Report Card: Bills' running game was strong in narrow victory over Patriots. As for special teams ...

Grading the Buffalo Bills in their 24-21 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday at Highmark Stadium ...

Running game: A Its hard to quantify all the ways in which Greg Rousseaus 6-foot-7 height and 8314-inch wingspan impact plays on the football field.

Rousseau didnt get an official statistic for the pivotal play in Sundays game, but his massive frame helped create a touchdown in the Bills' victory.

Heres a review of key plays.

Undoubtedly the engine of the offense in the win.

The Bills had almost exactly a 50-50 run-to-pass ratio, with 28 carries to 29 passes.

Those 28 carries produced 172 yards a team average of 6.1 per carry.

Starter James Cook led the way with an even 100 yards on just 11 carries, Cooks third 100-yard game in the past four weeks.

Hes up to 928 rushing yards through 15 games and is looking good for a 1,000-yard season.

Quarterback Josh Allen added 30 rushing yards on six carries, taking his season total to 514.

Its the sixth season of Allens career he has reached at least 500 rushing yards, and this makes four straight.

Allen and Cook give the Bills at least two 500-yard rushers for the fourth straight year, the longest such streak in team history.

One negative was Cooks fumble, but OCyrus Torrence was in the right place at the right time to make a recovery.

Passing game: D There just wasnt much separation by the Bills receivers.

It felt like Allen didnt want much of the short stuff hes been content to take for much of this season, instead looking downfield more.

When he did, he often found that nobody was open.

Allen finished 16 of 29 for 154 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

His streak of pass attempts without an interception ended at 123 but it was his seventh career streak of at least 100-plus attempts without a pick.

The touchdown pass went to Cook and covered 4 yards on third-and-goal.

No Bills receiver had more than Cooks 26 receiving yards.

Tight end Dalton Kincaid led the offense with four catches, but those gained just 15 yards.

The usually reliable Khalil Shakir had just two catches on six targets for 22 yards and he fumbled at the end of one of those (he was able to recover it) while Amari Cooper had just one catch on two targets for 10 yards.

Run defense: B- The Patriots set the tone on the ground early, gaining 33 yards on their first five carries.

Linebacker Terrel Bernard and defensive end Von Miller combined to stop Antonio Gibson for no gain to temporarily rebound, but New England finished with 126 yards on 30 carries.

So why such a good grade, you ask? Takeaways.

Bernard stripped Rhamondre Stevenson in the third quarter, and linebacker Dorian Williams there to jump on the fumble.

Nickel cornerback Taron Johnson also recovered a fumble for a touchdown.

With eight total tackles, Williams increased his season total to 105, giving him his first career 100-tackle season.

Bernard led the Bills with 12 tackles Sunday, bringing his season total to 98.

Pass defense: C- If the Patriots can get some protection around Drake Maye and add some weapons, the young quarterback might be a problem.

He made some rookie mistakes, but he also showed a ton of promise in going 22 of 36 for 261 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

The Bills pass rush didnt do a great job pressuring Maye, as the only sack was split by linebacker Baylon Spector and defensive tackle Austin Johnson.

Safety Cam Lewis had his first career interception for the Bills, but that was the only pass defensed.

The secondary surely missed starters Rasul Douglas, Taylor Rapp and Damar Hamlin.

Bills running back Ray Davis has a step on Patriots cornerback Alex Austin in the third quarter Sunday.

Special teams: D Another week, another notable error.

Head coach Sean McDermott was not happy that the Patriots pulled off a fake punt in the second quarter.

It certainly feels as if special teams coordinator Matthew Smiley is going to be on the hot seat after this season.

Tight end Quintin Morris committed a penalty on special teams.

It wasnt all bad, though, as Tyler Bass drilled a 50-yard field goal in the third quarter to give his team the lead.

Bass has hit 50-plus-yard field goals in back-to-back games, the third such streak of his career and only the 12th time thats been done in team history.

Sam Martin placed two of his four punts inside the Patriots 20-yard line, making his 37.8-yard net average look a little better.

Ray Davis had a 24-yard kickoff return that gave the Bills a decent drive start.

Rookie Brandon Codringtons decision-making was solid as a returner.

Its hard to imagine a worse start to a game than what the Buffalo Bills defense had Sunday.

At the end of the first quarter, it would have been lunacy to think the defense would be the unit that spearheaded Buffalos comeback victory, but thats exactly how it played out in the second half of a 24-21 win over the Patriots.

Coaching: C Ive observed McDermott after every single one of his games coaching the Bills.

Sunday might have been as annoyed as Ive ever seen him after a win.

For good reason, too.

The Bills were undisciplined (13 penalties for 78 yards).

They were not prepared at the start of the game, falling into a 14-0 hole.

They got the result they needed, and thats what matters the most.

But McDermott wants his team playing its best football at the end of the season.

What the Bills put on the field against the Patriots was nothing close to that.

The team has two weeks left in the regular season to work out some of those issues before the playoffs begin.

They have a lot to iron out at the moment.

Offensive coordinator Joe Brady needs to sort out why his receivers had such difficulty getting open, and defensive coordinator Bobby Babich has to focus on getting his group ready to play from the opening whistle.

They didnt look ready to do that against New England.

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