The loss to the Bills will elicit all sorts of negative reactions despite the Patriots losing their first game in 83 days, ending a 10-game winning streak that has New England sitting at 11-3 and still atop the AFC East.

Sunday's game was the first playoff-like atmosphere for the Patriots in their first season under head coach Mike Vrabel, and understandably, surrendering a 17-point halftime lead is frustrating. However, rather than nitpicking everything that went wrong, the bigger question is, did the Bills put out a blueprint to slow down the Patriots offense? And why is New England's offense petering out in the second half?

From a big-picture standpoint, there's some merit to the take that the Patriots aren't sustaining offense into the second half of games. This season, New England is the top-ranked offense in first-half points (16.7), expected points added per play (+0.21 EPA), and is second behind only the Rams in first-half success rate (50.5%). On Sunday, the Patriots offense was humming, scoring 24 points while generating +0.52 EPA per play (100th percentile) in the first half vs. the Bills.

This week, it was the Patriots rushing attack that spearheaded their first-half flurry. New England had its best blocking execution of the season and a great run plan, using a combination of power runs from both the shotgun and under-center to get downhill on a vulnerable Bills run defense. The Pats O-Line stacked standout blocks, they added designed QB runs for Drake Maye to liven up the red zone offense, and rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson hit a huge hole on his 52-yard touchdown. Overall, the Pats ran for 142 rushing yards on 19 called rush attempts – a dominant effort by the backs and O-Line.

However, the second half was a different story, as it has been at times all year. On the season, the Patriots are 22nd in points scored (10.6 PPG) and 14th in EPA per play in the second half. On Sunday, the Pats got away from their run game, with only three designed runs compared to 15 drop-backs on their 18 second-half plays. That could be a factor to the lower production, however, Buffalo deserves credit for changing their approach, too.

To answer the blueprint question, the Bills essentially ditched playing single-high safety coverages after Maye diced them up in the first half (4-of-5, 73 passing yards, 17-yard scramble). After playing a 42.9% single-high rate in the first half, the Bills played 86.7% of Maye second-half drop-backs in two-high safety coverages, mixing in cover-two (backside match), two-man, and some cover-six (quarter-quarter-half), which gave the Patriots some problems.

For example, the Patriots tried dialing up their throwback-boot shot play to WR Kyle Williams here, a similar play to the one WR DeMario Douglas hit for a long touchdown vs. the Saints in Week 6. Unlike the Saints example, where New Orleans was in a single-high coverage, Buffalo fell into cover-two and stayed on top of the vertical routes to force a throwaway.

As they did in Week 5, the Bills two-man coverages, which is man coverage with two-high safeties over the top, also caused issues. Above, the Bills play the dagger concept (seam-dig) out of two-man, using the inside leverage by the man defenders to take away the dig route with the safeties over the top of the seam. If you're playing QB on that drop-back, where are you going with the ball? There's not much there.​

The Bills disguised two-high safety shells left Patriots QB Drake Maye a little out of rhythm, which is rare this season. In the first half, we had Maye dealing with six-plus plays to only one half-minus throw. Then, the script totally flipped, with the Bills halftime adjustments leading to five minus plays to one plus, including a turnover-worthy play. Speaking on Monday, Vrabel seemed to lean more toward it being decision-based rather than Maye throwing the ball poorly, with the Buffalo defense causing some indecisiveness for the Pats QB late in the game.

"I just think that these are decisions. You have to understand that there's going to be disguise and it's going to look differently post-snap, and being able to come off things and progress. He'll, I'm sure, tell you all those things. We'll be back, we'll coach it up and we'll get back to work," Vrabel said.

Now, is it a blueprint? Based on the first 13 games, the numbers would suggest it's a one-game blip. Maye was second in EPA per drop-back vs. two-high safety shells coming into Sunday's game (+0.26), but generated -0.39 EPA per drop-back on Sunday, suggesting that it was a one-game outlier rather than a trend. Although we'll need a larger sample size before we call it a blueprint, the NFL is a copycat league, so one would expect the Ravens and other future opponents to try to replicate the Bills strategy.

