Defense falls apart in 2nd half
It was another tale of two halves for the Bills defense against the Patriots after employing that strategy against the Jets in Week 7. However, the script was flipped. In the second half against the Jets, Buffalo’s defense only allowed four total yards. The exact opposite was the case against New England.
For the first time this season, the Patriots scored a touchdown on back-to-back drives against Buffalo. As has been the case so many times, it was the run defense for the Bills that did them in.
Far too often, Patriots running back Damien Harris had way too much room to maneuver. He also barely ever got a hand on him until he was beyond the line of scrimmage. The Patriots’ first touchdown of the second half saw Harris rush 22 yards for a score one play after he broke tackle attempts from linebacker Matt Milano and defensive lineman Ed Oliver for 10 yards. The touchdown he was untouched.
Then on the ensuing drive, Harris had three carries of the double-digit variety, which included an 18-yard scamper. Linebacker AJ Klein had two plays where he missed tackles and he was also stiff armed really badly early in the game. That drive was capped on a rushing touchdown from Patriots quarterback Cam Newton. A lot of the problems appeared to once again sit with the Bills defensive line mostly.
Harris finished the game with 102 rushing yards and averaged 6.2 yards per carry.
.@DHx34 goes 22 yards for the TD!
đź“ş: @NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/D2GUQEbcZO
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 1, 2020