RB Frank Gore
Running back Frank Gore has been a great story for the Bills this season, but that could be coming to an end. For the first time in his 15-year career, Gore failed to get a carry against the Patriots in a game he was active in.
Gore was a great story earlier this year, but during short-yardage plays and in the red zone, he’s been completely ineffective for Buffalo in recent weeks. As mentioned, Daboll recognized this and finally acted on it. The Bills were just giving plays away when Gore was getting the ball as of late.
OL Cody Ford
The Bills offensive line had a sub-par game against the Patriots. After Devin Singletary was taken out of the game by the Pats’ defense, the Patriots’ pass rush had a field day getting to Buffalo’s backfield and Allen.
Overall, the Patriots had four sacks and hit Allen seven times. It wasn’t the worst game, but in clutch time, Ford fell apart. On the Bills’ final drive, Allen had pressure right in his face and didn’t have much of a chance to even make a play at all because Ford was beaten so badly on third and fourth down.
Following the loss, Ford’s season grade via Pro Football Focus dropped from a 53.8 overall this season to a 52.9, the worst grade among all of the Bills’ starting offensive linemen.
LB Matt Milano
Matt Milano did lead the Bills in tackles against the Patriots, it’s true. He had 12 of them, in total, but he also might have led the Bills in missed tackles when missing tackles was a big part of the Bills’ defensive struggles in this one.
Patriots’ leading rushing Sony Michel ripped off a big run thanks to breaking a Milano attempted tackle. The oft-strong Milano took some bad angles as a run defender in this one as well, such as the one where Burkhead scored. Alexander was muscled away on that play, but Milano wasn’t really even close.
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