Here's a review of the Patriots defense and quick-hit film notes from Sunday's loss to the Bills, After Further Review.

Defense Review: Patriots Red Zone and Run Defense Continue to Struggle vs. Bills

Sticking with the theme, we're not going to harp on every little thing that went wrong in the second half vs. the Bills. Instead, let's talk about some common threads that need to improve for the Patriots defense.​

Objectively, this was a messy film defensively, with breakdowns in their run fits, poor rush coordination, busts in zone coverages, and losing key situational chess matches. When you play a great offense like Buffalo's, you have to be DTF: details, technique, and fundamentals. On Sunday, New England's defense wasn't on its Ps and Qs, leading Buffalo to go 9-for-15 on late downs and 5-for-5 in the red zone (excluding kneel downs). The Bills were also the more physical team, a concerning trend on defense. To be fair, Buffalo came into the week with the third-ranked offensive line in both pass-blocking and run-blocking win rate. The Bills remade their offense into a run-oriented bully in recent seasons, ranking fourth in rush EPA and first in rushing yards per game – it's a good group, and RB James Cook is a stud.

That said, New England has been struggling to stop the run and generate consistent pressure on four-man rushes for about a month now, coinciding with an injury to standout DT Milton Williams (ankle), who remains on injured reserve for at least one more game. Since Week 10, the Patriots are 30th in rush EPA and 31st in the NFL in rush success rate allowed, a massive drop-off from where they were in the first nine weeks of the season (see chart above).​

On Sunday, Cook rushed for 107 yards on 22 carries, with Buffalo producing +0.23 rush EPA (95th percentile). The Patriots played a season-high 30 snaps in base defense to match the Bills heavy personnel but still allowed a 50% rush success rate in base (97 yards on 24 carries). Buffalo did the most damage on inside runs, with Cook rushing for 5.5 yards per carry on inside runs (82 yards, 15 attempts).

Above, the Bills run their staple outside zone weak (away from the TE) on the first play of the second half against New England's base 3-4 front. The Pats had the play-side linebacker (Christian Elliss) and first-level defenders (Chaisson, Durden) fire into the line of scrimmage at the offensive line's outside shoulder to force a cutback. On the backside, NT Khyiris Tonga was "backdooring" the reach blocks to slip into the backfield. In this instance, the Bills add eye candy with WR Tyrell Shavers going in motion. LB Jack Gibbens seems to think the second level is bumping over a gap to their right to match the motion, but he doesn't get the same reaction from Elliss or S Jaylinn Hawkins, so there's nobody in the backside A-Gap on an 11-yard run.

Along with some breakdowns in their run fits, the Patriots struggled to get pressure on Bills QB Josh Allen from their four-man rushes, producing just a 21.1% pressure rate when they rushed four defenders, which they did on 57.6% of Allen's drop-backs. Since Week 10, New England's four-man pressure rate of 28.8% ranks 23rd in the NFL (31.9%, 14th in the first nine weeks). Captain Harold Landry III spoke about a "miscommunication" in the pass rush on Buffalo's fourth-quarter touchdown to TE Dawson Knox on 3rd-and-goal from the NE 14. Those are critical "four-point plays" because a stop there would likely force the Bills to settle for a field goal rather than a touchdown in the red zone.

On the play, Buffalo runs five vertical routes into the end zone from an empty formation against quarters coverage, leaving Gibbens to cover Knox in the middle of the zone. The Pats run a stunt to try to generate some pressure, but they fail to close the pocket. It appears that the Patriots were attempting a "Pirate" stunt, where Landry and DT Christian Barmore penetrate inside, and OLB Elijah Ponder wraps around to close the pocket, but the line wasn't on the same page, and Allen takes advantage of the soft edge to buy enough time for Knox to uncover.

There's a mental and physical aspect to playing defense, where all 11 players need to be on a string to execute at a high level. There were too many instances where the Patriots weren't assignment sound in key situations, and when you play like that against a great offense, you get five consecutive touchdown drives scored on you. Luckily, it sounds like the Patriots will get Williams and captain Robert Spillane (foot), who was deemed unfit to play after going through pre-game warmups, per Vrabel, back at some point soon.

