6 winners and losers from the Patriots’ loss to the Bills

The New England Patriots dropped their Week 16 contest 24-21 to Buffalo Bills to drop to 3-12 per year.

Here’s who caught our eye for good and bad at live viewing.

Winners

First Half QB Drake Maye: Maye came out red-hot in the first half, outplaying MVP favorite Josh Allen despite Buffalo challenging New England’s receivers in man coverage and putting pressure on the rookie. Maye was calm against the blitz and capped an opening drive touchdown with a perfectly placed ball down the right sideline to Kayshon Boutte.

New England’s next scoring drive saw Maye overcome a pair of penalties to move the chains with both his arms and legs as he posted a +0.35 EPA/game over the first two quarters.

CB Jonathan Jones & CB Christian Gonzalez: Playing man coverage over 60 percent of the day, New England’s cornerbacks were exceptional against Josh Allen and the Bills offense. Without Marcus Jones, Jonathan Jones pretty much handled Khalil Shakir in the slot. It was a vintage performance from the veteran, who held their top wideout to two catches on five targets and recorded a pass breakup in the end zone.

Elsewhere in the secondary, Christian Gonzalez was his usual self along the outside, not allowing a catch. Alex Austin also got on the stat sheet with an early third down pass break-up.

S/LB Marte Mapu: After being a healthy scratch the past two weeks, Mapu found himself back in the lineup with Jabrill Peppers (hamstring) sidelined. Playing 43 snaps, Mapu’s day was highlighted by an interception by Josh Allen — which he fumbled as a returner, resulting in him being tackled at the one-yard line.

But Mapu was active elsewhere as he nearly recorded another INT when he rode a crosser for a pass breakup and tallied a pressure to help lead to a third-down sack.

Losers

Second half QB Drake Maye: There was still some good stuff from Maye in the second half, including a beautiful 22-yard off-platform completion to Boutte and (finally) getting involved in the designed quarterback run game. But after an early spray over the middle to an open Boutte, Maye had some other misses and was part of two turnovers that proved costly in the second-half collapse.

On the interception, a scissors concept led to Kendrick Bourne and Austin Hooper being in the same area, seemingly not allowing the tight end to completely complete his route. Maye, throwing an anticipatory ball, then allowed the Bills defender to pounce. The reverse pass fumble was an all-around mess that was backed up near their own goal line.

OT Demontrey Jacobs: Lining up against Von Miller on the right side, Jacobs surrendered five pressures in 16 matchups against the veteran. Jacobs also failed to cut Greg Rousseau on the aforementioned reverse pass that resulted in a Bills defensive touchdown and was called for two false starts. If Caedan Wallace is ready to go next week, the door is open at right tackle.

Run defense: James Cook needed just 11 carries to hit the 100-yard mark as New England’s usual problems in the ground game came to light with an early 46-yard touchdown run by Cook. In all, Buffalo’s backs and Josh Allen combined for 172 yards on 28 carries (6.1 yards per snap). The Bills finished with a 52 percent success rate on the ground, and their backs, who ran just four times in the first half, felt like they gave the Patriots a solid.

Honorable mentions

• Thanks to Kayshon Boutte for coming back after a string of poor performances. He picked up a career-high 95 yards (31 coming late in the first half) and got his deep connection back on track with Maye with a beautiful 28-yard touchdown on the opening drive.
• Rhamondre Stevenson totaled 5.0 yards per carry. carry and had a big 14-yard touchdown that broke tackles in the process. However, the back put the ball on the ground for the seventh (!) time this season.
• Rookie wide receiver check-in: 0 catches for Ja’Lynn Polk (3 snaps) and Javon Baker (8 snaps, 1 target)
• Outside of Jacobs, things seemed more manageable from the offensive line (37 percent pressure rate) with the same starting five. They struggled at times with answers against the blitz, and Layden Robinson was hit with the second most pressures (three).
• Despite New England’s high priority against Josh Allen, Jeremiah Pharms still managed a team-high six pressures and their lone sack on 20 pass rushes.
• Christian Elliss continues to impress in passing downs as he recorded a PBU downfield and also had a run stuff.
• On special teams, an aggressive call by Jerod Mayo and Jeremy Springer with a successful fake punt deep in their own territory. Dell Pettus picked up the yardage, while Antonio Gibson also had a 42-yard kick return to open things up.