Instant analysis of Patriots’ crushing Thursday night loss to Bills

The Patriots are still no match for the Bills.

Well, that one stung.

The New England Patriots were home at Gillette Stadium with their playoff hopes in jeopardy. They also broke out the red jerseys for the occasion against the same Buffalo Bills team that had beaten them in the previous two head-to-head meetings.

Don’t think for one second the Patriots didn’t hear the noise leading up to the game, either. There was enough bulletin board material to last them for weeks.

And none of it mattered.

The Bills kicked in the doors at Gillette Stadium and beat the Patriots senseless to finally prove they own this Bill Belichick-coached team.

There were a couple of bright spots in the game, including Marcus Jones hauling in a pass as a receiver and blowing past Bills defenders for a 48-yard touchdown in the first quarter. And there’s no way we can forget about Rhamondre Stevenson showing why he’s deserving of the Derrick Henry comparisons.

But those couple of happy moments were snuffed out by a horrific performance on both sides of the ball for the Patriots. The defense got smoked like a post-Thanksgiving turkey by Bills quarterback Josh Allen and his endless receiving weapons.

There were a few plays where you had to simply tip your cap to his greatness, particularly this ridiculous touchdown throw to Gabe Davis. Few quarterbacks in the history of the game could make a throw like this one.

The Patriots had to know the Bills were going to put points on the board. Their hope of stopping them was likely leaning on their running game, and the offense limiting Allen’s possessions by bleeding precious minutes off the clock.

Unfortunately for the Patriots, the only bleeding came from the offensive line, which got devoured by a Bills defensive front that wasn’t even at full strength for this game. Buffalo completely dominated the time of possession with the team holding the ball for nearly 17 more minutes than New England.

Patriots quarterback Mac Jones didn’t lose the game, but instead, he looked handcuffed to an offense that stinks right now. The offensive play-calling hasn’t been good, and injuries have made things even worse for an offensive line unit that was already struggling.

These are problems that likely can’t be solved in 2022, at least not fast enough to keep the Patriots’ postseason hopes alive. The team will need to be perfect from here on out to even have a prayer of sneaking into the wild card round.

It would take nothing short of a miracle for that to happen with a road game at Buffalo and another meeting with the Miami Dolphins still on the schedule. The Patriots are a mediocre football team that clearly looked in over their head against an elite Bills team.

This wasn’t just a reality check for the players. It was a reality check for Belichick that the old way of doing things isn’t cutting it anymore. What a fitting night to wear the throwback jerseys in a game where the Patriots looked slow, old and simply outdated.

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