14-0, the Pats punted on fourth-and-1 from their own 34. Naturally, Allen made them pay.
The Bills patiently covered 61 yards in 10 plays, while Belichick’s defensive staff searched for answers. Without corners Jalen Mills and Shaun Wade, both lost to COVID-19, they deployed three safeties against a sizzling Buffalo offense. Devin Singletary finished off the drive with a 3-yard rushing touchdown.
Singletary added another at the 2-minute warning, facing a Patriots defense now populated by practicesquad corners and bouncing haplessly between man and zone coverage.
The Pats managed to tack on a 44-yard field goal seconds before halftime to make it 27-3. But it was no match for Allen, who tossed three more touchdowns around Jones’ first of the night. His last hit backup offensive lineman Tommy Doyle from one yard away in the fourth quarter, the ultimate punctuation to a painful night seared into the football memory of New England.
Here were the best and worst Patriot performances from Saturday night:
Best
Field goal block unit The Pats blocked two extra points.
WR Kendrick Bourne He set team highs in catches (7), receiving yards (77) and touchdowns (2). Bourne was the team’s lone bright spot offensively.
Worst
Run defense Buffalo rushed for 174 yards, their thirdhighest total of the season. The Pats were served a dose of their own bully-ball medicine.
Pass defense The pass rush didn’t sack Allen once, the corners couldn’t cover and the safeties were all over the place.
Coaching An unprecedented embarrassment for the greatest defensive coach in NFL history.