The Buffalo Bills snapped the New England Patriots 10 game winning streak today, as Josh Allen and James Cook led the way in a dominant second half showing. Buffalo has won the AFC East five consecutive times and weren’t willing to let that change hands on Sunday. If New England had simply won this game, this would’ve been their hat and t-shirt celebration as they would’ve officially clinched the AFC East.
The Patriots shockingly went up 21-0 against the Bills after two rushing touchdowns by Drake Maye and another touchdown by TreVeyon Henderson. The defense was humming, the offense looked great, but you can never feel safe with a lead in the NFL. Especially when your going up against the reigning Most Valuable Player recipient in Josh Allen, who’s still arguably the best quarterback in the NFL.
Buffalo finally got on the board after James Cook ran into the end zone at the tail end of the second quarter. With a little bit of time remaining, New England marched down the field and kicked a field goal as time expired at the end of the first half. The score read 24-7 Patriots, and thinks were looking great. The Bills were limited to five first down conversions and 74 total yards in the 1st half, and shortly their after, all hell broke lose.
Ray Davis returned a 58 yard kick to open up the second half, Dawson Knox caught a touchdown, then the Patriots went three and out. Cook ran in for a touchdown, and then Maye threw an interception to Tre’Davious White on 3rd and 25 after a couple of flags. Knox then caught another touchdown even after a 10-yard holding penalty on the prior play by O’Cyrus Torrence. Buffalo had all of the momentum on the planet at this moment, the score was cut down to 28-31 with 10:30 remaining in the 4th quarter.
Henderson then somehow ran in for a 65-yard touchdown for New England as they regained the lead on a play that looked like it was initially going nowhere. He had a great game overall with two touchdowns and 161 all-purpose yards. The Patriots had a 35-31 lead after trailing for 13 seconds of game time.
Then you guessed it, the Bills scored yet another touchdown. This time, Cook ran in for an 11-yard touchdown with 6:48 remaining in the fourth quarter, and the shock of what was currently transpiring happened once more. The Patriots were down 35-31 at this moment.
Henderson ran for five yards on first down, Matt Milano sacked Maye on second down, and he was unable to connect with Hunter Henry on 3rd and 12. New England once again punted the ball to Buffalo.
The defense shockingly got a stop after five consecutive touchdown drives by the Bills. This was a moment for Maye to show that he’s arrived. Division title on his shoulders, 2:43 remaining in the game, a moment to prove that he is an upper echelon quarterback.
He connected with Mack Hollins for five yards on 1st down and was sacked by Greg Rousseau on 2nd down for 0 yards to reach the two minute warning. Maye threw a inaccurate incompletion to Henderson on 3rd and 5 and then threw another bad pass in the vicinity of Stefon Diggs to end the game on 4th and 5.
Another icing on the cake was Ty Johnson’s three-yard run on 3rd and 3 to give the Bills the first down, as they were already in field goal range.
The Bills completed the largest comeback in Gillette Stadium history against the Patriots at 21, win 35-31, and are still alive for the AFC East crown.
The Mike Vrabel led Patriots and Maye are human after all.
New England once again didn’t play up to par in the second half, and Buffalo really punished them unlike any team they’ve played this season. In their first matchup, the Patriots were able to stop Allen and the Bills with the game on the line. They weren’t as fortunate this time around.
The Patriots run defense has also struggled mightily since Milton Williams went down. New England also employs the worst red zone defense in the NFL as they’ve allowed the least amount of opportunities but the highest percentage of scoring a touchdown whenever teams get in the red zone.
Shockingly a Buffalo team without Christian Benford and Terrel Bernard were able to hold Maye to his first game this season under 200 passing yards. He still had two rushing touchdowns in the first half, but the passing offense was obsolete all game. Maye was held to 155 passing yards, easily his lowest he had 203 in a route against the Panthers in Week 4.
New England’s defense is extremely sketchy, and they needed a test like this from the Bills. The red zone defense is putrid, their pass rush is very underwhelming, and they’re only 23rd in takeaways this season with 14.
It’s going to be very interesting to see if the Patriots can bounce back next week against another MVP in Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. They trounced Joe Burrow and held the Cincinnati Bengals to 0 points, including a pick-six.
The Patriots last three remaining games are the Ravens, New York Jets, and Miami Dolphins.
The Denver Broncos were able to win against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday as well, which brings them to 12-2 and extends their winning streak to 11 games. This makes New England’s bid for a number 1 seed that much harder, as they are now a full game behind them, and they don’t have the tiebreaker. The Patriots’ Week 1 loss against Geno Smith and the Las Vegas Raiders gave the Broncos the tiebreaker, as Denver beat them in Week 14.
The Bills are very much alive for the AFC East and a high seed as they now sit at 10-4, a game behind the Patriots, and 2 games behind the Broncos.
Buffalo is one of the league’s worst 1st half teams, but the cohesive unit plays at a different level in the second half. Cook is one of the best running backs in the league, and you can never feel confident against someone of Allen’s caliber either. The Bills are also prone to making a big-time play defensively, as we saw last week with the Christian Benford pick-six against Burrow and the Bengals in the fourth quarter.
Head Coach Sean McDermott knows that this formula is extremely scary because it’s due to bite them eventually, but they all live on the edge.
It felt like a flip was switched on both ends by the Bills; they looked dead in the first half, and then boom, the second half happened. They were able to outscore the Patriots 28-7 in the second half after they were outscored 24-7 in the first half.
The Bills were basically spotless in the second half of the game. Which has to be a little frustrating for Bills fans that are like, why are you always making this so hard on us?
Buffalo is now 1-1 against New England and aims to win the division for the sixth consecutive season. Their three remaining games are against the Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, and Jets.
Buffalo has the 2025 MVP, and New England currently has an MVP finalist. If Allen keeps playing like this, it wouldn’t be surprising whatsoever if he won back to back MVP’s. With the way Matthew Stafford is paying out there in Los Angeles, it’s going to be incredibly difficult, though.
It’s going to be so fun to see how the division shakes out, do the Bills regain their crown or do the Patriots take back what was theirs for so long with Tom Brady at the helm?
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