Answers to these key questions may determine if Bills can avoid another loss to Patriots

ORCHARD PARK - The Buffalo Bills dodged a bullet last week in Los Angeles; no, check that, a heat-seeking missile, because if they had not rallied to beat the Chargers 24-22, their playoff chances would have sustained major damage and there would be big-time angst engulfing western New York right now.

Instead, they pulled out an ugly, too-close-for-comfort victory thanks to a superbly engineered 13-play, 64-yard drive by Josh Allen and his pals in the final five minutes which was capped by Tyler Bass’ field goal.

Thus, the Bills happily flew back across the country to celebrate Christmas knowing they put themselves in a solid position to earn their fifth consecutive postseason appearance, and kept alive their chances for a fourth straight AFC East division crown.

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“We’ve got a resilient group,” Allen said Wednesday as the Bills turned their attention to their next big game Sunday afternoon, the regular-season home finale against the New England Patriots.

“Our defense played their tails off and gave us a chance there at the end. I would love to put the game away earlier; we had our opportunities and we missed them early on in the game. But again, to kind of be backs against the wall, I think it was kind of a microcosm of our season of what’s going on right now, putting our best football on the field when it matters the most.”

Last week felt very much like the proverbial trap game for Buffalo because of the circumstances going into it with the Chargers already out of the playoff race, playing their first game under a new head coach, and coming off one of the most embarrassing losses in franchise history.

Sure enough, they were inspired against the Bills and very nearly won the game playing with someone named Easton Stick at quarterback. Sunday, however, is not a trap game for the Bills because they know exactly what they’re going to get from the Patriots, not to mention the fact they’ve already lost to Bill Belichick’s team this season.

As division rivals, these teams know each other inside and out, there will be no surprises, and as we saw in late October, the Patriots are still capable of putting together a winning formula, even though it has happened only four times this season.

The Bills can’t look past the Patriots and ahead to the Week 18 Miami game or it will bite them in the butt. Despite a 4-11 record, New England’s defense is very good, and now the Patriots seem to have gotten a spark on offense from quarterback Bailey Zappe. Just ask the Broncos about that.

“I think you learn a lot going through any game, let alone in this case a loss like it was several weeks ago (to the Patriots) and they’re a good football team,” coach Sean McDermott said when he was asked about that inexcusable defeat. “As I’ve said before, the NFL is up for grabs every week, records do not matter. I think they’re playing good football, they’re well coached as we all know, and we have a lot of respect for what they’ve done here.”

Here are three questions heading into this critical game:

1. Can Stefon Diggs regain his previous form?

It’s pretty interesting that the Bills’ offense has started to regain some of its mojo over the past four games, yet the No. 1 receiver has contributed very little to the cause.

Diggs’ struggles have actually now extended for six games, during which he has caught only 26 passes for 236 yards and one touchdown. And those 26 catches have come on 48 targets, so Josh Allen hasn’t forgotten about him; they just aren’t connecting as Diggs’ catch percentage is just 54.2 in that span.

Ah, but Allen has a different take on the situation. Just because Diggs hasn’t been piling up his usual numbers doesn’t mean he’s not critical to the Bills’ attack. With teams constantly doubling Diggs, other players have had to emerge and they have which is why the Bills have won three games in a row.

“I think the game plan against us for a while was double 14 and make everybody else beat you,” Allen said. “I think consistently, guys have now shown that they can step up and make those plays. You talk Gabe (Davis) in this last game (four catches, 130 yards and a TD), Dalton (Kincaid) and Dawson (Knox), talk about Khalil Shakir and James Cook coming out of the backfield, too.

“I think it’s to a point now where I don’t know how beneficial it is to double 14 because some of the other guys are making plays. When we have opportunities, we just got to execute them. I think it comes down to whoever plays best on Sunday and we got to put our best foot forward.”

In the first game, the Patriots held Diggs to six catches for 58 yards though he did catch a touchdown in the fourth quarter that ignited a 15-point rally that nearly delivered a Bills victory.

The Patriots have been great against the run this year, but they’ve been middle of the pack against the pass. If they choose to double Diggs on most plays, the Bills will have a chance to get some favorable matchups elsewhere that Allen can exploit, but ideally, it would be nice for Buffalo if Diggs gets back to being a dominant, go-to target for Allen.

2. Will DaQuan Jones be activated for the game?

It doesn’t appear so.

The Bills had an open spot on their 53-man roster since they placed defensive tackle Jordan Phillips on injured reserve last week and they did not replace him for the Chargers game.

Jones returned to practice before the Chargers game but it was clear that he wasn’t going to play in Los Angeles. However, the Patriots game seemed like a logical starting point for him and the outside-the-building theory was that the Bills were saving Phillips’ roster spot for Jones this week.

Instead, they activated cornerback Kaiir Elam off injured reserve which would indicate that they want to give Jones another week of practice and conditioning in his recovery from torn pectoral muscle surgery and perhaps get him ready for what could be an AFC East division-deciding showdown in Miami next week.

Of course, maybe they’ll still make a move later in the week to get Jones up, but that would entail having to release a player, preferably someone they could get back onto the practice squad. The only player who would probably be safe from getting claimed on waivers is edge rusher Kingsley Jonathan, but even that is a risk.

Elam has been on injured reserve since early November due to an ankle injury. His 21-day practice window was set to expire Wednesday afternoon so the Bills had to either put him on the active roster or he would stay on injured reserve and be lost for the season.

“We’ll see how DaQuan does this week,” McDermott said. “And Kaiir, it’s good to have him back on the active (roster) and we’ll see how he continues to progress and we’ll go from there. Nothing really more to add on that right now.”

Elam may only be on the 53-man to make sure the Bills are covered for injury in these last two games, plus any playoff games. Right now, the cornerback situation is solid with starters Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford both playing very well, and Dane Jackson as the primary backup. I would expect Elam won’t be active on game day unless there is an injury to one of those three.

3. Will Leonard Fournette play again?

The veteran running back made his Bills debut in Los Angeles because third-stringer Ty Johnson was inactive due to a shoulder injury which he suffered against Dallas.

Fournette, who had been signed to the practice squad on Halloween, played a minimal role in the victory. He was on the field for 10 snaps - three where he was out in the pass pattern and was not targeted, two where he was kept in to pass protect, and he ran five times for 20 yards.

Two of those carries came on back-to-back plays late in the first half and they totaled 14 yards which set up Josh Allen for his first rushing touchdown which gave Buffalo a 14-10 halftime lead.

The Chargers game was a weird one because the Bills ran only 52 offensive plays and everyone’s playing time was lower than usual, but Fournette’s time share was well below what Johnson had received lately. Since Joe Brady became the coordinator, he has utilized Johnson frequently as he has 63 snaps in his last four games and he totaled 103 rushing yards and 53 receiving yards.

If Fournette plays against New England, his snaps will cut more into Latavius Murray’s playing time than that of James Cook. Murray played a season-low seven snaps last week, though again, the Bills’ lack of possession time clearly played a role in that.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana and on Threads @salmaiorana1. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Can Bills avoid another loss to Patriots? 3 questions may determine