INSTANT REACTION: Patriots SHOCK Bills with gritty 23-20 win

INSTANT REACTION: Patriots SHOCK Bills with gritty 23-20 win

Welcome to pregame live and in a stunner the New England Patriots go to Highark Stadium in Buffalo. They knock off the Bills 23-20. Andy Boragalis with a late 52 yd field goal to win it. There are no longer any undefeated teams in the NFL because the Patriots knocked off the last unbeaten. Buffalo came into this game 4-0 and won 14 straight at home. That is no more. Patriots three and two 23 to 20 winners. We got Phil Perry here. We got Tommy Curry. Three-time Super Bowl champion Ted Johnson. I’m Michael Holly. We’re going to go around the table. There’s so much to talk about tonight, but top of mind thoughts. Phil, we’ll start with you. What stands out? Boy, the the Patriots showed us who they are on Sunday Night Football. We all sat here before the game began and said this is a this is a test. This is a gauge what you are kind of game. and they showed us that they could be the team that actually makes fewer mistakes in prime time under the bright lights. They’re actually the team that can make the plays in the critical moments to beat one of the best teams in football. And the young quarterback, Tom, I thought showed up when they needed them. Yeah, it’s a double jump forward. We were just sitting here talking about moral victories throughout the week. they actually walk off with a legitimate victory and they’re going to be the toast of the NFL now because they have not only shown with Drake May that they are very for real but this is what people kind of thought might happen when Mike Vrabel was hired and if you said Ted in April the Patriots are going to be three and two having won on Sunday night in Buffalo I don’t think anybody wouldn’t have signed up for that you you got that right I mean it’s amazing how how this team has come so far for from week one. I mean, it’s a it looks like a totally different team. This team has gotten a heck of a lot better since that opening game against uh against against against the Raiders. And this was this to me was kind of a coming out party from a national standpoint for for Drake May. He played uh not that first half, eh, not so much, but second half brilliantly. Uh you saw him make some unbelievable athletic plays and you saw Steph Diggs do for Drake May for what he did uh in his first year at Buffalo for for Josh Allen. And so this is the first time in 27 games that the Bills lost the turnover battle. The Patriots were plus two and that was certainly the key in why they won this game, but a gutsy gutsy performance from the Patriots. And buckle up boys. It’s going to be a fun week this week. You know what, uh, guys, Ted just said that the Patriots have played a lot better or improved a lot since that first loss to the Raiders. I would suggest, Paul, Tommy Curran, that they they’re better since the five turnover game against the Steelers. I mean, they have progressively kind of upped their game uh the last few weeks. And I’m going to split a hair with you and say that game against the Steelers had it not been for the five turnovers could have been a 21-point win. I mean, this is I’ve said it a couple times, there’s a good team in there if they could just stop shooting themselves in the foot, whether it be against the Raiders or the Steelers. Now in back-to-back weeks, they have dismantled a horrible team and then they’ve beaten the best team in football or the top three teams in football on the road because the other team made more mistakes. It’s it’s a completely and I’m not breaking news over here. It’s a mistake driven league. What will you do with the mistakes? And it’s funny because the turnover battle that they ended up winning, they did nothing with the first one because they gave it right back. But I I think I learned something about their resiliency in the Miami game and I think I learned something about their resiliency tonight, too. I mean, Raandre Stevenson, Mike Frael keeps going back to guys who make mistakes, whether it’s Boralis earlier in the year or tonight with Stevenson. And I wonder how much buyin Ted can probably hit this too, but I wonder how much buyin the players will give Mike because of his ability to get in the trenches with them and and make sure that he’s got everybody on board. Big night for Mike Vrael to be able to make that decision and have it work and have them ready to play against a team like this in a situation like this. But I would say it’s an even bigger moment for Drake May. You get the ball with two minutes left. It’s a tie game against a team that everybody thinks is going to the Super Bowl and you make two special throws in my opinion. One of them you’re scrambling. You’re getting dragged down. and you’re stiff arming a 320 lb defensive lineman and you’re throwing it without it looks like even being able to see your intended target. I mean, this play is just absurd. This is a Josh Allen level play and you need it right there at that moment, too. You needed it desperately to get that drive going. And then the and the next big throw was the honey hole shot to Kan Booty right there. A laser into cover two and that’s really all you needed. You got another run to really put you firmly in field goal range there. But two special special throws from your young quarterback in a two-minute situation to go win a divisional game on the road. I mean, it was uh the maybe we were talking about this before the game that maybe this was the biggest kind of game that uh he Drake Mays ever played in uh with the what was on the line considering the where the Patriots were in this environment and he was he was up to the task. I mean that play right there to Steph Diggs there on that first and 10 where he’s getting drugged down that was reminiscent of the last year’s game against Tennessee. What I love about Drake May is he never gives up on a play. A lot of those moving pockets, a lot of the times he got flushed out to the right side. I mean, he waits to the very last second to pull the trigger to get a completion down the field. And it’s just it’s uncanny how he doesn’t give up on plays and how he makes these miraculous plays by holding out to the very end and making a play with uh with little little left little room left to make the play. It’s uh it’s a very gutsy performance from the kid. That’s something, Michael, that I was saying earlier all week long. Really, show me. I know you’re going to be a good quarterback. I know that you’re a top 10 passer. Um maybe a top 15 quarterback, but show me that you can do these things in big high leverage games against good competition. Can you play a clean game against a good team? Not against Carolina. Do it against Buffalo. And this game tonight was that. And it’s funny because had that passed to Stefon Diggs as you’re