The last game of Week 13 of the NFL season was an exciting affair as the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots battled it out for the top spot in the AFC East.
The Patriots with Mac Jones are among the most in-form teams in the NFL and have sky-rocketed to the number one seed in the AFC. For Josh Allen and the Bills, their form has been stratchy to say the least.
NFL Monday Night Football: New England Patriots beat Buffalo Bills
The game was an unusual one, and that was largely due to the weather. Snow and huge gusts of wind made throwing the ball virtually impossible. Mac Jones only had three pass attempts for the entire game, the fewest by a winning team in the NFL since Week 3 of the 1974 season.
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Jones' 19 passing yards were clearly a career low, but it was the ground game where the Patriots wore down the Bills defense. The Patriots had 46 rushing attempts on the night.
Damien Harris had ten for 111 yards and a touchdown, while Rhamondre Stevenson had 24 carries for 78 yards. It is no secret that the Patriots are a run-first team, and that helped Jones tremendously.
Josh Allen was forced to throw the ball 30 times in the blustery conditions as the Patriots defense simply did not allow the Bills to establish a run game. The Bills' leading rusher was Allen for 39 yards.
The Bills rely too heavily on Allen for everything, so when the running game fails, as it did against the Patriots, he is forced to throw the team to a win. This is not exactly ideal for winter weather in New York.
The loss was a bitter pill for the Bills to swallow as they had a chance to replace the Patriots atop the AFC East. However, Buffalo (7-5) are now two games behind New England in the division while Bill Belichick's team go 9-4 on the year.
At home, the Bills would have been expecting to sneak a win over the NFL's in-form team, but Bill Belichick has once again reminded everyone just how good a coach he is.
Final score: New England Patriots 14-10 Buffalo Bills
New England Patriots' top performers:
- QB: Mac Jones (2/3, 19 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT)
- RB: Damien Harris (10 carries, 111 yards, 1 TD)
- WR: Jonnu Smith (1 catch, 12 yards)
Buffalo Bills' top performers:
- QB: Josh Allen (15/30, 145 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT)
- RB: Devin Singletary (10 carries, 36 yards)
- WR: Stefon Diggs (4 catches, 51 yards, 0 TD)
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