Plus, James Cook puts on a show once again.
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Josh Allen got up from one of his standard scrambles in the fourth quarter. Allen has taken his fair share of hits on these plays, but this one left a bit of an impact.
The Bills took a false start penalty between Allen’s 7-yard scramble and his upcoming throw on third down. It required a bigger heave. And when Allen reared back to throw it down the field, the ball came off his hand like he wasn’t even holding it — a pop fly of sorts that somehow fell harmlessly to the turf for an incompletion.
Allen immediately shook his throwing hand while he made his way off the field. And those coming moments on the sidelines froze Bills fans more than the 5-degree weather they had been standing in.
“I had no feeling in the hand,” Allen said after the game. “It’s hard to throw without feeling in your hand.”
When it comes to Allen, and the very arm that has catapulted the Bills into Super Bowl contenders, it’s natural for fans, and even the team, to fear the worst — even amidst them getting the game-winning score on defense to beat the Patriots and improve their record to 12-3.
Allen took several moments to get his throwing hand examined by team doctors. And while that happened, backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky took several snaps from starting center Connor McGovern and even threw a few passes.
Allen, who is hell-bent on playing every snap unless it’s garbage time, took his overcoat off and grabbed a football, intent to throw a few passes. Allen’s first throw went well high of the mark. He vigorously shook his hand. The second throw, high and wide. Third throw, more of the same.
At that moment, had the Bills forced a punt, there was a real chance Allen would not have reentered the game.
Simultaneously, the Patriots fumbled the ball into the end zone, with nickel corner Taron Johnson jumping on it for a Bills touchdown. Not only did it extend the Bills’ lead to 24-14, but it bought Allen more time.
With those additional moments, Allen went over to the heaters along the bench area and warmed his hand up. He began to throw again, starting to look more like himself.
“It took a good five to 10 minutes,” Allen said. “Just making sure trying to get some blood flow back in there, some activation, you know, when it’s cold like that too, the more you leave it out, the number the whole hand gets.”
By the time the Patriots punted away the ensuing possession, Allen was ready. He admitted later that if it was a quicker change of possession, it likely would have been Trubisky heading into the game. But in the end, no time was missed — as if it never happened.
The Bills announced it as a right elbow contusion and that Allen was cleared to return. Crisis averted.
“It was a weird feeling,” Allen said. “I’m just glad it’s gone now.”
What stood out during the Bills’ 24-21 victory? Here are several observations.
Even after slow start, O-line continues to drive offense as James Cook stars
The Bills certainly didn’t do themselves any favors in the early stages. As if there was a hangover from going score-for-score in 40-plus point affairs over the last two outings, the offense couldn’t pick things up right away, especially after the Patriots had just punched in their first possession for a touchdown. The Bills barely collected one first down on their first series. But after that, the offensive line continued to show why it is such a powerful part of the Bills’ Super Bowl outlook.
On the next drive, the Bills opened up with a 5-yard run by Ty Johnson, and with a Cook catch in between, the Bills offensive line then opened up a hole for Cook to scamper 46 yards for a rushing touchdown. Cook, who has home run speed when the offensive line affords him that space, gave the Bills the touchdown they so desperately needed while down two touchdowns. Even after that successful rushing touchdown on a first down, the rest of the first half was oddly spent having Allen drop back to pass. The Bills called 13 straight passing plays to end the half after the Cook run. The passing offense sputtered uncharacteristically. However, once the second half started, the Bills made sure not to let the running game drift to the side any longer.
The Bills opened up with run plays on four of their first five plays, with Cook gaining 32 yards on those four plays alone. It helped set up passing success through the rest of the game, which helped the Bills hang on to the ball for longer and set up potential scoring drives. During the second half, the Bills offensive line cleared the way for them to average nearly 5 yards per carry. The Bills haven’t had to rely on their rushing attack like this in some time, but it’s a positive reminder for the playoffs that when the Bills need to pivot to their ground game to bail them out, they can — with Cook leading the way.
Cam Lewis’ interception was thing of beauty
As the Bills went through the game without four defensive starters, they had to rely on some players in unexpected roles to get them through. One was Lewis, who is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades-type but rooted as a nickel corner. Due to the double injury at safety to Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin, Lewis had to start at safety. Despite Lewis having done it last week against the Lions, it was only his third career start at the position. The other was in 2022. And it was rough at the beginning of the game, with penalties and missed tackles. But he erased all of it with an excellent read of rookie quarterback Drake Maye.
As Maye was possibly expecting his target to turn a different way, he was staring down the area in the end zone for far too long. Lewis, who read the quarterback perfectly and was initially positioned near the back of the end zone, broke hard toward the area before Maye had finished his delivery. Lewis made the sliding play to stay in bounds and secured the catch for the huge possession change with the Bills only up by 3 points. That type of play, even with the Bills down multiple starters, helped an overmatched defense to piece things together for their now trademark bend-but-don’t-break style.
Amari Cooper’s curious usage
When the Bills traded for Cooper on October 15, over two months ago, the idea behind the deal was to have him slowly work his way up to a more significant workload and eventually become a locked-in piece for Allen to work with. A wrist injury in the middle of his onboarding process didn’t help, but Cooper has been back for multiple weeks, and his role has remained stagnant to what it was upon his arrival. By my unofficial count, Cooper had only 34 of the team’s 61 offensive snaps (penalties included) against the Patriots — and that was in a close contest. Cooper’s 34 snaps ranked fourth of the five receivers available, behind Khalil Shakir (46), Keon Coleman (42) and Mack Hollins (41). Cooper’s passing game involvement has been relatively muted as well. He was targeted 14 times against the Rams, but in his five other games, Cooper has had only 15 total targets. It is extremely unexpected for Cooper to still be behind in snaps to Hollins, given their two receiving skill sets.
Cooper has, for the most part, been their fourth receiver by usage. Although still ahead of Curtis Samuel, with the rest of the room healthy, the Bills have prioritized having the Shakir, Coleman and Hollins trio in the game more often than Cooper. Although it fulfills their all-for-one, one-for-all mentality in 2024, it calls into question Cooper’s future in Buffalo past this season. Cooper will be a free agent in March and turns 31 in June. The longer his involvement remains as a bit player instead of high usage, the less likely he’ll be back in Buffalo in 2025. There is still time for Cooper’s role to grow ahead of the postseason, but it may only be one week given the situation they’re in. With the Chiefs one win away from clinching the top spot, and the Bills one win away from clinching at least the No. 2 seed, Week 18 might be entirely meaningless for seeding by the time they get there. Cooper’s overall involvement, keeping 2025 in mind, will be something to keep a close eye on next week and in the playoffs.
Bills MVP: RB James Cook — Cook was the entirety of the offense Sunday, registering 126 yards from scrimmage and both offensive touchdowns against the Patriots. He was the one player the Patriots did not have an answer for and put together multiple explosive plays en route to helping the Bills to a victory.
Bills LVP: CB Kaiir Elam — It was a rough outing for Elam, allowing several big plays on his watch and then taking defensive penalties along the way. It certainly appeared as if the Patriots were targeting him Sunday. The drop-off from one of the top two cornerbacks to him has gotten a lot steeper, which could alter offseason plans at the position.
Up next: The 12-3 Bills will take on the 4-11 Jets in Orchard Park with the chance to lock up at least the No. 2 seed in the AFC. If the Chiefs defeat the Steelers on Wednesday, the Bills will not be able to earn the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
