Best and worst: What we learned from Patriots’ 35-31 loss to Bills

FOXBORO The Patriots were bound to lose eventually but Sunday s - loss to the Bills stings a little extra The Patriots took a commanding - lead in the first half and appeared that they were going to run away with the tournament easily until their defense turned into a sieve and surrendered touchdowns on five straight possessions to the Bills Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels got away from what worked so well in the first half and the Patriots offense scored just one touchdown in the final two quarters They had one final chance to put together a game-winning drive but the offense managed just yards and quarterback Drake Maye s fourth-down passing attempt to tight end Hunter Henry was batted by defensive end Joey Bosa The Bills picked up a first down after the turnover on downs then kneeled on the ball to win With a win the Patriots would have clinched the AFC East Now they re - on the season with the Bills halting their -game winning streak The Bills AFC East title dreams are not dashed just yet Related Articles Five rookies inactive for Patriots Bills best defender out in Week How Mike Vrabel s Patriots chased down the Bills in Year of their rebuild Lucas President Trump should crash Patriots party things we re watching in Patriots-Bills matchup for AFC East title New Patriots Get to know Patriots ascending rookie pass rusher Elijah Ponder The Patriots offense came out firing coming off of their bye week with QB Drake Maye orchestrating an -play -yard scoring drive He delivered a perfect -yard pass to Kayshon Boutte midway through the drive on third-and- to move the chains He finished it off with an -yard touchdown run Rhamondre Stevenson also contributed in a big way with yards on four touches Ray Davis gave the Bills great field position with a -yard kick return but they couldn t do anything with it Bills wide receiver Brandin Cooks a former Patriot beat cornerback Christian Gonzalez deep on first down but bobbled the ball before getting two feet down The Patriots then forced a three-and-out and punt The Patriots managed one first down on their next drive but threw incomplete on third-and- rather than trying to pick up a yard on the ground That led to a punt The Bills went three-and-out again after linebacker Jack Gibbens filling in for Robert Spillane sacked Allen on third down The Patriots were assisted by a false start on Bills wide receiver Joshua Palmer on third down Maye kept getting it done with his legs as the Patriots went on another scoring drive to go ahead - He picked up yards on the ground on the first play of the series evading pressure He scored on his second rushing touchdown of the contest untouched for yards The Patriots forced the Bills to punt for the third time this time getting pinned back on their own -yard line Outside linebacker Harold Landry made a key play with a coverage sack pushing the Bills back to third-and- Rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson displayed off his game-breaking speed extending the Patriots lead to - with a -yard touchdown run That was the final snap of an impressive eight-play -yard drive The Bills weren t about to perfectly give up Helped by a facemask penalty on Patriots special-teams captain Brenden Schooler on the kickoff the Bills scored after a seven-play -yard drive on a -yard touchdown catch by running back James Cook to make the count - The refs had particular trouble managing the clock at the end of the half but the Patriots put three more points on the scoreboard extending their lead to - on a -yard field goal from rookie kicker Andy Borregales The Bills playing with a short field again after a -yard kick return from Ray Davis cut the Patriots lead to - on their first drive of the second half Allen tossed a -yard pass to tight end Dawson Knox for the touchdown The Patriots followed that up with their first three-and-out of the contest punting away to the Bills The Bills scored a touchdown on their third straight possession cutting the Patriots lead to - on a -yard touchdown run up the middle by Cook Penalties pushed the Patriots back to third-and- before Maye threw an arm punt and was picked off by Bills cornerback Tre Davious White The Bills got the ball at their own -yard line They drove yards down the field for their fourth touchdown in four possessions to take a - lead Allen hit Knox again this time on a -yard touchdown over linebacker Jack Gibbens Henderson is unbelievable He turned a broken play into a -yard touchdown by completely reversing field and sprinting for a result with Maye outrunning him as his lead blocker It didn t take long for the Bills to re-take the lead on an -yard touchdown run from Cook after a seven-play -yard drive Cornerback Carlton Davis was penalized for pass interference on a late flag with specific pretty minimal contact The two teams then traded three-and-outs with strong defensive stands from both units BEST RB TreVeyon Henderson Henderson has become everything the Patriots were hoping for when they drafted him in the second round as a big-play threat He ripped off a -yard touchdown run in the second quarter to give the Patriots a - lead He had a -yard run in the third quarter that briefly gave the Patriots a - lead as well He finished with carries for yards with two touchdowns and caught two passes for yards QB Drake Maye Maye was good through the air but even better as a runner scoring two rushing touchdowns in the first half WORST ST Brenden Schooler A facemask penalty gave the Bills a short field before their first touchdown Special teams Let s throw the whole unit in here as well Davis averaged over yards per kick return A long return by Patriots kick returner Kyle Williams was also called back by a holding penalty on Marte Mapu RG Mike Onwenu Onwenu was flagged for a holding penalty and was charted with allowing a sack per PFF Second-half defense Woof The Bills scored touchdowns on five straight possessions with four of those coming in the second half The Patriots have forced just takeaways all season They desperately could have used a Bills turnover in the second half of this event WHAT WE LEARNED Linebacker Robert Spillane was listed as questionable heading into Sunday s match with a foot injury He was ongoing but didn t play Gibbens and Christian Elliss started in his place at linebacker Both players allowed touchdown catches From ESPN Stats and Research via Mike Reiss The Patriots now have rushing TDs of yards this season They had such TD total over the previous seasons Cornerback Carlton Davis left the competition in the third quarter with a groin injury and was replaced by Charles Woods He later returned to the encounter in the fourth quarter