Buffalo's offense never found a consistent attack on Sunday that could extend throughout a game the Bills dropped 29-26 to their division rival New England Patriots at Highmark Stadium.
The first loss of the season and first at their new home coming to the Pats was bad enough, but the way it ended only made it sting worse.
Head coach Joe Brady did not sugarcoat the team's play in all three phases, and in part attributed the defeat to an offense that could not string possessions together and convert them into winning points.
"We just didn't get in a rhythm today". Brady said to the press postgame. "We had a couple drives, had some three and outs, and that can't happen. Starting with the first drive of the game, and the sudden change, three and out after
we get the turnover. We had opportunities to be able to sustain drives and some looks that we know are coming and we weren't executing. We have to look and see why."
Josh Allen and company flashed elite, highlight reel-worthy individual playmaking at times yet never fully recovered from their own errors. Buffalo turned the ball over twice in two-minute situations, the final straw coming when Josh Allen's deep shot into double coverage for Josh Palmer was picked off by Craig Woodson.
One of the bright spots in the game was a career day by receiver Keon Coleman, who shined in action stepping up after WR1 DJ Moore left the game due to a shoulder injury.
When he was asked by the press after the game what kept the offense from getting into a rhythm, he said "Just executing, everybody doing it, we'll have to go back to the tape and see for sure what it was."
Buffalo's defense was also not effective enough to keep any of what ultimately proved to be the 29 winning Patriots' points off the board.
Drake Maye, despite commmiting multiple turnovers himself, made the most of his other opportunities to put the ball into the endzone. He shook off an interception and a lost fumble to throw three touchdowns, the winner a one-handed 23-yard grab by Efton Chism on third-and-5 with 1:50 remaining, followed by a two-point conversion to Rhamondre Stevenson.
Asked about the first defeat of his NFL head coaching career, Brady kept an even keel, though the frustration underneath was hard to miss.
"The wins and losses are all the same to me," the coach added before explaining further. "I don't mean that in a negative way. When we win, I still have the same mindset of like we're putting a lot of stuff on tape that's going to cause us to lose, and we got to continue to play better, but the last three times we've left the stadium, I've left pissed off. So, the wins and losses is never what it's about. It's about playing clean winning football and giving ourselves a chance to win."
The loss stings and leaves a loss blemish on the record, and to a division rival, no less.
If division games count double, that works both ways. In the win and in the loss columns, and the Bills are facing some heavy competition throughout their schedule they'll need to overcome in order for any losses such as this one to come back to bit them later in the season in the race to reclaim the AFC East as well as when the playoffs approach.
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: Bills' Joe Brady: Offense 'didn't get in a rhythm' in loss to Patriots
