But the Patriots, which ranked second-to-last in scoring offense entering the day, marched down the field trailing 25-22 in 8 plays for 75 yards and took the lead with 0:12 to play on a Mike Gesicki 1-yard touchdown.
“I didn’t put the defense in position enough, and then just overall didn’t didn’t play complimentary football,” Bills head coach Sean McDermott said.
The Patriots got into Buffalo territory on the first play of that series thanks to a 34-yard gain on a screen from QB Mac Jones to RB Rhamondre Stevenson. A big pickup on first down with timeouts available still allowed New England to be selective with their play-calling.
“They throw a screen, we’re a four under, three deep defense, and we didn’t do enough to leverage the formation and make the tackle,” McDermott said. “They had two timeouts at the time. So they could run it, they could draw, they could screen early. And they did.”
New England worked the ball down to the 1-yard line, then Jones threw an incompletion on first down. The Patriots went right back to a similar play, lining up 6-foot-6 TE Mike Gesicki in the slot and Jones found him on a slant to take the lead.
“He’s a big target,” safety Jordan Poyer said of Gesicki. “We came after (Mac Jones) and they just made a good throw and catch.”
Their first series of the game, the Patriots went down the field in 9 plays, 63 yards for a field goal, then scored a touchdown off the good field position following Allen’s INT.
The Bills were down two possessions halfway through the first quarter and trailed for 53 minutes of the game.
