The 2020 Buffalo Bills are doing their best to put this team on the national scene. Once again, the Bills put together a dominant performance during primetime, completely demolishing the New England Patriots, 38-9, on Monday Night Football’s Week 16 slate.
Buffalo (12-3) has already locked up the AFC East divisional crown. Monday’s game was a performance in exercising some demons. For the first time since the 1999 season, the Bills swept the Patriots (6-9) during a campaign.
It’s exciting that Buffalo completed the sweep against a team and coach who have had a stranglehold on the Bills for decades. However, the greater takeaway from this game is how Buffalo systematically deconstructed New England in every facet of the game. The Bills utterly took the soul from the Patriots with the entire NFL watching.
The Patriots matched the Bills early on. The teams traded field goals and touchdowns at the midpoint of the second quarter. In fact, New England responded with a Cam Newtown nine-yard rushing touchdown to pull the Patriots within one point of the Bills on a QB scramble. Kicker Nick Folk missed the PAT, and the field seemed to tilt in Buffalo’s favor. The Bills scored 28 unanswered points from that point forward.
The combination of Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen and wideout Stefon Diggs was unstoppable. Cornerback JC Jackson had the audacity to get in Diggs’ face in the first quarter. It seemed that was not a wise choice, as Diggs thoroughly dominated the Patriots secondary for the remainder of the game. The receiver caught nine passes for 145 receiving yards and three touchdown receptions. Every reception was just tremendous, outworking defenders and running crisp routes.
It feels like the analyses of games are becoming repetitive with Allen’s play. Once again, the 2020 version of Allen put together a stellar performance, picking apart the Patriots’ secondary. Allen, along with the Buffalo offense, is must-see television now. Allen completed passes to nine different receivers. He went 27-of-36 for 320 yards and four touchdown passes in a shortened game, even. He was pulled at the start of the third quarter for backup Matt Barkley.
The 10th Buffalo player to catch a pass, Siran Neal, caught a pass from Jaquan Johnson on a fake-punt attempt. If there were any worries of the Bills holding back ahead of the playoffs, they were squashed with that moment.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Bills shutdown any hope that the Patriots could even have a chance at coming back in this game. New England ran the ball well early in the game, but they could not sustain the ground game. Their passing attack was feeble at best, gaining a net of 56 yards through the air.
Newton was sent to the bench early in the third quarter, as the Patriots offensive unit could not gain any forward momentum. Newton, who scored the only touchdown of the game for the Pats on a scramble, ended the night with only five completions for 34 passing yards. Backup Jarrett Stidham did not fare much better, going 4-of-11 for 44 passing yards.
New England rushed 24 times for 145 yards, which equates to a six-yard average per carry. However, it really didn’t come to anything meaningful, and ultimately, the Patriots were forced to punt seven times.
Bills defenders Matt Milano, Dean Marlowe, and Quinton Jefferson were credited with sacks. Milano led the way on defense with eight tackles.
The impressive performance by Buffalo makes one think that this could be the changing of the guard in the AFC East. It’s been a long time since New England has been handled so easily by an opponent. Buffalo took any drive to compete away from New England and by the middle of the third quarter, it was apparent that this game was going to be a blowout.
Sean McDermott’s squad imposed its will on a Bill Belichick team.
In a downer, Bills defender Jordan Poyer and wideout Cole Beasley left the field with injuries. Poyer stepped out after a tough collision on the sidelines with Newton, while Beasley left in the fourth quarter with an apparent lower body injury.
The Bills will finish off their season at Bills Stadium against the Miami Dolphins next week.
With a victory, Buffalo can finish with the second spot in the conference. Miami is fighting for its playoff lives, so this will be the most meaningful game between these two teams since the Bills’ glory days in the 90s.
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