3 winners and losers from Patriots’ loss to Bills

The New England Patriots have suffered their first loss since Week 3. Hosting the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium, they fell 35-31 to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday to fall to 11-3 on the year.

Here is who caught our eye for better or worse upon live viewing in the defeat.

Winners

RB TreVeyon Henderson: New England ran the football well throughout Sunday’s contest, and that was led by rookie TreVeyon Henderson who continued his recent hot streak. Henderson totaled 148 yards across 14 carries (10.6 YPA) and found the end zone twice — each coming on 50-plus yard carries.

Henderson’s biggest play came when the Patriots needed it the most. Running a toss play out of heavy personnel (six o-line), Buffalo appears to blowup the run but over pursues the football in the process which leaves a cutback lane that Henderson finds. His home run speed (21.25 MPH top speed) does the rest — with a nice assist from Drake Maye downfield as well.

Losers

Situational defense: After taking a 21-0 lead, New England saw their lead evaporate as Buffalo scored touchdowns on five straight possessions from the second through fourth quarter. The key issues from this perspective came in late-down situations, where Josh Allen had a 59 percent success rate while New England’s defense also gifted Buffalo a new set of downs via penalty on two third downs (Craig Woodson, Carlton Davis) and one fourth down (Marcus Jones).

New England’s defense also continued their red zone struggles, allowing the Bills to convert on all five of their trips (excluding the final kneel downs). The Patriots have still not held a team to a field goal in a goal-to-go situation this season, but seemed primed to do so with a 24-21 lead with Buffalo facing a third-and-goal from the 14. However, a miscommunication up front allowed Allen to escape to his right before finding Dawson Knox for a go-ahead score.

Even with Buffalo running their staple concepts — and the Patriots knowing they were coming — the execution was not there.

Kick coverage: Mike Vrabel has challenged his kick coverage team to be top-five unit this season. Facing off against one of the best return units — led by returner Ray Davis — New England could not answer the challenge. Davis took back returns of 58, 45, 23, and 38 — which was then followed by a 15-yard facemark penalty on Brenden Schooler. In total, he averaged 41.0 yards per return across four returns and kickstarted the Bills first two touchdown possessions, which each started in New England’s territory.

“That was a strength of ours. And we knew going in that it would be a good test and a great challenge. So again, they’re too good to give them short fields,” Vrabel said.

On the flip side, Kyle Williams’ 60-yard return was then wiped out by a holding penalty on Marte Mapu. Losing the field position battle proved costly in this back-and-forth contest.

Honorable mentions

• It was a tale of two halves for Drake Maye on Sunday. The Patriots sophomore QB played a near perfect first-half going 9-of-11 for 108 yards and generating +0.59 EPA per drop back. The most encouraging development was Maye making plays with his legs, as the first two touchdowns of the day on two designed runs (zone-read, QB draw) — a welcomed addition down the stretch to improve their red zone offense. Maye failed to find much of a rhythm in the last two quarters that saw the Patriots run just 18 plays. He finished the second-half 5-for-12 with just 47 yards (-0.71 EPA) and had several misses while taking a sack.
• In addition to Henderson’s big game, Rhamondre Stevenson out-snapped the rookie 34-to-25 (8 plays in pony personnel) and additionally ran well (six carries, 50 yards).
• New England’s offensive line saw Jared Wilson (one pressure) return and hold Buffalo to just over a 17 percent pressure rate according to live charting. While they largely gave Maye time to throw and opened up running lanes, back-to-back penalties (Vederian Lowe, Mike Onwenu) late in the third-quarter was a noteworthy blemish.
• Quiet all-around game for New England’s pass catchers with Maye throwing for just 155 yards. Mack Hollins (4/41) led the charge with 40 snaps while Kayshon Boutte saw just one target in his 38 snaps. Stefon Diggs was the only other receiver to haul in a pass, finishing with three catches for 36 yards with a key 16-yard third-down completion.
• Hunter Henry caught just one pass for 18 yards and took the blame for a late third-down incompletion that was slightly behind him but hit his hands.
• Up front, New England’s run defense continued to struggle as James Cook totaled 107 yards on 22 carries (4.9 YPA) with a 48 percent success rate (74th percentile). The Patriots did play this game without Robert Spillane, who was active in an emergency situation, while Milton Williams remains on injured reserve.