Resilience shown in loss to Bills something Patriots can build on for the future

The deck wasn’t so much stacked against them, as they seemingly just hand picked the worst possible card at each opportunity. Yes, the first 20 minutes of the New England Patriots ’ Week 17 game against the Buffalo Bills were a disaster. Despite going up 7 0 on the game’s kickoff, the Patriots could not build any momentum due to an ineptitude to hold onto the football.

By the time the clock had hit 12:00 to go in the second quarter, New England had already turned the ball over four times: Bailey Zappe had thrown three interceptions — including a pick six — and Pharaoh Brown lost a fumble. The defense was able to keep things close, allowing the Bills to only go up 20 7 after the final one of those four giveaways.

With the team failing to play competitive football on offense and the four win team already out of the playoff conversation, however, nobody would have been surprised had that game started to snowball at any point. It did not. Whereas the Patriots’ earlier losses against the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints went just like that, their eventual 27 21 defeat versus the Bills was different.

New England was not willing to go down without a fight. The defense kept its foot on the pedal, holding Josh Allen and company in check throughout the contest, while the offense showed some encouraging resilience to claw its way back into the game. “Just having a short term memory, understanding there’s a lot of ball left to be played,” said Bailey Zappe after the game.

“When we get rolling or we’re having great communication, and we have a great operation, we have a great offense, we can move the ball well. That was just kind of like a focus point going into the second half.” After they were able to put their turnover issues behind them, the Patriots did start playing winning football on offense.

Yes, they only scored 14 points but they still managed to outscore Buffalo down the stretch — so much so that the team still had its chances to come back and secure an unlikely victory. That initial hole did prove itself too big to overcome, as has been the case multiple times this season. However, the fight showcased over the final 40 minutes was a definitive positive.

“No one lost belief. No one lost faith. Obviously, no one quit. It could have been a lot worse than it was,” said center David Andrews. “We had a chance to win all the way down to the end. We just kept fighting. We kept pushing each other, kept supporting each other. And we knew — knew! — it was more of us than it was them.

That just is the truth. Obviously, they made the plays and hats off to them, but it was not as much about Xs and Os as versus some of our fundamental execution.” For Andrews, a team captain in his ninth season with the Patriots, that “never give up” attitude is a reflection of the people inside the building and the culture built through the years.

And while some prominent voices such as his own deserve credit for that, he made sure to point out the collective effort that goes into it. “A lot of it comes from Coach [Bill Belichick], obviously, No. 1. He drives the ship. And then, I think we have a lot of good leaders, lot of tough guys,” Andrews said.

“And leaders on the football team aren’t just guys that are named captains. It can’t just be five, six guys, or whatever, pulling those ropes. From the whole coaching staff, to the whole team, to the whole organization, I think guys are fighting, got a lot of pride. “I can respect that and, like I said, it’s more about us than it is them.

That’s been most the cases this year when you go back and look at it. And that’s NFL football: more games are lost than they are won.” The Patriots have found ways to lose football games throughout the season, and as a consequence are now 4 12 and will see their season come to an end next Sunday .

When it comes to their longer term outlook, though, not all is as bleak as it looks like. The resilience shown by the players on Sunday, in light of challenging circumstances all around, is at least something the club can build on for its uncertain future..