Isaiah McKenzie had a career day receiving, and Josh Allen tossed three touchdown passes as the Buffalo Bills beat the New England Patriots 33-21 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts Sunday afternoon in a key AFC East showdown.
After New England (9-6) went three and out with the first possession of the game, Buffalo would strike first. The Bills went 14 plays and 69 yards and on a fourth and two at the Patriots three yard line, Allen found MacKenzie for a three yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. The hosts came right back to tie it the second time they had the ball, and a 75 yard drive was finished off by Damien Harris early in the second quarter with a 16 yard scoring run. Harris picked up two key first downs on a pair of fourth and short chances on the march down field. Buffalo took the lead back on a 25 yard Tyler Bass field goal, and then Micah Hyde off a deflection intercepted Mac Jones and returned it to the Patriots 33. But the Patriots defense stiffened deep in redzone, and would stop the Bills on fourth and goal at the one yard line on an Allen incompletion. Buffalo extended the lead late in the half including converting on another fourth down when Stephon Diggs caught a 23 yard pass from Allen, and finished the scoring drive just after the two minute warning when Allen hit Diggs again for a 12 yard strike that found the endzone and it was 17-7 at the break.
Buffalo (9-6) had the ball first in the second half and drove deep into New England territory, but two penalties pushed them back and they settled for a 34 yard Bass field goal to push the advantage to 13. Desperately needing a score, the Patriots got just that with a 16 play march and a one yard TD run by Harris to cut it to 20-14 with 1:41 left in the third quarter. Jakobi Meyers kept the drive alive catching a seven yard pass from Jones on fourth and three at the Bills 10 yard line. The guests got a big score early in the fourth quarter when Devin Singletary went in on a two yard run. The big play was an Allen to McKenzie 28 yard connection. Buffalo went for the two-point conversion but came up empty keeping the score at 26-14 with 11:42 to go. New England kept fighting back and the third rushing score of the day by Harris of eight yards would slice the margin to 26-21 with still 7:40 remaining. The Bills iced the victory when Allen shoveled a two yard touchdown pass to Dawson Knox with 2:34 showing on the clock to cap off a 14 play drive.
Jones finished 14-32 passing for 145 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. Harris carried 18 times for 103 yards with all three scores. It was the fifth 100 yard game this season for Harris, and his eighth in his career. Myers led the receiving core with six grabs for 59 yards. Myles Bryant led the defense with eight total tackles. Allen went 30-47 passing in the win for Buffalo with three touchdowns and no interceptions, while also being the leading rusher for the Bills with 12 carries for 64 yards. He also became the first NFL QB to have 100+ TD passes and 20+ TD runs in his first four seasons. McKenzie, who entered the day with just seven catches for 38 yards and no touchdowns on the season, had 11 receptions for 125 yards and a score. Diggs made seven catches for 85 yards and a touchdown. Hyde had both interceptions on the day, with the second one coming in desperation mode for New England and Jones late in the game. Tremaine Edwards had seven tackles. The Bills and Patriots now have the same record on top of the division, but Buffalo holds the tiebreaker and is in first place based off divisional record as they are 4-1 and New England is 3-2. The Patriots, now the #6 seed in the AFC, stay at home and will play the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday at 1 p.m. The loss also clinches the first losing season at home (3-5) for the Pats since 2000, the first year under head coach Bill Belichik.
