There was nothing the New England Patriots could do. It felt like the Buffalo Bills would score on every drive — because they did. It felt like the Bills would stop the Patriots from scoring on every drive — and they almost did. It felt like Buffalo had the upper hand in every phase of the game — because, of course, they did.
The Bills were a vastly superior team in their 47-17 win over the Patriots in the wild-card round of the playoffs. This season, New England proved it could win one way and one way only. They had to build an early lead and protect it. Otherwise, they got into a hole and had no way of getting out, with an offense that was too inconsistent to mount a comeback. The Bills knew that and immediately built their lead. Then they buried the Patriots with touchdown after touchdown from Josh Allen and Devin Singletary.
Here are our six takeaways from the Patriots’ loss.