The Patriots surprised many observers this season by clawing their way back to the playoffs behind a rookie quarterback, Mac Jones, who played on an accelerated learning curve.
But after a seven-game winning streak, the Patriots were 1-3 down the stretch and entered the postseason as a wild-card team for the first time in Coach Bill Belichick’s tenure in New England. Despite giving up the second-fewest points in the N.F.L., the team’s defensive secondary was undermanned.
On Saturday, in the second-coldest Bills home game ever — 7 degrees at kickoff — Jones forced passes under pressure. Receivers dropped catchable balls. Jones was picked off twice and sacked three times by a Bills defense that had given up the fewest points in the league during the regular season. When he finally hit receiver Kendrick Bourne for the Patriots’ first touchdown late in the third quarter, narrowing their deficit to 33-10, the game was largely over.
Before kickoff, Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas, cornerstones of the Bills’ four consecutive Super Bowl appearances in the early 1990s, were on the field to rile up a crowd that, based on years of experience, feared the worst but hoped for the best. Fittingly, Kelly, a Hall of Fame quarterback, wore a Josh Allen jersey while Thomas wore a Devin Singletary jersey to honor a current Bills running back who, like Allen, showed off his versatility on Saturday.
Singletary had 81 yards rushing, two scores in the second quarter and three catches for 13 yards. His proficiency catching and rushing forced the Patriots to keep him under watch, helping receivers Emmanuel Sanders, Isaiah McKenzie and Stefon Diggs to break free.
Allen seemed in control throughout, even when he wasn’t. On his first touchdown pass, he evaded defenders before lofting the ball to the back of the end zone as he fell out of bounds. Allen was trying to throw the ball away, but instead, tight end Dawson Knox hauled it in for an 8-yard score.