Patriots’ loss to Josh Allen, Bills is a slice of ‘humble pie’ — and maybe exactly what Drake Maye and Co. need

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — In the below-freezing tunnel of Gillette Stadium, Mike Vrabel held a stat sheet in his left hand and kept his right hand free for greetings.

Vrabel extended a fist bump to some of his players and a reassuring chest pat to others. He was not festive but he also was not forlorn. This was not the head-hanging or tunnel walk of silence in which losing coaches so often engage.

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In fact, when tight end Hunter Henry looked down and shook his head after their encounter, Vrabel seemed intent on reminding the veteran: A 35-31 loss to the reigning league MVP and five-years-running division champions is nothing to be ashamed of.

“You know what I mean? This is the National Football League,” Vrabel shouted as Henry disappeared into the locker room.

Before long, receiver Stefon Diggs rounded out the group of players to trickle off the field and Vrabel, too, disappeared into the locker room to address his squad after their first loss since Sept. 21.

The manner of losing warranted some disappointment, after the Patriots blew a 21-point lead and 17-point halftime lead to the Buffalo Bills and snapped their 10-game winning streak in a stadium where both locker rooms spoke candidly about the seeming inevitably of Josh Allen.

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But there was also reason for the Patriots to appreciate, if not celebrate, the value of their first final-score adversity in months. At 11-4 and atop the AFC East, albeit now just by one game, New England is well on track to host at least one playoff game for the first time since Vrabel’s Titans upset them in a wild-card game six years ago.

[Get more Patriots news: New England team feed]

Triumphing in January if not also February tends to require a degree of callousing. Sunday’s game, in which the Patriots had a host of individual accolades but not the final result they coveted, provided some. No, the division-champion hats and shirts did not leave their boxes Sunday. But the Patriots may have received a more substantive gift.

“It’s good for us,” said Diggs, who’s played in the NFC championship and AFC championship games with the Minnesota Vikings and Bills, respectively. “When you’re playing a team like that, they play from behind. They’re used to playing from behind, fighting back and clawing. … It’s been a while since we lost [and] we probably needed it.

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“It’s like a daily dose of your humble pie.”

Cornerback Carlton Davis, who won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady, echoed the sentiment.

“We don’t want to go into the playoffs not having been scathed,” Davis told Yahoo Sports. “The Patriots organization hasn’t been in this position in quite a minute. So it’s good to get a little taste of that playoff atmosphere.

“That’s a playoff team. They go to the big dance every year. So yeah, that was a great warmup for us.”

In battle of top-tier quarterbacks, Josh Allen outdueled Drake Maye

Beneath a light but steady dusting of snow, the Patriots warmed up more quickly than the Bills.

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Quarterback Drake Maye’s MVP case was up for trial amid a relatively soft schedule of opponents. He’d already outlasted the Bills in Buffalo and the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay. Could he also finish off the Bills at home?

Finding Kayshon Boutte 30 yards down the right sideline on third-and-7 aroused the home crowd’s first outburst of “M-V-P” chants. An 8-yard touchdown on a designed run around the left end cued up another chorus.

Before the first quarter was over, Maye would also scramble up the middle of the field 7 yards for a second rushing score to double the two rushing touchdowns he’d scored in 13 prior games this season. At that point, an uninformed bystander may have confused which quarterback was the dual-threat, reigning MVP.

“Just seeing the defense and trying to use my legs when I can, trying to add an extra element in the red zone to gain an extra hat,” Maye said. “And from there, try to make a play and try to get in the end zone.”

Maye’s success required the Bills defense to respect his legs. That threat aided explosive rookie TreVeyon Henderson in finding creases up the middle to spring a third New England rushing touchdown, Henderson’s second-level dominance carrying him the 52 yards home.

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The Patriots, up 21-0 with 5:53 to play in the first half, held a 91.1% chance of winning, per Next Gen Stats win probability data.

But that algorithm didn’t account for Josh Allen being Josh Allen … which translated statistically into rebounding from three straight punts to score five straight touchdowns.

As the third quarter waned and the fourth quarter ratcheted up Buffalo’s intensity, the Bills hit their stride.

Cornerback Tre’Davious White intercepted Maye with 1:39 to play in the third quarter, thwarting a chance for the Patriots to respond after the Bills had narrowed New England’s lead to three. White’s interception still set the  Bills up with a daunting 91-yard field. But Buffalo didn’t blink.

