Buffalo Bills vs New England Patriots: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Breaking down the Buffalo Bills frustrating loss to the New England Patriots

Let’s be honest, if you knew the Buffalo Bills would score 32 points against the Patriots, you’d likely think they were going to win – especially with their defense. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out that way.

Top performers

1) LeSean McCoy

I’m aware that sources the last few days insisted McCoy would play on Sunday. However, the guy was still listed as questionable for the game against the Patriots.

On top of this, the 2013 NFL leading rusher was returning from a hamstring issue which had bothered him for the last month, and tightened up again on Thursday. As far as I’m concerned, he proved his toughness by playing.

McCoy finished with 15 carries for 89 yards, and three receptions for a further 27 yards. In fact, you could make the argument that the Bills didn’t use him enough.

Now of course, this could have been because they were conscious of his hamstring strain. However, after he carried the ball four times on the opening driving, he had just six more rushes in the rest of the first half.

2) Colton Schmidt

That’s right – I’m picking the punter. In some respects, that should tell you how tough it was to find players who stood out for the Bills on Sunday.

However, this is not to take anything away from Schmidt, who enjoyed a fine individual day. Of course, I’m sure he would have been happier to not be involved so much.

Schmidt finished the game with six punts, for an average of 41.5 yards, including two inside the 20. His longest effort of the day was a 54 yarder, when the Bills were forced to punt from their own one yard line – unfortunately it was returned 28 yards by Danny Amendola, and ended up on Buffalo’s 13-yard line, after an additional personal foul penalty.

Tough day at the office

1) Rex Ryan

Everyone was convinced the Bills defense and Rex Ryan were a dream combination. A big part of the reason was Ryan’s past success against Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

Sep 20, 2015; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan yells to his players on the field during the second half against the New England Patriots at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Patriots defeat the Bills 40 to 32. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Keep in mind the last four encounters between the two coaches had been decided by a grand total of three points. Yes, Belichick still had the upper hand in the win-loss column, but it was genuinely believed Ryan could get over the hump with one of the best defenses in the NFL.

In the end though, none of it mattered. Tom Brady did pretty much what he wanted against the Bills.

What makes this one particularly concerning is that the Bills are meant to be better than in 2014. When they played the Patriots in the corresponding fixture last season, they “only” conceded 37 points and 396 yards.

Now, fast forward to Sunday, and the team gave up 40 points and 507 yards. As Ryan said it himself, that’s on him.

2) Aaron Williams

First things first, the most important thing here is to hope that Williams is okay, and not even from a footballing perspective. Fingers crossed he will make a full recovery from his neck injury, and lead a normal life off the field.

In many ways though, the safeties injury in the third quarter capped off a nightmare performance for him. Even before he was taken away in an ambulance, he had endured a terrible day.

This was best illustrated during the first half, when he completely lost the plot after conceding a second personal foul. Yes, emotions are bound to be high for a game such as this, but there was no excuse for the leader of the secondary to explode like that.

This led to the Bills actually benching Williams, to give him a chance to cool off. In the end, he probably wishes he had stayed on the sidelines.

3) Tyrod Taylor

Yes, I know Taylor only had seven incompletions all day. And I realise he threw for 242 yards and three touchdowns, while adding another 43 on the ground, including a scoring run.

Sep 20, 2015; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor (5) throws a pass under pressure by the New England Patriots defense during the second half at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Patriots beat the Bills 40-32. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Unfortunately, a lot of his productivity – save for the opening drive of the game – came after the Patriots had built a 24-point lead. Also, keep in mind that three of his incompletions were picked off.

Overall, it was a difficult outing for Taylor, who was sacked eight times. However, don’t take his being in this section as a slight on him.

The odds were he was going to have issues against a Belichick defense, but he showed a lot of spirit in fighting back from the 37-13 deficit. Overall, the 26-year old might have struggled, but he will be better for the experience.

Play of the day

For me, it has to be Taylor’s 32 yard touchdown throw to Robert Woods. The way he escaped the pressure and still managed to throw an accurate pass on the run, was pretty damn impressive.

Unfortunately, the NFL have disabled the embed option on their YouTube channel. As such, click here to view the touchdown play at buffalobills.com.

Turning point of the game

After Taylor narrowly avoided a safety, the Bills were forced to punt from their own one yard line. The ensuing punt return and additional personal foul penalty set the Patriots up at Buffalo’s 13 yard line – no matter how good a defense is meant to be, that’s a tough position to be put in.

New England went on to score two plays later, on a six yard run by Dion Lewis. It gave them their first lead of the day, and they never looked back after that point.

What we learned

The Patriots still own the Bills, as tough as that might be to acknowledge. New England are now 14-2 in Buffalo, since Bill Belichick took over as head coach in 2000.

Ultimately, the AFC East will continue to go through the Patriots until further notice. If Buffalo are finally going to end their postseason drought, it will likely have to be as a wild card team.

What we also learned, as referenced earlier in this column, is that McCoy and Taylor are tough competitors. Dealing with hamstring issues and a brutal pass rush respectively, both players hung in there and gave it their best.

The offense is still a work in progress. However, with McCoy and Taylor in there, you know they’re going to battle until the end, which will hopefully galvanize their teammates.

What needs to be answered

The most important thing is, can the defense recover from this performance? In theory, the answer is yes.

However, even if you expected a loss, did you really believe the Bills would be shredded for over 500 yards? No matter how good Brady is, a top class defense should not be giving up that type of yardage.

As such, it will take all of Ryan’s expertise and experience as a defensive mastermind to get them back on track. This will be key, with another important divisional game taking place next Sunday in Miami, against the Dolphins.

The second thing to wonder is if the Bills can improve their discipline. After giving up 11 penalties in week one, they followed this up with another 14 on Sunday.

This, quite simply, needs to be dealt with, and is also up to Ryan to resolve. The players, fans and media may love him at the moment, but the honeymoon period is over now, and he needs to step his game up.

Quote of the day

“This loss is on my shoulders… Belichick out coached me… We did a horse—– job.”

Bills coach Rex Ryan accepts the blame, after stepping to the podium for his post-game press conference.

Next: Initial reaction to Bills frustrating 40-32 loss to the Patriots

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