By: Zach Blaine
The Buffalo Bills lost to their AFC East rival the New England Patriots on Sunday 16-10. The Patriots got everything started by scoring a four-yard touchdown run from Brandon Bolden to take an early 6-0 lead, but the Patriots missed the extra point. The Bills offense would get the ball back and go three and out, but the Patriots would block the Bills punt for a touchdown an extend the lead with an 11 yard Matt Slater run with the Patriots going up 13-0. The Bills, however, would get points before the half with a 46 yard Stephen Hauschka field goal with 2:13 left in the 2nd quarter.
The Bills would get into the game late in the 3rd quarter with a one-yard Josh Allen touchdown with 4:23 left in the 3rd quarter. The Bills defense would hold the Patriots to a 23-yard field goal with 2:59 left in the 3rd quarter. Josh Allen was 13/28, for 153, and he did have a rushing touchdown, but I think he tried to do too much against the Patriots. I think the offensive line did not help him much, and he did throw three interceptions, but I think those were when he got too nervous out there. The silver lining is that Allen is still a very young quarterback and he can learn from this game, and I think he would like to forget about the vicious hit he took during the 4th quarter.
Frank Gore led the Bills in rushing with 26 yards, and one touchdown and he also showed a Hall of Fame like performance. The Bills receiving underachieved, but that was due to the performance of the active secondary from the Patriots. Cole Beasley led the Bills in receiving with seven receptions for 75 yards, and John Brown had five receptions for 69 yards.
The Bills defense was stout, and they were the reason the Bills had a very good chance to win over the defending world champions. The Bills defense only forced two turnovers, and that was a Jordan Poyer and a Micah Hyde interception when it looked the Patriots were going to start pulling away. The Bills also had no sacks on Tom Brady, and Tremaine Edmunds led the Bills in tackles against the Patriots on the day.
(AP Photo/Ron Schwane)
The Bills are now 3-1, and they will travel down to Nashville to take on a good 2-2 Titans team. The Titans are better than their record, and they defeated the Atlanta Falcons 24-10 on the road, and that is a very impressive win because the Falcons are always tough to beat in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. For the Bills to get a convincing road win, they are going to have to get off to a fast start offensively regardless of who plays quarterback (Josh Allen or Matt Barkley) and defensively if Marcus Mariota and Derrick Henry have a good day the defense will have to play like they did against the Patriots.