Callahan: Patriots’ loss to Buffalo brings hard lessons, needed hardship for playoff run

FOXBORO Wind whipping Snow falling A scene fit for December football in Foxboro What more could you have appealed for Sunday Uh how about a fourth-down stop One fewer flag maybe A win instead of a frozen nightmare By failing to kill off Buffalo when they had the chance the Patriots committed the cardinal sin of surviving any horror movie which is exactly what Sunday s competition became once they staked a - lead The Bills first clawed on Josh Allen s touchdown pass late in the second quarter a result the Pats could only answer with a field goal dirt thrown on a coffin that hadn t been lowered deep enough Because a -point halftime deficit might be enough to bury majority teams But not the Bills Not Allen That s his superpower That s who Josh Allen is Christian Gonzalez announced post-game We talked about it all week Allen and the zombie Bills scored five straight touchdowns to clinch their fourth fourth-quarter comeback of the season The Patriots suddenly became equal parts participants in and onlookers to their own demise We knew what kind of competition this was going to be I don t think we could have been more prepared for it Pats captain Harold Landry declared They just came out and executed better than we did in the second half and that s pretty much what happened The simplest explanation for why the Patriots endured this type of football horror allowing a -point comeback to a division rival is the right one they got overpowered Foxboro MA - New England Patriots' K'Lavon Chaisson dives for Buffalo Bills' James Cook III during the second quarter of the event at Gillette Stadium Nancy Lane Boston Herald Buffalo s bruising offensive line handled them at the line of scrimmage The Bills rushed for yards including the they covered on their last three hand-offs to finish the Pats off before Allen knelt the clock out Mike Vrabel s defense knew Buffalo would run and couldn t do a damn thing We missed tackles We didn t build a good enough wall didn t get off on third down weren t able to create any turnovers And we weren t getting any stops in the red zone Vrabel revealed It s no secret you know what I mean We called the same stuff they called the same stuff The event against the Patriots making a Super Bowl run starts there Vrabel brought players like Cory Durden and Joshua Farmer to a gun fight with the league s MVP That s all the ammunition the Pats have behind stud defensive tackle Milton Williams who yes will return but whose absence alone doesn t explain the Patriots run defense ranking second-to-last by success rate allowed since early November Come playoff time the Pats defensive depth might be too brittle to absorb blows like the ones Buffalo delivered Sunday Their pass rush loses its edge whenever it s without Williams Christian Barmore Harold Landry or K Lavon Chaisson In the first minutes Landry got to Allen on a coverage sack and backup linebacker Jack Gibbens dropped him on a clever blitz Allen was hardly bothered the rest of the day Their only resolution against playoff teams may be to ask more of their offense Beating the Bills requires plays like the two passes Drake Maye slung under pressure to jump-start a game-winning drive at Buffalo in Week and failed to make Sunday Maye might still win the MVP award and rightfully so but he won t win playoff games playing like he did Sunday Like Drake Meh Related Articles Patriots loss to Buffalo crushes -game win streak but fans remain hopeful Patriots expected Josh Allen-led Bills comeback but couldn t stop it TreVeyon Henderson s big plays provide silver lining in Patriots loss to Bills Drake Maye laments missed throws in Patriots - loss to Bills Patriots defender takes issue with critical penalty in loss to Bills Maye s accuracy has waxed and waned over his last five games and defenses have gotten wise to his scrambling He had a bad miss on the Patriots last third down then literally ran into trouble on their final offensive play and fired incomplete Turnover on downs Ballgame Here s the good news Maye is still great and will be fine And more good news this loss may serve the Patriots in the long-term It s better to learn hard lessons now than in January The Pats now know exactly how close they are to the Bills splitting one-possession games in their regular-season series that easily could have been a sweep in either direction and what s required to beat them So if there was any sense internally that they might solely float to a division title as a crew of destiny let alone a conference championship or then Super Bowl Sunday stripped them of that fantasy Work harder analysis longer play better Collect the calluses teams need to survive the postseason Treat your scars as reminders of what led to losses A win is a win but a loss can be a lesson if you treat it as such Ask Stefon Diggs We maybe needed the loss Going on a little streak I m not going to say it s a lot of pressure but you expect to win as you should each and every week So it s good for us Diggs explained I kind of reported it at the beginning of the year lessons Losing is a lesson for sure that you re going to have to keep your foot on the gas Or in the incident of undead division rivals on their throats