Still, the Patriots defense is now last in red-zone defense and 30th in rush EPA over their last five games; two areas that need to be cleaned up quickly for New England's stretch run.​

Quick-Hit Film Notes From Patriots-Bills​

Offense

- Rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson continued his breakout second half with two more home-run hitters on Sunday. His 52-yard TD was a well-blocked one-back power, where Henderson took advantage of the clear runway while reaching a top speed of 20.56 MPH. If you give him that kind of blocking, the rookie is going to house it. His 65-yard TD run (21.25 MPH) was even more impressive, as that was all Henderson seeing the defense over-pursue and reversing field out the backside. He also had a nice 5-yard dirty run to elude a tackler in the backfield, and two successful draw plays (9+8 yards). However, Henderson allowed his third sack of the season, blocking LB Matt Milano in blitz pickup. He did lose the block slowly, though.​

- RB Rhamondre Stevenson didn't have the breakaway runs like Henderson, but he had a strong effort as well. Stevenson opened the game with a 15-yard run on a tackle-power play, had a seven-yard run on 3rd-and-1, grinded out some tough yards (5+4 yards), and turned a swing pass into a 16-yard gain. Plus, Stevenson also had some great blocks in pass protection. It won't get the shine of the Henderson runs, but Stevenson did a lot of good work. My one nitpick was that he missed a cutback lane to turn an 8-yard gain into a bigger play (Q1, 11:11).​

- RT Morgan Moses continues to be the Patriots best run blocker with three plus-blocks that led to positive gains. The Pats game-planned to have some tackle pulls this week, and Moses led the way on runs of 15 and five yards as a power puller. He then had a great double-team with OT Thayer Munford on Henderson's 52-yard TD run. The lone blemish for Moses was a QB hit allowed when he lost to an inside spin move by DE Joey Bosa. Moses shows up in the run game every week with his physicality and balance on the move.

- C Garrett Bradbury also had some standout run blocks reaching on the line of scrimmage and combo'ing up to the second level. We had him with plus-blocks on runs of 52 (TD), 15, eight, and five yards with only one run stuff on his ledger. Bradbury can still really move out of his stance to overtake defenders on the line of scrimmage or climb to the second level, where he blocked the backside 'backer to spring Henderson on his 52-yard TD. Bradbury also only allowed one hurry in pass protection – he was rock-solid in this one.

- LT Vederian Lowe had two standout run blocks, including climbing to the second level to pin down the defense on Henderson's second TD, but was called for a false start on 3rd-and-10 and allowed two pressures. Lowe and LG Jared Wilson didn't pass off a stunt, leading to a QB hit by Gregory Rousseau, and Lowe lost to power one rep that dented the pocket. Overall, Lowe is giving the Patriots much-needed serviceable left tackle play.

- LG Jared Wilson gets a half-pressure allowed for Rousseau looping inside and allowed one bull rush hurry to DT Larry Ogunjobi, but was solid overall in pass protection. He also had standout blocks working to the second level on Henderson's first touchdown and an 8-yard run. You'd like to see him develop his anchor a little bit more to hold his ground vs. power rushers, but Wilson has some high-end flashes when he's on the move in the run game.

- RG Mike Onwenu allowed a sack with Milano as a standup interior rusher and was called for a hold in pass protection but did contribute to Henderson's first touchdown with a nice down block on the power scheme. To be fair, the sack allowed was pretty late in the down for Onwenu, and the coaching staff's adjustment to pull Moses or Wilson seems like a good one – let Onwenu operate in a phone booth.​

- TE Hunter Henry had two standout blocks with a great crack block on an 8-yard run and an "escort" block leading the way for Maye on his first TD run. Henry also found the soft spot in the zone nicely on his 18-yard catch, and we wouldn't count the third-down incompletion late in the game as a drop, as it was thrown behind him. On the downside, Henry did miss a crack block leading to a 5-yard loss, and the Pats need to find ways to get him open when teams sit on the in-breaking stuff, which Buffalo did the entire second half.

