Bills survive Patriots despite stars playing poorly: 5 observations from playoff-boosting win

ORCHARD PARK - Offensive tackle Spencer Brown just sort of smiled when he was asked for an opinion Sunday afternoon as to why Buffalo Bills superstar quarterback Josh Allen played far below the lofty standard he has set for himself.

“Everybody’s gonna have his day and you can’t expect Josh to be Superman every day of the week,” Brown said after Allen played as if he had a lump of kryptonite attached to his hip throughout the Bills grinding, often maddening 27-21 victory over the lowly New England Patriots on a raw, gray, dank day at Highmark Stadium.

“I mean, everyone’s gonna have (a tough) day, I’ve had them, everybody that has played football has had them. I know Josh is gonna bounce back and he’ll be the Superman you guys all look for.”

A good time for Allen to return to his superhero ways would be next weekend when the Bills go down to Miami to play for the AFC East division title against a Dolphins team that will be licking its wounds and loaded for bear after getting embarrassed 56-19 by the Ravens which clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC for Baltimore.

Thanks to a terrible day around the league pertaining to their wild-card chances, the Bills are very likely in a win-or-else scenario in Miami because if they lose, their wild-card hopes are going to be very low.

Bills report card: Buffalo defense overcomes shaky Josh Allen to escape Patriots

Allen and the entire offense was out of synch against a New England defense that is undoubtedly tough. Still, it wasn’t all because of what Bill Belichick was cooking up in his coverage and pressure schemes that was problematic. Allen just wasn’t very good, nor was anyone else.

“I was just off,” Allen said, trying to find an explanation for a 15-of-30, 169-yard, no-TD, one-pick performance. “Trying to find a rhythm early, couldn’t seem to find one. Felt like we got into a little bit of a groove in the third and fourth quarter, but we’ve got to start better than that. It’s never fun throwing incomplete pass after incomplete pass.”

This could have been a far easier day than it turned out had the offense just spiked all the perfect sets the Buffalo defense provided. After the Patriots stunned the Bills when Jalen Reagor returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, the offense went three and out on its first possession.

But then three consecutive takeaways in the first quarter gave Allen drive starts at the Patriots 30, 21 and 19, but the Bills managed only one touchdown and two field goals. After that, the offense put up only one other score when Allen’s 51-yard pass to Dalton Kincaid led to his second QB sneak TD that made it 27-14 early in the third.

“Like I said, just didn’t find it that much early today coming off the hand,” Allen said. “It’s a weird feeling as a quarterback when you’re throwing the ball and it’s not spinning the way you want it to spin. I think they had a good game plan, they did a good job of rushing and just making me feel some stuff at my feet, got the timing off just ever so slightly and that’s all it really takes.”

Ultimately, Allen and the offense did enough. But this type of performance probably won’t cut it against a Miami team that has a dynamic offense, especially when it plays at home.

“I thought we could have done a better job,” coach Sean McDermott said. “That’s a good defense. Coach Belichick does a great job with that defense, in particular in the red zone (the Bills were just 2-for-5), and that’s kind of what kept it closer than it should have been, perhaps.”

Here are some of my other observations:

1. Rasul Douglas had quite a day

I don’t know what else was going on around the league, but I’m going to guess it will be tough for whoever votes for the players of the week awards to ignore what the Bills cornerback did in the first 17 minutes.

On the Patriots first offensive play, Douglas deflected a Bailey Zappe pass intended for Mike Gesicki and it popped in the air and Ed Oliver made a diving interception. That set up a Tyler Bass field goal.

Two possessions later, Zappe tried to hit DeVante Parker and Douglas read it perfectly and picked it off and returned it to the 14, leading to Buffalo’s first touchdown on an Allen sneak.

And then early in the second quarter, Douglas stepped in front of Reagor to pick off Zappe and this one he returned 40 yards for a touchdown that put the Bills up 20-7.

Of the pick-six, Douglas said, “Usually when we send a weak-side pressure, watching on film, (Zappe) usually throws it quick to the receiver that’s usually on the X, so I seen a blitz and I was like, ‘He’s gotta throw it hot or he’s gonna get sacked.’ He threw it, I think him and the receiver wasn’t on the same page. He threw it, as soon as I got the ball, I’m like, I gotta try to score.”

