It was a minor miracle that the Patriots have been capable of keep in Sunday’s 27-21 loss to the Bills for so long as they got how poorly the primary half went on offense.
The Patriots turned the ball over 4 instances on their first 5 offensive drives. Bailey Zappe threw three interceptions in that stretch, and tight finish Pharaoh Brown misplaced a discipline objective.
“It’s hard, but in that moment of time, you’re like, ‘hey, we’ve got a long way to go. Got a lot more drives, got a lot more opportunities. Go down there and score.’ Kind of flush it and forget about it,” Zappe stated he was pondering after throwing three interceptions. “It’s soccer. Things like which might be going to occur. You’re going to have turnovers. You’re going to throw three interceptions in a sport. It’s the way you reply. It’s the way you come again in that subsequent collection and the way you play.
“I felt like we did great as an offense in the second half coming back. We kind of flushed everything and came out together and played a great second half. It just wasn’t enough because of what we did in the first half.”
The Patriots acquired out to a 7-0 lead on the primary play of the sport when Jalen Reagor returned a kick 98 yards for a landing. But Zappe tossed an interception on the Patriots’ first offensive play on a goal to tight finish Mike Gesicki that Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas tipped and defensive deal with Ed Oliver picked out of the air.
BIG PLAY ED‼️
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— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 31, 2023
“Yeah, I think that’s just a great defensive play,” Zappe stated. “When I look at it, I could probably get the ball out a little bit faster. There’s really nothing Mike could have done. I just think that guy came around him, hit his arm, hit the ball. Just a great play. There’s really nothing you can really do about that. People are going to make plays. You’ve just got to move on.”
Zappe believed he ought to have made a distinct resolution on his subsequent interception, which Douglas jumped on a goal to DeVante Parker, who was operating a slant. Zappe believed he ought to have thrown a swing move to Patriots rookie broad receiver DeMario “Pop” Douglas.
RASUUUUUUUL! 😤
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— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 31, 2023
“Yeah, that’s just, the corner was inside. He drove on — that was the one to DP — drove on the slant or whatever. I’ve just got to do what I’m coached to do and just throw the little swing pass that we had going,” Zappe stated. “It’s just simple as that. If I do that, who knows what happens? Is that a 10-yard gain, 15-yard gain? You’re getting the ball into Pop’s hands. It’s never a bad thing. It’s just things that I have to fix and over the course of my career, trust me, I’ll get better at that.”
Zappe’s third and remaining interception was a pick-six by Rasul Douglas. It appeared that Zappe anticipated broad receiver Jalen Reagor to return again for the ball. Instead, Reagor continued operating upfield.
RASUL DOUGLAS MAKES US WANT TO SHOUT!
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— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 31, 2023
“Yeah, it’s just miscommunication,” Zappe stated. “Just something that we’ll get back and we’ll fix it, make sure we’re both on the same page.”
“It was just something between me and Bailey,” Reagor stated. “I’m going to just leave it at that.”
The Patriots stored the sport aggressive regardless of the turnovers due to a powerful defensive efficiency and a resilient effort from Zappe, who was 16-of-26 for 209 yards however led the Patriots on a scoring drive early within the second quarter and one other early within the fourth quarter.
The Patriots did get the ball again after slicing the Bills’ result in 27-21, nevertheless it was from their very own 3-yard line. Seven of the Patriots’ 12 offensive possessions began from inside their very own 20-yard line, and three of these have been inside the 10-yard line.
Source: www.bostonherald.com