Far too many times have fans and players alike taken solace in coming within 7 points of beating the Patriots. The Bills had been playing their best football of the year while New England was arguably playing their worst. This was a tough one to swallow because the game was there for the taking and Buffalo made just enough miscues to give the Pats yet another division title. While Allen had just a horrendous first half, I have to give him some credit for fighting back in the 2nd. Allen had some pretty brutal throws in the beginning and overthrew Knox for the game tying TD with a minute to go in the game. When you are playing a team like the Patriots, those types of mistakes just can’t keep happening.
As far as the defense, I was a little shocked that the Patriots run game and screen passing had so much success. There was some pretty bad tackling, and New England was able to convert a lot of crucial 3rd downs. An off day by the defense combined with only one half of decent play from the offense will not cut it in the playoffs. Josh Allen has GOT to put a full game together and find a way to correct these overthrows to wide open receivers. The Bills are locked into the 5 seed and it looks like Houston will be the round 1 opponent. If Buffalo is going to make some noise in the post-season, the D is going to have to round back into form, while Allen settles himself into the game. Houston is not a world-beater and two weeks rest will serve the Bills well while resting the starters against the Jets.
