Even before Monday night’s game, Buffalo had clinched the AFC East title. But the Bills had plenty of reasons to want to crush the Patriots anyway.
Aside from the symbolic measure of Buffalo topping Bill Belichick’s team while, at the same time, toppling the reign of the division’s best team for the past two decades, the Bills hadn’t swept the season series from New England since 1999. More importantly for Buffalo’s immediate future is that a win on Monday would keep the team ahead of Pittsburgh for the No. 2 seed in AFC conference, meaning the Bills would earn at least two home playoff games and would keep them from having to play the Chiefs for as long as possible.
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On Monday, the Bills blasted the Patriots 38-9 on the final Monday Night Football game of the year, and a huge batch of the credit goes to third-year quarterback Josh Allen. Like he’s been for most of the 2020 season, Allen was astonishing throughout the game, tossing four touchdown passes in the New England destruction.
One of the biggest differences for the Bills squads of 2020 and 2019 and from for the previous decade-plus is the emergence of Allen. Last year, Allen was a solid, throwing for slightly more than 3,000 yards and a slightly better than 2-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The Bills went 10-6 but missed the postseason. This year, Allen has been fantastic, throwing for 4,000 yards entering Monday’s contest and a slightly better than 3-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. His 68.7% completion percentage ranked sixth in the NFL and improved on last year’s percentage by 10 points. And now the Bills are legitimate Super Bowl contenders
Allen is a full-fledged MVP candidate, and though he probably won’t win it—as of Monday, Allen had 14/1 odds of claiming that trophy, well behind the 1/4 odds of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers—his play is integral to Buffalo.
On Monday, Allen was fantastic, completing 27 of 36 passes for 320 yards and those four passing scores. Despite the fact that two of his receivers dropped sure touchdown passes in the first half, Allen did most of his damage through the air. Still, he used his feet when it was necessary. On a fourth-and-one late in the first quarter, Allen faked a handoff and then ran around the right end for a 22-yard gain. On a third-and-seven midway through the second quarter, with the Patriots blitz caving in the pocket, Allen found a hole in the middle of the line and scrambled for a first down.
He only rushed four times, but Allen still was third on the team with 36 yards (and actually led the Bills in rushing for most of the game before the garbage time stats began to pile up). That kind of play selection worked well against New England on Monday, but if Buffalo runs into Pittsburgh (No. 2 in the league in pass defense) in the postseason, it might not be so easy.
Either way, Allen was much more effective with his arm in his second appearance vs. New England. In Week 8, Allen was 11 of 18 for 154 yards and an interception against the Patriots. It was his worst performance of the season. He was fathombs better in Week 16, finding blocking tight end Lee Smith for a 4-yard touchdown with 5:32 left in the first half to build an eight-point lead and then throwing a 50-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs less than 2 minutes later to make it 24-9.
The first drive of the second half was another fantastic one, as Allen averaged 10 yards per completion and, on the drive’s eighth snap, hit Diggs on a slant for an 18-yard touchdown. And 1:44 into the fourth quarter, Allen took the shotgun snap at the 8-yard line, moved a few steps to his left and then reversed field and with Deatrich Wise Jr. bearing down on him, he fired a perfect pass to a sliding Diggs in the end zone to give the Bills a four-touchdown lead.
“He always likes to give me the credit, and I think that’s a bunch of bull,” Diggs, who finished with nine catches and 145 yards, told ESPN after the game. “He’s out there throwing darts and scrambling and making things happen. He’s making plays for us. We have a lot of faith and trust in Josh, and he shows up week in and week out.”
If it’s possible to feel a little bad for the Patriots, this was probably the moment. They could do nothing to stop Allen and the Bills. Of course, no AFC East team has swept the Patriots since 2000, so most people can probably temper their sadness for Belichick’s squad that will finish with a sub .500 record for the first time in 20 years.
Meanwhile, Allen was breaking the franchise record with 34 touchdowns set by Jim Kelly in 1991. Doing it against the Patriots probably didn’t hurt his feelings.
“We wanted to go out there and finish and execute a gameplan that we worked really hard on this week,” Allen said. “Those guys got open and made unbelievable catches. It was a three-phase win tonight. This one felt really good.”
With 12 minutes left, Allen exited the game for good, safe on the sideline and secure in his performance.
Even with Monday’s win, though, Buffalo isn’t assured of the No. 2 seed. If the Bills win next week vs. Miami, they’d nab it. If the Steelers lose, Buffalo, no matter what happens vs. the Dolphins, would grab it.
“We have to put our best foot forward and try to go get another win,” Allen said. “That’s the only thing on our mind right now.”
And what was on Belichick’s mind? He apparently told the ESPN production crew before the game that he wasn’t buying into the Josh Allen hype and that the Patriots defense had played well against him in their first meeting.
Perhaps he’s buying into now.
NFL Analyst
Josh Katzowitz is a longtime sports writer who covers boxing for Forbes and who previously reported on the NFL for CBSSports.com. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. He’s currently a writer and editor at the Daily Dot. His work has been noted twice in the Best American Sports Writing book series.