Fans expecting a blowout in the New England Patriots' Week 16 showdown with the Buffalo Bills came to the wrong party.
The Patriots came into Highmark Stadium with nothing but their pride to fight for and nearly pulled off a monumental upset win over the playoff-contending Bills. It was a tale of two halves for the Patriots with the team playing relatively clean football and jumping out to an early 14-0 lead.
And then they turned the ball over three times, failed to stop Buffalo's rushing attack and went ice cold offensively in the second half. That led to Bills quarterback Josh Allen leading his team to victory.
Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye had another strong showing, minus the two turnovers he committed down the stretch. He threw an interception in the end zone, and he committed a fumble on a backward lateral pass attempt. It was still a valiant effort from a Patriots team most expected to see get blown out at Orchard Park.
Here are the studs and duds from the Patriots' 24-21 loss to the Bills:
The Patriots don't have many reliable offensive playmakers at receiver, but one player who has stood out this season is Kayshon Boutte.
On the road in a tough environment, Drake Maye needed somebody to step up and give the offense a chance to compete. That player was Boutte in a game where he hauled in five receptions for 95 yards and one touchdown.
Marte Mapu had a big game for the Patriots' defense with two pass deflections, one forced fumble and an interception. He nearly had two interceptions, but he failed to come down with another tight window throw attempt from Josh Allen.
No, Mapu's performance wasn't perfect, and some might want him on the dud list for downing the intercepted ball on the one-yard line instead of staying in the end zone. But we can overlook that one mistake and judge him on the entire game. This was a solid performance from the 2023 third-round draft pick.
The Achilles heel for the Patriots continued to be the opposing team's ground game. It was another matchup where the defensive front failed to get any push, and poor tackling at the next level led to big gains.
Bills running back James Cook averaged 9.1 yards per carry on the ground, and the team as a whole combined for 172 rushing yards and one touchdown. It's hard for the Patriots to win games when the defense is hemorrhaging rushing yards.
The Bills clearly had a lot of respect for Christian Gonzalez's coverage skills considering they only targeted him once in the game. His performance is proof that the most important stats don't always show up on paper.
The second-year corner can match up against any team's best receiver and take an entire side of the field away. Bills star receiver Amari Cooper was relegated to the side of a milk carton with only one catch for 10 yards on Sunday.
This hasn't been Jonathan Jones' best season, but he stepped up when it mattered in a tough game against the Bills. He even managed to deflect a potential touchdown pass from Josh Allen to speedy wideout Khalil Shakir.
This was an all-around solid effort by the Patriots' secondary to hold the Bills to only 154 yards through the air. The secondary has quietly played well despite all of the other defensive problems for New England.