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Allen converted a keeper on third-and-1 and, when he failed to move the chains on a third-and-2 pass, Bills coach Sean McDermott kept his offense on the field. Facing fourth-and-3 from the 45, again everyone in the stadium was reminded that Allen is inevitable. 

And thus a 37-yard pass from Allen arrived in the arms of receiver Khalil Shakir, even as Shakir needed to stretch his arms around cornerback Marcus Jones in the process.

Four plays later, on third-and-14, Allen fired a laser to tight end Dawson Knox for Knox’s second touchdown of the afternoon — and the Bills’ first lead of the game.

“I saw Josh rolling out, we work the scramble drill a lot in practice and just threw a frozen rope right in my chest,” Knox said. “I had no choice but to catch that one. Just crazy scramble drill. It was just a five verticals concept. I was supposed to kind of stay on my side of the field.

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“Unbelievable throw by Josh Allen, man.”

Another Henderson unleashing in the form of a 65-yard touchdown (and stellar downfield blocking from Maye) wouldn’t be enough to derail the Bills’ momentum. With a 24-7 second-half advantage and heavy pressure on Maye disrupting the Patriots’ passing game, the Bills gave the Patriots a taste of the challenges that await New England in January.

“That was a playoff game,” Davis said. “When you get down to the end of the season and you start talking about seeding, you start talking about division, that’s a playoff game.

“Maybe we needed this loss to help us correct a couple of things. And so [we know] we’re not invincible, but still a great team.”

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As Patriots absorbed ‘kick in butt,’ vision for Maye’s next step clarified

The Patriots want to be clear: Winning was the goal and preference Sunday.

“Of course we’re not happy with that,” Henderson said after a career-high 161 scrimmage yards and two scores. “Of course we wanted to come out with the win.”

But losing a game in which they outgained the Bills 285 yards to 76 in the first half, also putting the Bills in their largest halftime hole (17 points) of the season?

If that doesn’t teach New England’s locker room the necessity of playing 60 minutes, the Patriots aren’t sure what will. Linebacker Jack Gibbens was not alone in believing that “the sense of urgency to get things fixed after a loss definitely picks up.” The blueprint that the Bills parlayed — pressure Maye into thinking about the pass rush at the expense of targets’ routes, wear down a depleted New England defensive cast with extended drives — will come back to haunt the Patriots if they don’t respond accordingly.

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Sure, Maye excites the Patriots in the present and the future, his 109.1 passer rating trailing only the Los Angeles’ Rams Matthew Stafford and Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff while his 70.9% completion percentage leads the league.

Maye’s 27 offensive touchdowns are tied for seventh-most in the NFL. His accuracy, play extension and smarts to change plays at the line of scrimmage impress teammates and opponents alike. He has received comparisons to Allen.

But he’s not there yet. Because there’s a belief that teams develop when a quarterback has already proven they can win and rebound repeatedly in improbable circumstances. The MVPs of recent history have done that. There were days when one just could not explain Allen or Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson or Aaron Rodgers.

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Maye, meanwhile, has helped the Patriots start fast and survive attempts to thwart wins. He will continue to build his arsenal of late-game comebacks and fourth-quarter elevations as Allen has in a career that’s already earned him an MVP, albeit not yet the Super Bowl title he eyes.

Vrabel will tell Maye, as he tells all his players, that losses like Sunday’s are part of that climb. They’re part of the pursuit of greatness and they’re part of the maturation process that will sharpen a team when games don’t just resemble playoff environments but also carry the elimination actualities. Next week’s visit to the Baltimore Ravens will present yet another chance.

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That sense of resolve settled over the Patriots as the rawness of their loss softened slightly.

Vrabel’s call to Henry that “this is the National Football League” didn’t compel the tight end to turn back on his dejected entrance into the locker room. But 16 minutes later, as Hunter addressed reporters from his locker, he had absorbed — consciously or subconsciously — the message.

“This definitely can be a kind of kick in the butt,” Henry said. “We’ve had things go our way and everything go our way the last 10 weeks, so this is definitely a reality check.

“That’s a good football team. We went toe to toe with them in every aspect. But we have to give them credit.

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“We’ve got to get a lot better from this — fast.”

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