{"id":188967,"date":"2025-07-07T18:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T18:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/188967\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T18:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T18:57:10","slug":"bills-vs-patriots-2024-highlights-drake-maye-outperforms-josh-allen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/188967\/","title":{"rendered":"Bills vs Patriots 2024 highlights: Drake Maye outperforms Josh Allen"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Buffalo Bills<\/a>\u2019 2024 season has been written. So let\u2019s add some \u201cillustrations!\u201d If you\u2019re new to Plays That Defined, this isn\u2019t a highlight recap, but rather a cathartic retelling of the past season, chapter by chapter. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t vote for your favorite play necessarily, vote for the one that best represents that game\u2019s narrative. I\u2019ll recap the game to refresh your memory, but don\u2019t feel locked in by my narrative.<\/p>\n

Chapter 16: New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n

The Buffalo Bills sat at 11-3 and were hosting the lowly 3-11 New England Patriots<\/a>. A blowout win was the expectation. But the Bills decided to tempt fate instead. Remember the all-red Color Rush uniforms? Originally, teams weren\u2019t supposed to mix and match with their non-Color Rush kits, but apparently that rule either expired, Buffalo sought special permission, or it was never a rule to begin with. <\/p>\n

The Bills elected to pair their red jerseys with white pants to host New England, which looks pretty much exactly like the Patriots\u2019 throwbacks. The football gods didn\u2019t like this insult and cursed Buffalo to start off slow. They recovered and had a hell of a second half to win, but the game was closer than anyone would have predicted. <\/p>\n

Drake Maye\u2019s passing touchdown (Q1; 12:06)<\/p>\n

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I elected to show a Drake Maye passing touchdown (he had two) because he had the best day as a passer in Western New York on this date. This play was certainly highlight worthy and showed off a Patriots team that simply hadn\u2019t been showing up the rest of the season. <\/p>\n

James Cook\u2019s long touchdown (Q2; 12:05)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Statistically, a lot of numbers favor New England\u2019s offense, but the run game was mostly tilted toward Buffalo in large part thanks to the effort of running back James Cook. A first-down run is intended to stay on schedule, but Cook broke through the clutter to go way ahead of schedule. In a game that featured only two offensive touchdowns for the Bills, this was a pretty big deal. <\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s interception (Q2; 8:19)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Being candid, the interception itself is not a concern. What was a concern was the frequency in which New England made a stop on third down. Buffalo faced 11 third downs and converted a mere four of them. The fact this started on 3rd & 16 is a testament to Buffalo\u2019s overall struggle. <\/p>\n

Taron Johnson\u2019s fumble recovery touchdown (Q4; 10:17)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that the Bills would have lost the game for sure had this not happened, but it certainly raises the question. There\u2019s no real question about the play of the defense. After allowing scores on the first two drives, they didn\u2019t allow another until the final Pats drive. Three second half turnovers were the highlights and this one for sure the best of the trio. This is all despite some major hiccups, which we\u2019ll discuss…<\/p>\n

Kaiir Elam\u2019s defensive pass interference (Q4; 1:54)<\/p>\n

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…now.
This was Kaiir Elam\u2019s second defensive pass interference call.
On this drive. <\/p>\n

With goal to go. New England had nine attempts at a score starting four yards from the end zone. Elam\u2019s mistakes were a major factor in the Patriots having so many chances from point-blank range. Elam wasn\u2019t alone either. Buffalo had 13 assessed penalties, which included five defensive pass interference flags. <\/p>\n

Poll
\n Which play best illustrates the way-too-close victory over the Patriots?<\/p>\n

\n 6%\n <\/p>\n

Drake Maye passing TD<\/p>\n

(1 vote)<\/p>\n

\n 0%\n <\/p>\n

Allen interception<\/p>\n

(0 votes)<\/p>\n

\n 56%\n <\/p>\n

Taron Johnson TD<\/p>\n

(9 votes)<\/p>\n

\n 6%\n <\/p>\n

Kaiir Elam penalty<\/p>\n

(1 vote)<\/p>\n

16 votes total<\/p>\n

Vote Now<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buffalo Bills\u2019 2024 season has been written. So let\u2019s add some \u201cillustrations!\u201d If you\u2019re new to Plays…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[857,215,214,4424,995,7,29,3688,856,2939,1167,249,2326,2094,6,41069,208,1621,3084],"class_list":{"0":"post-188967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-allen","9":"tag-bills","10":"tag-buffalo","11":"tag-buffalo-bills-discussion","12":"tag-drake","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-front-page","15":"tag-highlights","16":"tag-josh","17":"tag-maye","18":"tag-new-england","19":"tag-new-england-patriots","20":"tag-newengland","21":"tag-newenglandpatriots","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-outperforms","24":"tag-patriots","25":"tag-rumblings","26":"tag-vs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114813485142089963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}