The New England Patriots prevented a piece of history Sunday in their competitive 24-21 loss to the AFC East champion Buffalo Bills.
The Bills entered the game as the fifth team in NFL history with eight consecutive games of 30 points or more. Buffalo marked the only team on that list to do so in one season and met the Patriots with the chance to make it nine straight games.
Instead, the Patriots played a sound first half defensively before a demoralizing second half in a 24-21 loss. While New England dropped to 3-12, the team prevented MVP candidate quarterback Josh Allen and the Bills from standing alone in a group that included two Patriots streaks between 2006-2007 and 2010-2011.
“For our game plan, obviously, it starts with the quarterback,” Mayo told reporters, per team-provided transcript. “In saying that, we felt pretty good about the game plan. I’m not really sure as far as points, but we talk about complimentary football, and the offense being able to put together those long drives also helped us out. So, it all ties together.”
“We didn’t give up big plays,” Christian Gonzalez told reporters, per team-provided video. “We know Josh has a great arm. He can make plays with his legs. Extending plays, we harped on that. We just went out there and did what we knew we could do, but we didn’t do it well enough.”
The Patriots did limit big plays… until the Bills got rolling on the ground. James Cook surpassed 100 yards on the day and gave Buffalo momentum to build on with a 46-yard touchdown run that ignited the offense.
“Look, again, the big run hurt us, and we’ve just got to do a better job tackling,” Mayo said.
The Patriots look to make home statements on that side of the ball in the final two games of the season against the Los Angeles Chargers and the rematch with the Bills at Gillette Stadium.
