The Buffalo Bills battled through another tough win, this time against the New England Patriots. The win was ugly, but the Bills' defense was fantastic, forcing four turnovers in the first half. Unfortunately, Buffalo turned those turnovers into only 20 points at the half, and six were from a pick-six by Rasul Douglas.
The Bills were outgained by the Patriots in total offensive yards, 294 to Buffalo's 281. Josh Allen was off target all day and couldn't get the passing game going and they managed a paltry 3.4 yards per carry in the run game. We know the Patriots are known for the defense, but the Bills should not be struggling like this against a team like New England. But here we are.
Fortunately, the defense came to play, and Buffalo came away the victors, 27 - 21. This is the second week in a row that the offense has struggled, and the playoffs are just a couple of weeks away, but before that, the Bills must take care of business against the Miami Dolphins next week. It's simple for the Bills, win and you're in.
There are a couple of players I want to give shoutouts too before we get into the top five for each side of the ball. These players earned high Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades but didn't log enough snaps to qualify for our top five. First, on the defensive side is Taylor Rapp, who seems to have been up and down this season but against the Patriots, he earned a PFF grade of 79.9 but played on only seven snaps. On the offense side, Ty Johnson played 13 snaps and earned a PFF grade of 67.8.