- WR Stefon Diggs beat Bills NCB Taron Johnson for one third-down conversion (16 yards), but Maye was looking his way on his first sack in the second half, and Diggs couldn't uncover. Diggs didn't necessarily get double-teamed, but the Bills DBs were playing leverage strategically to take away certain routes with him and Henry, so that'll be something to navigate moving forward.

- WR Mack Hollins was the target on a 3rd-and-1 fade, which wasn't my favorite call with the Patriots running the ball well in the first half. Still, Maye threw it to his back-shoulder against trail coverage, and Hollins was late to make the adjustment. Hollins did help his QB out by making a leaping grab over the middle on an 18-yard dig completion and caught a 14-yard crosser off a double pass, along with a few quick games.

- WR Kayshon Boutte made a terrific catch through contact on his 30-yard go ball on the Pats opening drive, fighting through CB Maxwell Hairston to make the diving grab. Those are the gritty 1-on-1 isolation routes that Boutte has become great at, and he also threw a good crack block on Maye's first TD run and was an option on the backside shallow on the last third-down drop-back of the game (thrown away).​

- WR DeMario Douglas only ran five routes in this game, likely because the Pats were so run-heavy in the first half and then the Bills adjusted to two-high safety zone in the second half, which isn't Douglas's forte. Still, with Buffalo mixing in some two-man, you'd like to see their best man-to-man separator get some third-down opportunities with the Bills playing sticky coverage in the second half.

- WR Kyle Williams had a shot play drawn up for him that the Bills covered well downfield and was open on a backside dig that Maye could've layered in there, but the pocket collapsed on him. Williams also threw some nice perimeter blocks in limited opportunities.

- OT Thayer Munford had two standout blocks as the tackle-eligible on 10 snaps. Munford worked double-teams with Moses twice for positive plays, including on Henderson's first TD and a 3rd-and-1 conversion. Munford has been solid in that role since joining the team.

- QB Pressures (Pressure rate - 32.1%): Henderson (sack), Onwenu (sack), Lowe (1.5, half-QB hit), Wilson (1.5, half-QB hit), Moses (QB hit), Bradbury (hurry), Stevenson (hurry).​

Defense/Special Teams

- The Bills had some unique blocking schemes to spring KR Ray Davis for returns of 58, 45, and 38 yards. They essentially ran power on the first return, blocking down on a double team and then wrapping or pulling a blocker around like a run play, and then used an offensive linemen to lead-block on a middle return that was almost like a duo scheme. Credit to Buffalo for the wrinkles. The Bills were as exotic as any kickoff return unit the Patriots have faced this season.

- Buffalo's schemed runs also gave the Patriots some trouble. The Bills had rushes of 20 yards on 3rd-and-3 (QB Draw), nine yards (inverted zone-read), and seven yards (zone-read) in their option-run game. With the Ravens up next, New England will have to get that corrected quickly.

- CB Christian Gonzalez had an uncharacteristically down game that didn't show up in the stat sheet. Gonzalez was beaten on crossers by WR Brandin Cooks (drop), TE Dalton Kincaid (Allen spray), and WR Josh Palmer (drop) that could've been big plays. He also busted a zone coverage where he let Cooks go, playing the flat like it was cover-two when the rest of the defense was in cover-three. You can say that he was interfered with by Palmer a few times, especially on the in-cut that Palmer dropped (push off), but there's another level that we've all seen Gonzo get to compared to Sunday's performance.

- DT Christian Barmore was the only Patriots defensive lineman to log a "quick" pressure (under 2.5 secs). Barmore finished with four total pressures while facing a team-high seven double-teams, and he got hauled down by RG O'Cyrus Torrence on one rep. The hold went uncalled. There's a lot on his plate right now in the four-man pass rush without Williams, and O-Lines are wisely not allowing Barmore to take over games.

- There might've been some emphasis on rush-lane integrity to keep Allen from escaping to his right or left, but edge-rushers K'Lavon Chaisson and Harold Landry III only combined to have two total pressures. Landry logged a sack on a nice T/E stunt with Barmore that got home in the first half, but Chaisson had trouble getting around Bills LT Dion Dawkins for most of the afternoon. The Pats will need more from their starting EDGE tandem moving forward.

