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New England Patriots defender K’Lavon Chaisson dives for Buffalo Bills running back James Cook III during the second quarter. (Nancy Lane\/Boston Herald)<\/p>\nFOXBORO \u2014 Wind whipping. Snow falling.<\/p>\n
A scene fit for December football in Foxboro.<\/p>\n
What more could you have asked for Sunday?<\/p>\n
Uh, how about a fourth-down stop?<\/p>\n
One fewer flag, maybe.<\/p>\n
A win instead of a frozen nightmare.<\/p>\n
By failing to kill off Buffalo when they had the chance, the Patriots committed the cardinal sin of surviving any horror movie, which is exactly what Sunday\u2019s game became once they staked a 21-0 lead. The Bills first clawed on Josh Allen\u2019s touchdown pass late in the second quarter, a score the Pats could only answer with a field goal; dirt thrown on a coffin that hadn\u2019t been lowered deep enough.<\/p>\n
Because a 17-point halftime deficit might be enough to bury most teams. But not the Bills. Not Allen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s his superpower. That\u2019s who Josh Allen is,\u201d Christian Gonzalez said post-game. \u201cWe talked about it all week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen and the zombie Bills scored five straight touchdowns to clinch their fourth fourth-quarter comeback of the season. The Patriots suddenly became equal parts participants in and witnesses to their own demise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew what kind of game this was going to be. I don\u2019t think we could have been more prepared for it,\u201d Pats captain Harold Landry said. \u201cThey just came out and executed better than we did in the second half, and that\u2019s pretty much what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
The simplest explanation for why the Patriots endured this type of football horror, allowing a 21-point comeback to a division rival, is the right one: they got overpowered.<\/p>\n
Buffalo\u2019s bruising offensive line handled them at the line of scrimmage. The Bills rushed for 167 yards, including the 10 they covered on their last three hand-offs to finish the Pats off before Allen knelt the clock out. Mike Vrabel\u2019s defense knew Buffalo would run and couldn\u2019t do a damn thing.<\/p>\n
New England Patriots defender K’Lavon Chaisson dives for Buffalo Bills running back James Cook III during the second quarter. (Nancy Lane\/Boston Herald)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe missed tackles. We didn\u2019t build a good enough wall, didn\u2019t get off on third down, weren\u2019t able to create any turnovers. And (we) weren\u2019t getting any stops in the red zone,\u201d Vrabel said. \u201cIt\u2019s no secret, you know what I mean? (We) called the same stuff, they called the same stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
The case against the Patriots making a Super Bowl run starts there. Vrabel brought players like Cory Durden and Joshua Farmer to a gun fight with the league\u2019s MVP. That\u2019s all the ammunition the Pats have behind stud defensive tackle Milton Williams, who, yes, will return, but whose absence alone doesn\u2019t explain the Patriots\u2019 run defense ranking second-to-last by success rate allowed since early November.<\/p>\n
Come playoff time, the Pats\u2019 defensive depth might be too brittle to absorb blows like the ones Buffalo delivered Sunday. Their pass rush loses its edge whenever it\u2019s without Williams, Christian Barmore, Harold Landry or K\u2019Lavon Chaisson. In the first 20 minutes, Landry got to Allen on a coverage sack and backup linebacker Jack Gibbens dropped him on a clever blitz.<\/p>\n
Allen was hardly bothered the rest of the day.<\/p>\n
Their only solution against playoff teams may be to ask more of their offense. Beating the Bills requires plays like the two passes Drake Maye slung under pressure to jump-start a game-winning drive at Buffalo in Week 5, and failed to make Sunday. Maye might still win the MVP award \u2014 and rightfully so \u2014 but he won\u2019t win playoff games playing like he did Sunday.<\/p>\n
Like Drake Meh.<\/p>\n