getting dragged down and you can’t see where you’re throwing and because you can’t see, had it bounced into a Buffalo Bills hand, we would have said, you know what, that’s that’s the kind of thing he can’t do. But now that he’s made that play, now that he’s finished the drive, now that he started the game without losing his mind and throwing high and being too amped up, it shows the next level that he’s moving up to the next stage. And these are the things that, you know, incrementally I I in watching the team want to see the steps taken because I’m confident he’s going to be a really good quarterback. He already is, but you have to incrementally conquer each one of these things and plant your flag in a new place. He just planted his flag on a new summit. He he made some winning plays tonight. And if you’re a Patriots fan, you got to feel good about this. This was not the case of, and we talked about this in pregame, this is not a case of a team taking the Patriots lightly. Uh Shawn McDermott never takes the Patriots lightly. Going back to the days when he were yelling at Bill Bellichic’s sons uh before a game at Highark Stadium. Uh he he’s he’s usually amped up against the Patriots. I I think they knew what was at stake. They knew what the Patriots were going to come in and try to establish. And shockingly to Buffalo, I think the Patriots were able to do it. The Patriots were not Ted, they were not surprised by anything Buffalo was doing offensively. They really held them in check, contained Josh Allen, contained that offense for most of the night. And thanks for bringing up the defense because I mean it’s going to be a lot of Drake May love tonight, but the defense deserves a lot of attention. And I thought they did a fantastic job. They didn’t blitz very often and then when they did blitz, it was timely blitzing uh that was that was effective. They were able to when you know there sometimes that you know they they decided they weren’t going to do that that that mush rush that uh the Belch used to do with Josh Allen where you just kind of keep them in front of you. No, they were like they’re going to run all their stunts and what they did is they’d have Spolain as a spy. They’d have Christian Ellis as a spy. Uh and they’d use guys to spy Josh when he would flush out. Now he still hurt him with his legs but not too bad, right? It wasn’t it wasn’t too too bad. There were some big plays but nothing that just broke their backs. I thought the defense was excellent all night considering uh just just Josh Allen is back there pulling the trigger. A lot of credit to the defensive coordinator for having an excellent game plan. Uh and then that that interception that Marcus Jones had uh just came out of nowhere. I mean Josh uh that Josh still has a little bit of Josh Allen in him still. That was at a big moment in the game too, Ted. You know, you think about it. Uh the the Pat the Patriots gave up a score. So Buffalo comes down uh takes the lead 10-6. Patriots come back and Raandre Stevenson walk-in touchdown. It’s 13-10. And then uh you the the Bills have the ball in the red zone. You think, okay, here we go. They’re going to come away with points and Marcus Jones getting that interception. Big moment in the game and then allows the Patriots to score again to get that 10-point lead that they needed. Can just real quick on that, guys. the the Patriots defense going into this game, they were one of the worst they’re I think the worst red zone defense in in the NFL. And so and so a couple times when Buffalo was down there, this the Patriots defense rose up. I mean, it was again, I mean, the worst red zone defense and tonight they were like one of the best red zone. I wonder if you’ve seen a little bit of the Christian Gonzalez effect because he’s really the one difference between all of these games, you know, where they have had their issues in the red zone. Carolina Panthers game, that one uh was easy. they win going away clearly, but Christian Gonzalez, they very rarely threw at him tonight. There was the one over route early in the game that they got him on, but then late in the game, they tried him deep down the field, they end up throwing it out of the back of the end zone, and then he comes up with a huge breakup on third down that forces the Bills to kick a game-tying field goal very late in the game. I just wonder if if the defensive numbers that we’ve seen coming into this game tonight if they start to just slowly trend in a different direction now because you have one player on the field because he makes that much of a difference and it’s the lack of explosive plays. We saw so many in the first two weeks just eyepopping numbers if it was 920 plus in the first game and then a bunch against Miami as well that Vable said you know we’re kind of intending to let some of those happen on the outside and bottle up the middle but the explosive plays are kind of going away and if you look at that pick by Marcus Jones that’s the kind of a play made by a confident player who is able to speak to this if you could um say I’m going to make a play here I have a play on the ball and sometimes I I think if you’re not playing with confidence, you’re just going to let the play be caught and then bring him down. Yeah. No, that that’s absolutely true. So, he he he was uh he saw what he saw, covered two uh and he had a chance to undercut that. Chris Collinssworth pointed out great and he and he pulled the trigger. He he wasn’t afraid uh in that moment. And so, and I don’t I think you’re absolutely right, Phil. I think I think it just what it does is when Christian Gonzalez is out there, it slots everyone to where they should be as opposed to when he’s not in there, the guys are covering guys that they shouldn’t. So, I I think Christian Gonzalez back there definitely uh is is is a big factor. And I give uh Zack Core a ton of credit. the defensive coordinator who signal calling who’s who was not expected to be the signal caller going into the season but uh Terrell Williams was but because of health reasons he has had to step aside and he’s done a fantastic job of getting these guys uh ready and now here’s the thing now Josh Allen had a lot of time to pass but yet the coverage was really good downfield so he he had to throw the ball away or run it himself because coverage downfield was so good uh the secondary played exceptional tonight presented by Gem Plumbing and Heating. For an instant reaction to your heating, cooling, electrical, and plumbing needs, visit ask.com.

Phil Perry, Tom E. Curran, Ted Johnson, and Michael Holley share their instant analysis and reaction to the Patriots’ upset win in Buffalo. They break down Drake Maye’s impressive performance, Stefon Diggs’ big night, and what the victory says about the team.

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