The Patriots tried to catch the Bills napping Sunday afternoon as they attempted to mount a comeback against their division rival.
Unfortunately for New England, the roll of the dice did not pay off.
The Patriots knotted things up with the Bills late in the third quarter of the teams’ Week 8 matchup. A Damien Harris 22-yard touchdown run and an ensuing two-point conversion leveled the score at 14-14 and shifted the momentum on New England’s side. But it was only mere moments later when Buffalo retook control.
The visitors dialed up an onside kick that was unsuccessful and gave Josh Allen and Co. the ball at the Patriots’ 45-yard line. Buffalo took advantage of the field position, scoring a go-ahead touchdown shortly before the start of the fourth quarter. New England once again evened the score in the final frame but ultimately fell in the closing seconds.
The onside-kick call can be looked at in a few ways. Some might view it as an aggressive decision by a team vying for a much-needed win, while others might have thought it wreaked of desperation. Rodney Harrison, for one, was not at all in favor of the call.
“It told me that Bill Belichick does not trust his defense because at that point in time in the game, you just scored, you went for the two-point conversion — you kick off, you give your defense a break,” Harrison said Sunday on NBC’s “Football Night in America.” “You don’t put them in a situation where they’re at the 50- or 40-yard line and now their backs are against the wall. I was really disappointed in Coach Belichick for even doing something like that after fighting and clawing so hard to get back in the game.”
Belichick unsurprisingly didn’t divulge his line of thinking after the game, simply noting the Patriots “were trying to make a positive play.” It was one of two highly questionable calls by Belichick in the contest, which concluded with New England being dealt its fourth consecutive loss.
Luckily for New England, it’s primed to get back in the win column in Week 9. The Patriots will be in the Meadowlands next Monday night for a primetime tilt with the winless New York Jets.