- NT Khyiris Tonga returned from a one-game absence to play a season-high 43 snaps on defense. Tonga played mostly as a shaded nose tackle (1-tech) or in a two-technique over the guard, with the Patriots trying to get him vertical to blow up zone runs in the backfield. Those attempts were hit-or-miss schematically, but Tonga logged two stuffs and two pressures.

- DT Cory Durden had some solid reps with two run stuffs and two pressures, including shedding LG David Edwards with a nice push-pull technique to flush Allen on a play-action drop-back. The Pats only allowed 3.3 yards per rush with Durden on the field compared to 6.5 YPP when he wasn't out there, so maybe he needs more work vs. the run (23 of 37 snaps).

- LB Jack Gibbens had some ups and downs in this game. Gibbens had multiple good play-action coverage drops where he took away reads over the middle of the field, closed the pocket on a sack, and logged a TFL covering the flat. However, he was on the scene for runs of 11, 11, and five yards while also giving up the 14-yard TD to Knox. Gibbens has mostly been solid in coverage, especially versus play-action or rallying to the ball in the screen/check-down game, but they missed Spillane's instincts to diagnose run plays.

- LB Christian Elliss was active with two run stuffs, three pressures as a blitzer (drawn hold), broke up a pass in the red zone, and closed down Allen's space nicely from zone to force a throw-away. However, Elliss also allowed a red-zone TD in coverage (Cook flat) and missed a tackle on a 13-yard screen.​

- NCB Marcus Jones was put in some tough spots against WR Khalil Shakir, playing the fourth-down rep in what essentially ended up being cover zero with a four-man rush (Hawkins vacated the post to cover the RB wheel). Still, Jones gave up the 37-yard catch to Shakir, a touchdown to Knox on a Y delay play-action, and another 13-yard catch on a play-action check down. Jones has one of the hardest jobs of any player as a full-time slot in this defense.

- CB Carlton Davis III left the game due to a groin injury but returned in the fourth quarter. Davis missed a sack-attempt when he came unblocked on a blitz but did log a pressure on a 3-yard scramble. He also had a critical screen stuff on a third-down stop to get the ball back to the offense late in the fourth quarter and forced an incompletion by popping Cook in the flat. The DPI call on the late third down … it is what it is.

- Besides a 16-yard completion on a deep stop route by Palmer in cover three, CB Charles Woods gave them solid outside cornerback play when Davis left the game. Woods had great coverage on a go ball to Cooks (incomplete) and logged a run stuff. He didn't look out of place.

- S Craig Woodson had some issues in coverage, allowing a 19-yard completion on a third-down whip route to Knox, where he had low-hole help (should be playing outside leverage) and was called for defensive holding to give Buffalo a new set of downs. Woodson did log a pressure on a blitz, the Pats other "quick" pressure in the game on Sunday.

- S Jaylinn Hawkins missed a tackle on Cook's 11-yard TD, which ended up being the game-winner, but saved a big play ranging over to cover Cooks on a deep-ball and logged a run stuff. The fourth-down call seemed to hit the way the Patriots wanted, with Hawkins vacating the deep post to cover the back on the wheel route in the mesh concept, but Allen found the 1-on-1 matchup to Shakir.​

- QB Pressures: Landry (sack), Gibbens (sack), Barmore (hit, 3 hurries), Elliss (3 hurries), Tonga (2 hurries), Durden (2 hurries), Jennings (QB hit), Chaisson (hurry), Woodson (hurry), Jones (hurry), Davis (hurry). Run stops: Two each (Elliss, Durden, Tonga), one each (Woodson, Woods, Gibbens, Hawkins, Tavai, Davis, Jennings).​

- Coverage: Jones (8/8/83 yards/TD), Gibbens (5/4/49 yards/TD), Woodson (1/1/19 yards/hold), Woods (2/1/16 yards), Tavai (1/1/12 yards), Elliss (3/2/9 yards/TD/PBU), Hawkins (2/1/6 yards/PBU), Gonzalez (3/0/0 yards/two drops), Davis (1/1/-1 yards/PBU/DPI).

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer