Pats ready to turn the page, focus on Bills
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Patriots were licking their wounds Monday after the latest debacle in Miami, but also moving on to the challenge ahead.
Round 3 with the Buffalo Bills is Saturday (8:15 p.m., CBS), and it’s win or go home.
Patriots wide receiver Nelson Agholor described the Patriots’ mindset for the wild-card round game this way: “You face the reality of what happened yesterday, but you also embrace the reality of what’s in front of you, and that’s the playoffs.
“We’re all at an even slate with an opportunity to write whatever history we want to write.”
In other words, the Dolphins loss is done. The Pats are on to Buffalo, where a new opportunity awaits. It’s up to them how they respond after producing a dud in the regular season finale.
“I think we’re just going to prepare and focus on ourselves,” said linebacker Kyle Van Noy via video call. “... The Bills won the division. They’re playing at home. We’ve got to go up there and win.
“And we have to prepare like this week’s the last week. I mean, it’s all on the line. We have to go in there and be on the top of our game.”
Coach Bill Belichick’s message was the same.
“I don’t think we need to do a lot of looking back,” he said during his weekly appearance on WEEI’S “The Greg Hill Show” Monday morning. “We need to look ahead and put our best football out there Saturday night.”
The teams split in the regular season, with the Patriots winning a wind-swept affair in Buffalo, then the Bills taking the Week 16 game in Foxborough.
Captain David Andrews said that while the teams are familiar with each other, it’s still a
AFC wild-card game
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clean slate for this game.
“None of the last (games) really matter to some extent,” he said. “The only thing that matters is Saturday at 8 o’clock.”
If the Patriots are going to have a chance against the Bills in the third meeting, they’re going to have to eliminate the slow starts. That hurt them in the Foxborough game against the Bills, and has hurt them in other games as well.
How can they start faster?
“I think we’ve just got to turn it up a notch,” said Van Noy. “We’ve got to do something. It hasn’t been working. But what a better week to start than this week against a really good team on the road. I’m excited for the challenge. I’m excited to play in a playoff game for all the marbles and then move on to work another week and get another opportunity.”
Added Andrews: “Each week you empty the tank and try and be at your best . . . that’s what we’ll try to do this week.”
Mac Jones critical of his play: After a day to reflect, Mac Jones still wasn’t pleased by his performance against Miami. Following the 33-24 loss, in which Jones committed two turnovers, the Patriots rookie quarterback said he was “super embarrassed” by how he played.
That view hadn’t changed a day later. “I think I just didn’t have my best day,” Jones said during his weekly appearance on WEEI’S “Merloni & Fauria” show. “It starts with me being the quarterback, just trying to get everything going in the right direction and moving forward, that’s something I have to do better, get off to a faster start and put our team in a position to win, and play from ahead early.”
Jones is typically his worst critic, and that’s not about to change.
“I want everything to be perfect and all that, but it’s a team sport and we’re all in this together,” he said. “Like I said, it all starts with me just trying to do the best job I can to get everybody the ball and operate the offense.”
For him, that means starting faster, executing plays and eliminating turnovers.
Jones said the Patriots know what’s at stake Saturday and appreciate the opportunity in front of them. “We understand we’re in a one-week season now, and the most important thing is the upcoming game,” he said.