Buffalo Bills report card: James Cook breaks out, defense smothers Patriots

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Josh Allen, who someone on Twitter Thursday night said is the ultimate, “No! No! No! … Yes!!!! quarterback in the NFL, had another one of those exactly moments against the New England Patriots.

You know the play, the second touchdown of the second quarter, the one that gave the Bills a 17-7 lead on their way to a rather ho-hum 24-10 victory at Gillette Stadium, a former house of horrors where they have now won three straight.

Allen was flushed out of the pocket on third-and-goal from the 8, ran toward the right sideline and just when you figured he would either run out of bounds or throw the ball away to make sure the Bills salvaged three points, he grabbed those extra four by somehow throwing back across his body to Gabe Davis who had just worked himself open in the end zone.

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Coach Sean McDermott remembered that one, too, not that he saw it.

“Yeah, I wasn’t looking,” McDermott said with a smile. “I closed my eyes when he did it.”

That, of course, was McDermott’s way of poking fun at Allen’s recent penchant for red zone interceptions, and that certainly could have turned into one if he hadn’t thrown a perfect pass because there were two Patriot defenders right next to Davis.

“That’s part of who he is,” McDermott said. “The bottom line is you can’t put the ball in trouble, in danger. But I thought that was a well-calculated throw. It was open and he got it to him. You never take away Josh’s instincts and his gut feel. He’s got a great feel for things.”

There weren’t the usual array of highlight reel plays from Allen and the Bills offense, but that doesn’t mean this wasn’t an efficient performance. Besides, given how well the defense played, the Bills didn’t need any pyrotechnics to beat the overmatched Patriots.

“Not really too much to say here,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “Just obviously couldn't do enough tonight. Got to give Buffalo credit, they’re a good football team. We just couldn’t do enough.”

That has become a common Belichick refrain lately against the team he once owned.

Here’s how I graded the Bills’ performance:

PASS OFFENSE: B+

It was the rare game when the Bills did not need Allen to be Superman. He finished 22 of 33 for 223 yards and two TDs, and he was hurt by at least four drops, most of them rather egregious, so his numbers could have been better.

What was most impressive about Allen’s game is that he was under duress on several dropbacks, and it was quick pressure because his banged up offensive line was getting worked over by the Patriots front, yet he almost always found a way to escape and make a play. The only time he failed was when he got blind-sided and strip-sacked by Josh Uche at the end of the second quarter.

Stefon Diggs had one of the drops, but he also caught a TD pass, had a TD pass nullified by a penalty, and finished with seven catches for 92 yards and a whole lot of trash talking after each one. He was feeling it, for sure.

The Bills finally started getting James Cook involved and he caught six for 41 yards, while Isaiah McKenzie - who apparently saves his best for Gillette Stadium - had five catches for 44 yards. Dawson Knox spent most of his time pass protecting and had no catches, continuing what has been a frustrating season for him.

RUN OFFENSE: A

The Bills offensive line really struggled in pass protection, particularly tackles David Quessenberry (before he got hurt) and Spencer Brown, but they were strong in the run game. The Bills possessed the ball for a season-high 38 minutes because they were able to grind the Patriots down by running, a sentence I don’t type too often.

Cook led the way with 64 yards on 14 attempts and Devin Singletary had 13 carries for 51 yards and the TD that put the game away early in the fourth on a third-and-goal from the 1.

Nyheim Hines caught an early pass for a 21-yard gain, but then was ignored the rest of the night. He had two rushes that lost a total of three yards, so yet again, the Bills can’t seem to get him involved, though he did play more snaps in this game than he had in the previous three. Here’s an idea: More passes and less runs for Hines.

PASS DEFENSE: A-

Mac Jones couldn’t find any success down the field, though that’s pretty typical for the Patriots QB who would make Trent “Captain Checkdown” Edwards proud. The only big play the Patriots had was a gimmicky deal where speedy cornerback/return man Marcus Jones came in to play offense and was lined up in the slot. Jones threw a quick pass to him, he made Damar Hamlin miss and then raced 48 yards to the end zone to give New England a brief 7-3 lead. The next longest gain was 19 yards on the garbage time drive at the end of the game.

Having Tre’Davious White back and playing most of the game certainly helped the back end, and veteran Xavier Rhodes - playing far more snaps than Dane Jackson was also beneficial given Jackson’s recent struggles. What made Rhodes usage even more interesting is that rookie CB Kaiir Elam was a healthy scratch. Jakobi Meyers, who has been the Patriots most productive WR, had only three catches for 22 yards and DeVante Parker had two for 16.

It also helped having Tremaine Edmunds back on the field because he helped take away the middle of the field for Jones. Taron Johnson had two pass breakups and Hamlin, White, Jordan Poyer and Greg Rousseau had one each. Up front, the Bills had only one sack by A.J. Epenesa, but they made Jones uncomfortable much of the night.

More:Bills safety Damar Hamlin ejected for hit on Patriots' Jakobi Meyers

RUN DEFENSE: A

Rhamondre Stevenson was the top priority for the Bills defense. They figured if they could contain him and get Jones into a one-dimensional situation where he was playing from behind and passing, they’d be in good shape. And that’s how it went as Stevenson had 54 mostly harmless yards.

The Patriots missed their other RB, injured Damien Harris, and their offensive line was also banged up and it struggled with Buffalo’s front. The Patriots finished with just 14 first downs, 242 net yards, and 22 minutes of possession time, partially due to their terrible 3-for-12 performance on third down.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B

Hey, kudos to the Patriots defense as they made Sam Martin punt three times after not forcing a single Buffalo punt in the previous two games. Martin had only a 38.7 net average which was hurt by a second-half touchback.

The coverage units did a great job on Marcus Jones who is a dangerous returner on both kickoffs and punts. He averaged just 21.7 yards on three kickoffs and had no punt returns.

Hines had his least productive return game as he had only four yards on two punts and 26 yards on two kickoffs as the Patriots special teams were very good. Tyler Bass made all three of his extra points plus a 38-yard field goal.

COACHING: A

The Bills coaching staff has really stood tall during this rigorous stretch of three games in 12 days. To have the team ready to play in each game despite minimal prep time coupled with a spate of key injuries, and to win all three, is quite an accomplishment. It takes the entire staff, top to bottom, to pull that off and because they did it, the Bills are now 9-3 and have really put themselves in a good spot with five games left.

Ken Dorsey leaned into the run game and it paid off, and it was nice that he finally started to trust Cook as he finished with a career-high 20 touches which amounted to 105 yards. Also, offensive line coach Aaron Kromer was working hard and had quite a situation at left tackle with starter Dion Dawkins out, and Quessenberry getting hurt. He had to give snaps to Bobby Hart and Justin Murray.

On defense, Leslie Frazier took away the Patriots run game and made Mac Jones have to pass and that was a profitable scenario for the Bills. I liked the call he made to go with Rhodes most of the way over Jackson at CB, especially after the Bills benched Elam.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's new twice-a-week newsletter, Bills Blast, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills report card: James Cook breaks out, defense smothers Patriots