The New England Patriots won the weirdest NFL game of 2021. It was the oddest game in recent memory. And it’ll have to go down as one of the strangest games of this decade. The Patriots defeated the Buffalo Bills, 14-10, on Monday night. You get it: a bizarre one.
The winds gusted from between 28 and 22 miles per hour. Snow blew sideways at Highmark Stadium in Buffalo. And the Patriots were determined not to throw the football with rookie quarterback Mac Jones, a Jacksonville-native that went to college in temperate Tuscaloosa at the University of Alabama. He was 2 of 3 for 19 yards.
The Patriots ran 46 times for 222 yards and a touchdown.
The Bills threatened the Patriots in the fourth quarter with a final drive that faltered on the 18-yard line. Buffalo actually made it to the 13-yard line, but committed a false start penalty that killed their momentum. The Patriots defense bent on the drive but — yes, it’s the old cliche — did not break.
Here are our six takeaways from the game.