What is the story about?
The Buffalo Bills lost 29-26 to the New England Patriots in their first visit to the new Highmark Stadium, allowing the struggling divisional rival to resurrect itself early in the 2026 NFL season, and losing a great opportunity to open up a bigger advantage in the divisional race. It’s the kind of loss that severely impacts the Bills’ hopes for a number-one seed and playoffs seeding in general.
Here are my notes about this loss, as I wrote them during the game.
1st Half
- Patriots’ defense all over Bills’ offense in the 1st drive. Josh Allen gotta throw that screen better, and their secondary was ready for all the in routes on 3rd down.
- Great punt by the rookie.
- Drake Maye hasn’t been able to do anything but run recently, and the Bills’ D obviously allowed him to escape for a 15-yard run. Can’t allow a struggling QB to gain confidence.
- Bills’ run D keeps getting better each past week. Pass rush starts slow, though, and Maye is gaining confidence. Three good throws on this 1st drive already.
- Bradley Chubb really is an underrated signing. He’s been very good.
- Bills’ D forces 4th and 3, Pats go for it and convert against soft zone coverage. TD pass on the very next play. Both catches were Romeo Doubs on Maxwell Hairston. Awful start for the Bills, 3 and out (just the 2nd this yr), followed by TD drive by Pats. Gotta answer it quickly, can’t allow a struggling team to like the game. (Doubs: 2 TD catches, 14 and 2 yards)
- Dion Dawkins gets beat one-on-one way too often for a franchise LT, IMO.
- Allen to DJ Moore to convert a 3rd and long. This connection will be key today.
- Another James Cook fumble, this time on a weird exchange with Allen. C’mon now.
- Run game struggling early. NE has been able to keep the Bills behind the sticks and force obvious passing downs.
- Josh was awesome on this 3rd down pre-snap. Simply knew what the Pats D was sending at him and changed protections, allowing time for a good completion to Khalil Shakir. 1st down set up the TD run by Cook. Impressive drive by the passing offense. (Cook: 8-yard rushing TD)
- Tyler Bass kicks it short of the landing zone and gives NE a possession starting at the 40. Incredible.
- Now Pats’ run game comes to life. NE is executing at a very good level, minimizing mistakes overall.
- Speaking of mistakes, Maye makes his 1st one of the day — pocket closed on him, Landon Jackson using his length to (kinda) force a fumble (sack credited to Ed Oliver), recovered by Greg Gaines. Great to see the “dirty work” guys getting rewarded with a game-changing play. Time for the offense to keep the momentum going.
- Ray Davis getting involved on offense for the 1st time this season. I like it, Cook is awesome, but it’s good to give defenses a different look sometimes + also good to have Ray happy and confident. We’re one play away from having him as the bell cow in the run game.
- Joshua Palmer drops a big play. The guy simply can’t be trusted. For every good play there’s one like this.
- Greg Rousseau was an inch away from making that a fumble and not a forward pass.
- Way too much time for Maye in the pocket. He finds Mack Hollins for a big play.
- D lets Maye scramble for another big play, setting up a NE 1-yard TD run by Rhamondre Stevenson.
- Frustrating day by this defense, especially the front 7. They should be dominating this matchup but it hasn’t been the case.
- Josh Allen magic on the very next drive to put the Bills in the red zone. Avoids the rusher and throws a laser to Shakir on an in route. Amazing play by 17.
- Another Cook 1st-down run stuffed. I’d like to see Joe Brady spread it out on 1st down a bit for a change. Throw early, even run from shotgun a bit. Try different stuff to open up the run game that hasn’t worked so far.
- 2nd down, flag on Dawkins. It wouldn’t matter because of the penalty, but Josh gotta take the yards on Cook there, he was completely free on the checkdown. Give him a chance.
- Moore looked hurt, and it looked like the same injured shoulder.
- Josh makes history with another tush push TD. Most TDs from scrimmage in Bills history, surpassing Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed. (Allen: 2-yard rushing TD)
- Now they kick it to a touchback, giving NE the ball at the 35-yard line and 1 min left. Why? Make them return it and milk that clock a bit.
- Good game by Davison Igbinosun so far.
- Great defensive series and now the O gets the ball back with 29 seconds and 2 timeouts left. Closing the 1st half with a lead would be awesome here. Tough game so far.
- Keon Coleman has done nothing but take advantage of his opportunities this season. Another great catch to start the drive.
- Shakir fumbles the checkdown pass. Bills would be in FG range. Those have happened way too often.
- What a sequence, Doubs with an awesome effort to gift Dee Alford with an interception. Bills in the red zone, 5 secs left. Bass FG makes it 17-14 Bills. NE ball to start the 2nd half. (Bass: 27-yard FG)
- Bills O couldn’t run the ball and insisted on it and the heavy formations, especially on 1st down. I’m not asking them to move completely away from it and the insistence might be justified as the game progresses, but I’d like to see a different approach here and there for a change.
