Buffalo Bills studs and duds after losing shot at AFC East

The Buffalo Bills were swept by the New England Patriots and now have no chance at winning the AFC East. We look back over the Week 16 loss to find the studs and duds.

It appeared for a moment as though the Buffalo Bills were going to pull this one out. After falling behind 10-3, they scored 14 unanswered points and had a 17-10 lead over the New England Patriots heading into the fourth quarter.

Then New England took over and scored 11 in the final quarter and Buffalo got close to the end zone late, but couldn’t tie it up. The disheartening loss meant the Bills were swept by the Patriots and also ended their hopes of stealing the AFC East.

Other than ending their chances for the division, this loss didn’t do much for Buffalo. They already were guaranteed at least fifth in the AFC and now they know that’s where they’ll be for sure.

They also know they need to be better against the elite teams if they want to make some noise in the playoffs — because as Sean McDermott said earlier this year, there are no moral victories.

With all that being said, we look back over the game and identify three studs and duds for the Bills in Week 16.

Notable omission: Josh Alle

It’s hard to put Josh Allen as either a stud or a dud because, in this game, he was both. Allen finished with 208 yards and had two touchdowns with no picks. In addition to the passing numbers, he had 46 yards on the ground.

There were some highs such as the long touchdown pass to John Brown and the fourth-down run that he had no business converting but did anyway. There were also some lows such as him missing Dawson Knox for what would have been a game-tying touchdown — which wasn’t his first miss that left points off the board.

Allen has a lot of talent and it’s easy to see he can develop into one of the best in the game. But in this one, his inexperience showed just as much as his natural talent did.