Douglas has proven to be perhaps general manager Brandon Beane’s most impactful midseason acquisition because he has been able to flawlessly step in for injured Tre’Davious White. He now has a pair of two-interception games for Buffalo and he has been consistently ranked by Pro Football Focus as one of the best covers corners in the NFL this year.

2. Stefon Diggs did not have a day, and it’s becoming a problem

The Bills officially have a concern with their No. 1 wide receiver because he endured his seventh consecutive below-par performance, at least when measured against his usual standard. He was held to four harmless catches for 26 yards. He did reach 100 for the season and thus became just the third player in NFL history with four consecutive 100-reception seasons (Marvin Harrison with six, Antonio Brown with four were the others).

However, 70 of those catches and 834 of his yards came in Buffalo’s first nine games. Since then, he has just 30 catches for 262 yards. Anyone who has been asked says Diggs is not hurt, so the conclusion is that he and Allen are suddenly reading from a different book, and/or, Diggs is simply not winning his matchups and is not getting open.

I asked McDermott directly if Diggs’ dropoff is on his mind. He said, “It is. I mean, he’s our No. 1 receiver. Whether teams are trying to take him away or they’re getting the ball spread around and things we can do better offensively. I know this, anytime a quarterback is going through his progression, that’s the right way to go through it, right? And the ball finds the open player, so he’s going to be fine.”

Well, maybe, but right now there’s been no evidence that he will all of the sudden return to being a dominant player in the biggest game of the season next week.

3. The ultimate complementary football sequence

One of McDermott’s favorite topics is complementary football when offense helps defense, defense helps offense, special teams help both, and so on. A perfect example of what McDermott stresses occurred in the final seven minutes Sunday.

With the Bills clinging to a 27-21 lead, Sam Martin was called on to punt and he uncorked a beautiful 53-yarder that was downed at the 3-yard-line by Siran Neal. It capped a tremendous day for Martin who had all six of his punts finish inside the 20 and had a spectacular 47.8 net average.

The Buffalo defense, in a one-score game, then put together three winning plays as DaQuan Jones pressured Zappe into an incompletion, an Ezekiel Elliott run was stopped by Jones and Tyrel Dodson after four yards, and on third down Taylor Rapp and Taron Johnson tackled Tyquan Thornton two yards shy of a first down.

Here, Bill Belichick made the right call to punt as he had all three timeouts plus the two-minute warning, but that all became moot because Allen, thanks to a pair of clutch third-down conversions - one on a pass to Khalil Shakir on third-and-7, the second on how own QB keeper - ran out the final 5:02 to secure the win.

“I thought they came together and put together a good back quarter of the game with complementary football,” McDermott said.

4. The opening kickoff was a punch in the gut

Last year when these teams played in the final game of the season, Buffalo’s Nyheim Hines returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, and he also brought back a second kickoff, plays that proved critical in a 35-23 victory. Sunday, Reagor returned the favor on the opening kickoff for New England.

One can assume that Tyler Bass was told to keep the kickoff in play so that the Bills could run down, cover it, and perhaps trap the Patriots inside the 25, maybe the 20. Instead, Reagor ran right up the middle, there were a couple of breakdowns, and then once he was in the clear he ran over Bass who made a fruitless attempt at a tackle.

“That was not ideal, definitely not how you want to start the game,” said special teamer Tyler Matakevich. “But I think guys did a great job just not panicking, coming together, taking deep breaths and just getting ready to play again.”

Buffalo’s special teams have been spotty all year - remember opening night and the walk-off punt return TD? The Bills have gotten nothing in their return game, Martin was not good for most of the season, and even Bass went through a little slump. They need to be on point in every area at Miami.

5. Finally, Von Miller was benched

This should have happened weeks ago, but McDermott chose Sunday to make the edge rusher a healthy inactive because the film, let alone the stats, do not lie. Miller has been a ghost and the Bills, in games as crucial as these, can’t afford to waste a game-day roster spot on someone who’s not helping the cause.

“Yeah, listen, that was a tough decision,” McDermott said. “Von’s a pro. He’s one of the leaders on our team and I thought he did a phenomenal job on the sideline from a leadership standpoint with his teammates. He’s a very important part of this team and we have full confidence in him and look forward to getting him back going forward here.”

Yeah, no thanks. The defense was fine without him and players who deserve to play like A.J. Epenesa, Shaq Lawson and Kingsley Jonathan took his snaps in addition to their own.

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: Bills survive Patriots: 5 observations from playoff-boostin win