Allen leads Bills to first divisional victory
With a 6-5 record, the New England Patriots entered Thursday Night Football two games behind the Buffalo Bills, 8-3. And although the Bills were tied with the Miami Dolphins atop the AFC East, they had an 0-2 record in the division.
On Thursday, the Bills handled the Patriots with ease, cruising to a 24-10 divisional victory and knocking the Patriots out of playoff contention.
For the first time since injuring his right elbow against the Jets in Week 9, quarterback Josh Allen stood near midfield and threw passes in pregame warmups. A step toward normalcy after a full week of practice.
What followed in the Bills 24-10 win over the Patriots was similar. Buffalo looked more in sync and closer to the team that had dominant performances before the Week 7 break, albeit against a struggling New England offense, and became the first team to beat the Bill Belichick-era Patriots by double digits in three consecutive games.
The Bills dominated time of possession (38:08 to 21:52) and held a double-digit lead in the second quarter for the remainder of the game. Josh Allen looked more in control, completing 22-of-33 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns with a fumble, and became the first player in NFL history with three seasons of 25 touchdowns through the air and five on the ground.
The key moment for the Bills’ offense and Josh Allen in securing the team’s first AFC East win of the season was a 15-play, 94-yard drive in the second half that took nearly nine minutes off the clock. Buffalo proved in a crucial moment that Allen and company can lead a series and knock off a team.
Promising trend: The Bills turned on the fast ground game with rookie James Cook leading the way. The ground attack helped set up two series of more than seven minutes, including a 15-play drive that is the longest of the season; prior to the game they had three such series all season.
The offense had three straight scoring series to start the game, and that helped a lot when the offense fell into a lull toward the end of the second quarter and into the third. Cook also showed how dynamic he can be with meaningful opportunities throughout a game, even when the offensive line is not at its best.
The game in two words: necessary win. The Bills are in the midst of one of the most important stretches of the campaign with three straight games against AFC East opponents, and starting with a convincing away win against Patriots was significant to the team’s hopes for home-field advantage.
Keep an eye on this under-the-radar stat: corner Tre’Davious White played more than 80% of the defensive snaps. For White, who is returning from an ACL tear he suffered last Thanksgiving, and this defense, it’s a significant step in the right direction. White played 15 plays last week against the Lions, and the Bills clearly felt comfortable enough for him to play nearly every series. After Von Miller was placed on the injured reserve list on Thursday, that’s important news for this defense.
Mind-boggling stat from NFL Next Gen Stats: Allen was 0.3 yards short of the sideline on his touchdown pass to wide receiver Gabe Davis in the second quarter. It remains tied as the closest to the sideline in completing a play since NFL Next Gen Stats began the stat in 2016. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts also had a touchdown thrown 0.3 yards from the sideline last season against the Dallas Cowboys.
