Three questions: Run defense remains a worry after Bills hold off Patriots

Three questions on our mind after Sundays victory by the Bills over the New England Patriots: Here are Jay Skurski's grades for the Buffalo Bills in their 24-21 victory over the New England Patriots.

What should Bills fans be worried about after the narrow victory over a losing team? The fact the Bills had a close game with a division rival is not necessarily a problem.

Kansas City has been playing close games all season.

The big worry is the Bills run defense was not playoff caliber again.

New England rushed 17 times for 80 yards, a 4.7-yard average in the first half.

The Patriots are not a dominant running team.

They held the ball for 20:20 in the first half.

The Bills are staring at potential playoff games against power running teams Baltimore or Pittsburgh.

The Ravens, of course, destroyed the Bills on the ground back in Week 4.

One might point out that the Bills were playing without starting linebacker Matt Milano for a second straight week.

But Milano was on the field in Los Angeles when the Rams ran all over the Bills.

If the defense isnt getting turnovers and you usually cant live on turnovers in the playoffs can the defense get enough stops to win? Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir tries to pick up yardage against the Patriots in the third quarter on Sunday.

Why didnt the Bills offense steamroll the slumping New England defense? The first problem was the defense allowed the Patriots to dominate ball control, which limited the offensive possessions.

The second problem, based the eyeball test, was Josh Allen got a little greedy and wasnt taking small profits against a Patriots defense that was relying on a lot of man-to-man coverage.

Allens first reads were covered and he did a lot of scrambling outside the pocket looking for openings.

A deep pass for Khalil Shakir in the third quarter came after a shorter dump-off was passed up.

Then there were some costly penalties.

A promising drive in the fourth quarter got derailed when the offense was late out of the huddle and Spencer Brown committed a false start.

The Bills have been very good against man-to-man coverage this season.

They didnt beat it Sunday.

But they have the talent to exploit it in the playoffs.

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.

How is the AFC playoff picture shaping up? There was cause for concern for Bills fans this weekend.

Kansas City got another modest victory, this one over a banged-up Houston team.

But the Chiefs finally got their first-line receiving corps together, with Hollywood Brown coming back from injury to join Xavier Worthy and DeAndre Hopkins.

Thats an improvement for the Chiefs.

Meanwhile, Baltimores run game and pass game looked great in a win over Pittsburgh.

The Bills (12-3) are guaranteed no worse than the No.

3 seed, and theyre very likely to clinch No.

2 because Pittsburgh (10-5) has two rough games remaining (home vs.

Kansas City and Cincinnati).

Just one win clinches the second seed for the Bills.

If Kansas City beats Pittsburgh on Christmas Day and the Bills win at home against the Jets next week, the Bills will be locked into No.

2 and could rest their starters in the regular-season finale.

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