Patriots Can't Stop Bills' Offense, Relinquish Control Of AFC East In 33-21 Home Loss
FOXBORO (CBS) -- The Buffalo Bills now have inside position on repeating as AFC East champions.
With a 33-21 win over the Patriots on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, the Bills improved to 9-6 on the season, leapfrogging the Patriots in the division standings with two weeks left to play.
Josh Allen completed 30 of his 47 points for 314 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions, doing most of his damage with Isaiah McKenzie (11 receptions, 125 yards, TD) and Stefon Diggs (7 receptions, 85 yards, TD).
The Bills did not punt once on the day.
For the Patriots, Damien Harris rushed for three touchdowns, the first three-touchdown game of his career.
Mac Jones was 14-for-32 for 145 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Patriots have now dropped to 9-6 and have lost two straight games to teams in the AFC playoff picture, after losing last week in Indianapolis.
The game began with Buffalo's defense forcing a quick three-and-out from the Patriots, stuffing a run on first down, forcing an incompletion on second down, and sacking Jones on third down.
The Bills then drove 61 yards on 13 plays for a touchdown on their opening drive, capped off with a 3-yard touchdown pass from Allen to Isaiah McKenzie on a fourth-and-2.
The Patriots responded with a long drive of their own, converting two fourth-down plays en route to a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Damien Harris took a pitch off the left side and scampered 16 yards for the touchdown -- his 10th of the season -- to tie the game at 7-7.
The Bills drove deep into Patriots' territory on the next drive, but Adrian Phillips tipped an Allen pass on third-and-4 from the 7-yard line, forcing Buffalo to settle for a field goal to take a 10-7 lead.
Jones was picked off on the next Patriots' drive, as his pass intended for N'Keal Harry was tipped by linebacker A.J. Klein and intercepted by Micah Hyde, who returned the pick 22 yards to the Patriots' 33-yard line.
Buffalo drove near the goal line, but Zack Moss tripped himself up and went down at the 1-yard line. The Patriots' defense then kept Buffalo out of the end zone, with Emmanuel Sanders dropping Allen's fourth-down pass in the end zone.
The Bills converted a fourth-and-2 just outside of the two-minute warning, with Allen connecting with Diggs for 23 yards on a slant over the middle following a Christian Barmore encroachment penalty. The two connected on the same route later on the drive on third-and-11 for a 12-yard touchdown to take a 17-7 lead.
A wild end to the first half saw a roughing the passer penalty called on Buffalo, a late hit penalty called on Buffalo, the late hit penalty flag being picked up, and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty called on Patriots tackle Trent Brown. The Patriots ended up punting, and the 17-7 lead was taken into halftime by Buffalo.
That lead stretched to 20-7 off the opening possession of the third quarter. Buffalo faced little resistance on the drive until getting to the edge of the red zone, where Allen had to make an impressive throw across his body to convert a third-and-10.
The Bills then committed penalties on consecutive snaps -- one of which negated a Dawson Knox touchdown -- and ended up settling for a field goal to go up 20-7.
The Patriots then converted a third-and-8, a fourth-and-1, and a fourth-and-3 on a marathon drive to the end zone.
Harris did the honors from the 1-yard line, scoring his 11th touchdown of the season to cut Buffalo's lead to 20-14 late in the third quarter.
But the Bills came right back with another touchdown drive, this one going 66 yards on nine plays in 4:59. The two-point conversion failed after Devin Singletary's two-yard touchdown run, leaving the Bills with a 26-14 lead with 11:45 left in the game.
The Patriots responded, this time driving 75 yards on 10 plays, capped by Harris pushing the pile and scoring on an 8-yard run. Nick Folk's PAT cut Buffalo's lead to five points with 7:37 left.
It was the first three-touchdown day of Harris' career, bringing his season total to 12 touchdowns this year.
But the Bills came back with one more touchdown drive, this one made possible by Allen converting a fourth-and-inches near midfield on a naked bootleg to the left side.
The drive ended with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Dawson Knox.
That touchdown made it a 33-21 lead for the Bills with just 2:34 left in the game.
Jones heaved a prayer toward the goal line on a fourth-and-10 in the game's final minutes, a ball that was picked off by Micah Hyde to essentially end the game.
The Patriots will close out their home schedule next weekend when they host the Jaguars at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
