FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Sunday afternoon was a great day for Buffalo Bills backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
When you’re the No. 2 QB in the NFL, you don’t really get to know that you want to play because when you’re on the field, it’s usually not a good situation for the team. That means the starter is either damaged or not working.
This was an exception. Trubisky played most of Buffalo’s 23-16 loss to the New England Patriots as starter Josh Allen was placed on leave, but led the Bills to 13 wins, a fifth straight AFC East title and a second-place finish. His accomplishment in leading him to seed was great. AFC playoffs.
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“It felt good,” Trubisky said after playing his longest game since last November with the Steelers. “I feel like there’s a nuance in the game where you slowly get back into that repetition and get more and more comfortable with it.In my role, I have to be ready to go. However, if you can play a lot in that situation, you will gradually become more comfortable as the game progresses.
Unsurprisingly, the offense hasn’t always been smooth sailing with Trubisky at the helm, but he did about three-quarters of the work and led the Bills to three points (two TDs and one field goal). led.
“I thought we controlled the offense well, moved the ball well and got some points,” he said. “I mean, we want to get wins. That’s the hardest thing, but we did some positive things there. Some throws, some practice with some receivers. If we had a little more time, we would be able to resolve them.”
The loss, which wasn’t actually recorded on Trubisky’s ledger because Allen actually started the game, prevented the Bills from setting a franchise record for most regular-season wins.
The trade-off is injury prevention, and coach Sean McDermott, knocking on wood, believes that goal has been achieved.
“That’s fine,” he said. “We want to be as healthy as possible and as strong as possible for the playoffs.”
Here’s how I graded the Bills’ performance.
Pass Offense: C-
Allen took the first snap of the offense, handed a pass to James Cook, and trotted off the field waving to the crowd, ending the regular season. He completed 63.6 percent of his passes for 3,731 yards, 28 TDs, and six interceptions, and also had 531 rushing yards and 12 TDs. He did this despite missing about 11 quarters during the season, as he spent the fourth quarter on the bench when the Bills were leading, so that should be taken into account in MVP voting.
Trubisky took over and overall it wasn’t too bad. He started poorly as he failed to gain yards on consecutive QB sneaks and had turnovers on downs, but eventually settled in and looked actually competent. The numbers weren’t great, as they went 15 of 21 for just 101 yards, but they played without any turnovers.
Mike White finished the game, but wasn’t very good, going 3 of 11 for 28 yards. It was clear that he lacked rhythm with any of his receivers and missed some easy throws.
Keon Coleman had a tough day, catching just 2 of 9 targets for 31 yards. His inability to break away was a problem, especially since Christian Gonzalez, the Patriots’ top cornerback, wasn’t even playing.
Run offense: A-
One of the main goals was for Cook to gain the 19 yards he needed to reach 1,000 yards, which he did. The Bills were also looking for his 16th rushing TD, but after getting inside the five in the second quarter, he was allowed two carries and was unsuccessful, making it appear to be a last hurray.
Instead, Coach McDermott sent him back in the third quarter with the Bills trailing by two points, and he crossed the goal line on his second try, tying O.J. Simpson’s team record, which Simpson lost in just 14 games. Achieved.
Ray Davies took over as the main RB and played well, taking a 23-yard run and gaining 64 yards.
Ty Johnson also played, continuing a late-season trend of all three Bills running backs playing a role and contributing in the offense. Behind an offensive line made up entirely of backups, the Bills had 98 yards rushing in the first half and finished with 130 yards.
Pass defense: C-
The Patriots opted to use starting QB Drake Maye for just one series to ensure he was healthy and ready for his first NFL offseason. They probably wanted to get the No. 1 overall draft pick even if they lost.
Well, Joe Milton didn’t get the memo. He went 12-of-13 for 139 yards in the first half and directed two TD drives, capping one with a 1-yard keeper before Buffalo’s starting safeties Taylor Rapp and Dummer -Hamlin played and threw a 48-yard TD drive to Kyshon Boots. , the game was still in progress. He went 22 of 29 for 241 yards.
The Bills struggled on third down early in the game, and their failure to get off the field was key to the Patriots’ two TD drives. However, they improved as the games went on, with New England going 4 of 12.
This season, Booth played two significant games against the Bills. He had 95 yards and 1 TD in Week 16 against the Patriots, and in this game he had 7 catches for 117 yards and 1 TD. The Bills used a variety of players on the back end, but safety Damar Hamlin, who had missed the last three games, was one of the last to play. There were some moments where he looked out of sync, but he’ll probably be playing Cole Bishop in a playoff game next week, so it was good for him to be in the whole game and iron out some kinks. .
Run defense: A-
The Patriots didn’t use running back LaMondre Stephenson, so Antonio Gibson took on that role, but he wasn’t exactly successful, gaining just 41 yards on 12 attempts. The Bills did a very nice job as New England ran it 30 times and managed just 76 yards, or 2.5 yards per carry.
That included a scramble by Milton and three knee downs at the end of the game, but the Bills still held out for a team that often plays backups and struggles against the run.
Joe Andreessen led the way with nine tackles while playing the full game in place of Terrell Bernard, and fellow rookie Javon Solomon had a great game with seven tackles, one QB hit, one lost tackle and one fumble recovery. I showed it. He has made a splash in his short playing time and could be a good rotation player in the future.
Ja’Marcus Ingram, Dwayne Carter and Casey Toohill all had six tackles, with Carter and Ingram each having one tackle for a loss of yards.
Special teams:C
Sam Martin had a great day. He sank one of his four punts inside the 20, giving him 25 for the season and earning a $100,000 incentive bonus. On the money-making punt, Ingram made a great diving play near the goal line to keep the ball on the field. The most exciting play of the day.
Tyler Bass made a 49-yard field goal, which was good, but he also made a mistake by landing the ball short of the landing zone on the kickoff, giving the Patriots a 40-yard drive start. Then in the third quarter, he missed the basket. The extra point was his fifth of the season. Just when you start to think his problems are in the background, they’re actually not.
Brandon Codrington had two great kickoff returns of 32 and 30 yards, but the punt coverage team allowed 26 yards in the fourth quarter, setting up New England’s final field goal.
Coaching: B+
There wasn’t much to really work on here, but the most important thing for me was that McDermott had the Bills ready and willing to compete. They certainly didn’t mail it on the day they could have mailed it. They played as reserve players the entire time, and they hit the ball as hard as they could.
It can be difficult to game plan in this situation, and what the Bills did wasn’t too exotic, but there were moments when it looked like the players on both sides of the ball weren’t at least properly prepared. There were hardly any.
Joe Brady gave it his all along with his two backup QBs, and Bobby Babic’s hodgepodge combination held the Patriots to just two touchdowns (they didn’t have one in the second half). Yes, the Bills lost the game. so what.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for 40 years, including 35 years as D&C’s full-time beat writer, and has written numerous books about the team’s history. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com and followed at X @salmaiorana and Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social. Sign up for his Bills Blast newsletter here: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