- Bills D hasn’t played well. DL should be dominating this struggling Patriots’ interior DL. LBs have been invisible, I expect way more from Terrel Bernard, especially. The secondary couldn’t do much with the amount of time Maye has had. Adjustments needed for the 2nd half.
2nd Half
- Bills keep allowing Maye to escape for big gains with his legs.
- Hairston beat by Doubs on another 4th down conversion. Max has been too conservative on those, playing way too off the receiver.
- Very soft call on Hairston hold on 3rd down. On the other hand, no reason for him to hold on Doubs’ undershirt and let it stretch that way, you’re giving the refs a chance to throw that flag.
- Shortly after, Doubs beats Hairston on a fade for a TD. Rough game for the former 1st round pick.
- Next Bills offensive drive starts with another stuffed run from under center in a heavy formation, and Milton Williams killing Alec Anderson and hitting Josh’s hand just after he released the ball. The downgrade from Moore to Palmer is brutal.
- NE’s best players are simply winning their matchups against Bills players right now. Doubs on offense and Williams on defense. Mike Vrabel has been extremely aggressive on 4th downs, and Brady has been conservative with his offensive and defensive game plans. Fans are clearly frustrated in the stands.
- Damar Hamlin in as the nickel CB and promptly exploited in coverage on 3rd down. Can’t use him there, it eliminates man coverage possibilities completely.
- Ed Oliver also out injured with a knee. Frustrating season from him.
- Rousseau has been on fire this year. He rushes Maye and D gets out of the field. Important stop, can’t allow the Pats to make it a two-possession game.
- Josh Allen with a crazy play to save a safety. Could’ve been the dumbest INT ever, but it worked. Dawkins was beaten so badly he ended up sitting on his butt. Holy moly.
- Another incompletion on 3rd down as Shakir couldn’t hold a ball thrown behind him. Patriots have taken Dalton Kincaid away from the game. With no Moore anymore, Shakir has been Josh’s go-to guy, but he hasn’t been able to win consistently enough. Bad game by the offense, Vrabel’s owning Brady here.
- Another injury, Landon Jackson this time. Very frustrated, seems like he knows something bad happened. With the injuries he’s been through, an awful sign. I feel really bad for the young man.
- Despite the rough game overall, back-to-back great defensive drives, again, giving the offense a chance to rebound.
- End of the 3rd and the Bills have 30 rushing yards overall. Awful. Even worse, IMO, is not trying something different. It’s the same plan all game long.
- Three consecutive good runs. Their insistence starts to pay dividends late in the game, with the Patriots’ defense getting tired.
- Awesome catch by Keon on 3rd and 6. Josh trusted him, and he justified it again.
- Josh doesn’t risk it on a QB power run. Probably being extra careful with his knee from a week ago? I think so. FG makes it 21-20, New England. (Bass: 38-yard FG)
- Deone Walker with a big play in New England’s backfield.
- Maye scrambles for a 1st again on 3rd down, but Will Campbell’s hold on Chubb saves the Bills’ D.
- 3rd consecutive drive the defense gets out of the field without allowing points or NE to get past midfield. Again, this defense hasn’t been exciting, but it’s getting the job done when the team needs it the most.
- Bills open the drive with that pitch run we’ve seen so often, but not today. It seems they were saving it for the 4th quarter. Just called the 2nd toss in a row.
- Josh hasn’t been able to find anybody open on rollouts today. Patriots really prepared for that.
- Keon Coleman on 3rd down again, crossing route. Stepping up big time.
- Oh my goodness, and here it is — 1st down, shotgun formation, Josh Allen throws a piss missile to Keon on a deep post for a 30+ yard TD pass. What a game by Keon. (Coleman: 34-yard TD)
- 2-point conversion isn’t good. Brady gotta work on his 2-point conversion plays.
- 4:27 left, can the defense keep it up?
- Nope.
- Maye with a good game for the first time in a while. Pats moving into Bills territory after a 19-yard completion. Hairston targeted again.
- 3rd and 5, awesome throw and catch here, TD Patriots. Efton Chism with an incredible one-handed catch in the end zone. Igbinosun in coverage. 2-point conversion is good, and NE is up 3. (Chism: 23-yard TD)
- 1:42 left, time for the offense to win this one.
- Josh runs for 4 yards on a scramble. He clearly lacks explosion on his runs today. Had zero rushing yards before this run.
- Josh escapes a free rusher with a spin move but then carelessly throws it deep to Palmer (smh) on double coverage, for an easy INT. This is unacceptable by Josh on a 2nd and 6. Inexcusable.
- Bills D stops the run on 1st down, but allows a PA completion on 3rd down, really? Cole Bishop was overaggressive there. Ball game.
- The Bills allow a struggling Patriots team to rebound inside their new building. A bad game, but they still had everything set to win it at the end. The last offensive drive was inexcusable, and the last defensive drive wasn’t much better. Absolute worst-case scenario for a first loss in the new Highmark Stadium.
- Injuries are a concern, but there are also schematic choices to be re-evaluated, and execution problems to be cleaned up. On to the next one. The Patriots are still alive.
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