A truly jaw-dropping performance by Bills
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – Breathtaking might be the best way to describe what it was like watching the Bills’ offense in action Saturday night at the igloo known as Highmark Stadium.
Seven possessions, seven touchdowns, and the only reason we can’t call it a perfect game – though we will anyway – is because the Bills’ eighth possession consisted of three Mitchell Trubisky quarterback kneel downs to run out the clock on Buffalo’s 47-17 dismantling of the Patriots in an AFC wild-card playoff game.
“That sounds like some Pop Warner stuff,” defensive tackle Harrison Phillips said of watching Josh Allen and company embarrass a strong New England defense by piling up 482 yards, 29 first downs, a 6-for-7 rate on third downs (Trubisky’s last kneel was technically a failed third down), 8.9 yards per play and, yeah, seven touchdowns.
“I mean, I probably watched my kid do it (on the Madden football game),” said defensive end Jerry Hughes. “My kid does it all the time with Josh, man.”
The real Josh has now had three Madden-like games in his last four against Bill Belichick: the 38-9 victory in 2020, the 33-21 victory in 2021, and this ringing in of 2022 that ranked as the second-most lopsided defeat of the Belichick Era in New England.
Oh, in case you were wondering. The Bills, improbably, now occupy the top three spots on that list as they beat him 31-0 in 2003 in addition to the 38-9 and 47-17 victories. This was also the worst postseason loss of Belichick’s career.
“We just couldn’t keep up,” Belichick said. “They certainly deserved to win. We just couldn’t do much of anything. So we’ll just pick up the pieces, go back to work here and find a way to be more competitive.”
This was a game Bills fans will remember the rest of their lives because of the sheer dominance Buffalo showed, and the opponent it conquered. Seriously, is there any other team Bills fans would have wanted to annihilate more than the Patriots?
Here are some takeaways I had from a fascinating night:
Big night for Josh Allen
Allen had a passer rating of 157.6. For context, 158.3 is considered perfect. He completed 21 of 25 attempts for 308 yards and did not have a turnover or take a sack. He had more TD passes than he did incompletions. He became the first player in NFL history with five passing TDs, an 80% completion percentage and at least 50 yards rushing.
The Bills never faced a fourth down. Think about that for a second. They had 54 offensive plays and not one came on a fourth down as they never had to gamble for a first down, never had to punt, and never had to settle for a field goal.
No team in NFL history has ever done that according to CBS, and no team at least in the Super Bowl era has ever scored TDs on its first seven possessions of a game.
“It seems like we could have done anything we wanted to out there,” said wide receiver Dawson Knox, who caught the first TD pass. Yeah, that’s because they did.
Brian Daboll may have just bought his ticket out of town
The offensive coordinator had a Zoom interview scheduled with the Dolphins on Sunday (as does defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier). After Saturday’s
performance, both of them will be strong candidates for the Dolphins, the Bears or whatever other team may request an interview.
Brian Daboll had quite a night. He finally had a full arsenal at his disposal – everyone was healthy, no one was out because of COVID-19 protocols – and he was like a mad scientist in the coaches’ booth, dialing up personnel groups, formations and play calls.
“That’s a good team we just played, and the way we came out and executed, it was good to see,” Allen said. “We put together a really good game plan and Daboll lit it up, just the play calling.”
Allen completed passes to nine different players, which is amazing considering he completed only 21. That’s quite a dispersal and it showed just how dialed in the Bills were as everyone got involved, even rookie offensive tackle Tommy Doyle for a big-man TD.
“Every drive we couldn’t get a stop was frustrating,” said New England edge rusher Matthew Judon. “It wasn’t only one drive, it wasn’t only one play, it wasn’t one single player. It was everything. It was the whole game. So everything was kind of frustrating, honestly.”
Micah Hyde’s interception huge
Given the way things played out, the Bills were probably destined to win in a rout. But after the Knox TD, the Patriots came right back and were driving, and then Mac Jones threw what looked to be a perfect 34-yard TD pass to Nelson Agholor, who had beaten Levi Wallace clean.
Instead, here came safety Micah Hyde sprinting like Mike Trout in center field, and with one last stride and leap he made one of the best interceptions you’ll ever see to kill the threat.
Who knows where the game goes if it was 7-7 at that point. Instead, it was soon 14-0 as Allen drove to his second TD pass to Knox.
“Yeah, I mean, that was a pivotal moment in the game; it was 7-0 at the time and that could have been 7-7,” said Bills coach Sean McDermott. “And then it just seemed like it went from there. It was such a huge play – by one of our leaders, right? A guy that we all count on. So, he stepped up in a big moment for us.”
“I guess looking back, possibly,” Hyde said when asked if that was a critical reversal of fortune. “That play, if they were able to convert and score a touchdown it would be 7-7, obviously, and then a different ballgame. I got a late jump on it, honestly. I didn’t believe it right away. But when I knew he was throwing, I just put my head down and started running. I knew it was going to be at the receiver, and I just looked up at the last second and the ball was there.”
Jordan Poyer was blown away by it: “I told him on the sideline, ‘That might have been the most unbelievable play I’ve ever seen on the field.’ ”
Extra points
•Another key moment came on the Patriots’ first possession of the second half. Down 27-3, they picked up a first down and perhaps were starting to feel like Jones was finding himself. But Matt Milano tipped a pass and the ball floated into the arms of Wallace for a pick at midfield. Soon thereafter, Allen hit Emmanuel Sanders for a 34-yard TD, the first TD of Sanders’ 14-game postseason career. Game over.
•As great as Allen and the offense were, the No. 1 defense in the NFL was spot on, too, limiting the Patriots to 305 yards (much of it in garbage time), and Hyde said with a smile, “We go against each other in practice, they talk a lot of junk to us, and we remind them how we finished the year.”