Patriots DBs Clown Stefon Diggs After Bills Wideout’s Quiet Game

FOXBORO, Mass. — The Patriots’ defense accomplished a rare feat in Sunday’s dramatic last-minute win over the Buffalo Bills:

Largely containing Stefon Diggs.

Buffalo’s superstar wide receiver averaged nearly 100 receiving yards per game over his previous six matchups with New England, but he was largely quiet in this latest installment.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen targeted Diggs 12 times in New England’s 29-25 victory at Gillette Stadium, and the wideout finished with just six catches for 58 yards and one late touchdown.

While a downcast Diggs refused to speak with reporters after the game, Patriots defenders reveled in his frustration.

“How many yards did he get?” cornerback Jack Jones replied when asked about Diggs postgame. “He wasn’t a problem for us.”

Diggs caught a 6-yard pass from Allen on Buffalo’s second possession, but his next catch didn’t come until after halftime. Allen attempted six passes to his favorite wideout that traveled more than 15 yards downfield, per the NFL’s in-game tracking, and completed just one of them.

On one such attempt, Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson made a leaping pass breakup in the end zone. One play later, Diggs caught a short pass on third-and-7 and was drilled short of the line to gain by Jones, who was making his season debut after being activated off injured reserve on Sunday. Buffalo eventually turned the ball over on downs.

Taking away Diggs, who entered Week 7 as the NFL’s third-most-targeted pass-catcher, was a clear priority for New England.

“In certain situations, you have to have high awareness to him,” safety Jabrill Peppers told NESN.com. “When you’re banging him and he don’t get the ball early, he kind of gets out of it a little bit. … That’s it. … We take him away and make those other guys beat us, we liked our chances.”

The Patriots were able to have that success without standout rookie corner Christian Gonzalez, who locked down the likes of Tyreek Hill and Garrett Wilson before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 4. Jones, Jackson and veteran Jonathan Jones led the charge Sunday.

“We just had high awareness to him,” Peppers said of Diggs. “We’ve got a lot of great cover guys over here between Jack, (Jonathan) Jones. Just got J.C. back (via trade). We’ve got a lot of great cover guys hurt, too, but we just keep reloading at that position. We trust those guys 1-on-1 pretty much against anybody.”