The 2025 Buffalo Bills season has been written, but the book is incomplete. Before we cast our full attention toward the 2026 season, let’s take one last glance back over our shoulder for our annual look at the Plays That Defined the prior campaign.
For any newcomers, first and foremost; Welcome! When it comes to the “rules” of this exercise, we’re not voting for our favorite highlight necessarily, but the one that best captures the essence of the game. Put differently, if you had to choose just one play
to show someone to explain as much of the contest as possible, which would you choose?
Week 5; New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills
Buffalo sat undefeated at 4-0, sitting in prime position in the AFC East. Week 5 saw Buffalo hosting the New England for their third division contest of the season. With a win, the Bills would have had a commanding lead in the East. The game was a back-and-forth affair with the Patriots pulling out a win with a late field goal. All the more frustrating for Bills fans was a sputtering offense that kept shooting itself in the foot.
Buffalo had a NINE MINUTE time of possession advantage which is usually a recipe for success. Three turnovers and the inability finish drives after they started doomed Buffalo. The fact that it came in prime time on Sunday Night Football made it all the more embarrassing. It couldn’t be any worse, right? Wrong. This also was the debut of the now-cursed Rivalries uniforms.
First Bills turnover (Q1; 8:27)
How representative of the game is this play? Here’s the result of every drive for the Bills in this game: Fumble, punt, fumble, field goal, punt, touchdown, interception, touchdown, field goal, end of game. Any of the turnovers would have been a good fill in here, but the sheer awkwardness of this one and the fact that it started this whole mess of a game off on the wrong foot means this botched handoff gets the nod.
Shaq Thompson forced fumble (Q1; 8:21)
I’m a big fan of the turnover differential stat and that means knowing your team is gonna give one up from time to time. Shaq Thompson put the Bills’ differential back to zero pretty quickly with this forced fumble on Rhamondre Stevenson. This play is the stand in for a very good defensive effort. The Patriots averaged nearly 29 points a game last season. Buffalo’s underperforming unit punched quite a bit above their weight class in this game.
Trick play? (Q1; 8:11)
I was looking for plays that did a couple things to show off a couple things. I wanted actual highlights because there was a shocking number of them for a game where Buffalo only scored two touchdowns. I also wanted to show absurd things were. So here you go.
Dalton Kincaid big catch (Q4; 12:03)
I also wanted a straight highlight and this big throw and catch between Josh Allen and Dalton Kincaid is a good one. The Patriots did a great job of shutting down James Cook, but Allen found Kincaid six times for 108 yards. The tight end didn’t find the end zone though, and that too is very good for an illustration on this particular day.
Can you Diggs it? (Q4; 2:12)
A certain football analyst on Buffalo Rumblings wrote an opponent preview before the game stating his opinion that Stefon Diggs was still a threat to be respected. I seem to recall the comments leaned heavily toward guffaws at this stance. Diggs caught 10 of 12 passes thrown his way for a gaudy 146 yards. Buffalo had zero answers for him. I was torn between this insane play, or another incredible highlight with a timestamp of “7:16.” Just to toss that fact out into the universe.
