First half turnovers put Patriots in ‘impossible position’ against Bills

The New England Patriots started their Week 17 game against the Buffalo Bills in the best possible fashion, taking a 7 0 lead on an opening kickoff return touchdown. However, things went downhill fast due to the offense being unable to hold onto the football for dear life. Of the team’s first six possessions, four ended with a turnover.

Quarterback Bailey Zappe threw three interceptions — including one returned 40 yards for a touchdown — with tight end Pharaoh Brown losing a fumble. In total, New England came up short in the turnover battle 4 1. In a game that was eventually decided 27 21 in Buffalo’s favor, those miscues were just too much to overcome.

“There’s an old saying — ‘You can’t win until you keep from losing’ — around here, and that first half, you can’t do that. You can’t turn the ball over four times,” said center David Andrews after the game. Despite those turnover issues, the Patriots were still very much alive for most of the game.

Their offense finding some rhythm from the late first half on helped with that, as did a defense playing on a high level against one of the NFL’s most potent offenses. However, as Andrews pointed out, the unit was put in a bad spot pretty much from the get go. The Patriots offense turned the ball over on its first play from scrimmage for a second straight week, and in total forced the defense to defend from inside its own 30 yard line on three separate occasions.

The result — a mere 13 points — are a testament to New England’s defensive qualities in light of repeated adversity. “We put them in an impossible position,” said Andrews. “Obviously, last week we started the game that way and they made a great stand. And to make the stands that they made this week — they can’t do anything about the pick six when we put them out there.

… They were playing their tails off. That’s more on us than it is them, and they kept us in the game. We were able to make some plays, just weren’t able to overcome that deficit.” The defense had every right to feel unhappy with the offensive performance — a common theme this season. As team captain Deatrich Wise Jr.

noted post game, however, the unit’s mental makeup works differently. “You got to have mental toughness. As a defense, we don’t really control where the ball’s being put,” Wise Jr. said. “Wherever the ball is placed, our job is to defend the end zone, the red zone, and prevent them from scoring.

It was not really challenging to us. We are built off of mental toughness, we have tough, strong and dependable players — that’s kind of our model here. We don’t really care where the ball’s put. Just put the ball down, and let’s play ball.” The Patriots defense has operated that way throughout the year, and along the way established itself as one of the best unit’s in the league.

Sunday’s game in Buffalo was therefore more of the same, including the ultimately disappointing end result..