BUFFALO, N.Y. — The winds were howling in Buffalo on Monday night, up to 50 miles per hour, as the New England Patriots took on the Bills.
With the weather conditions, Bill Belichick's plan for New England's offense was easy to see early: run the ball. Over and over and over.
The Patriots won the game 14-10 and rookie of the year frontrunner, QB Mac Jones threw the ball just three times. Yes, three.
That marked the fewest pass attempts in a game since 1968, when the Chiefs did it. That's tied for the second fewest pass attempts in a game in the Super Bowl era.
New England was also the first team since the 1978 Saints to rush on 90% or more of their plays, according to ESPN.
The Bills threw the ball 30 times. The Patriots threw it three times. They were pretty evenly matched teams coming into the game and it was the Patriots, on the road, who got the win through their run game and defense to snatch the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Has there been a more impressive win this season? Maybe in recent memory?
On Tuesday's Locked On Today podcast, Locked On Patriots podcast host Mike D'Abate joined Peter Bukowski to talk about the 9-4 Patriots and how they now lead the conversation for AFC favorite.
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"Mac Jones' stat line is anemic, two of three for 19 yards. If you showed me that I would either consider he was injured and had to leave the game or they pulled him because he just didn't have it," D'Abate said on Locked On Today. "Yet, the New England Patriots come out with the win, they run the ball effectively...The Patriots are getting contributions from players that most teams and most fans would look at the stat line and go, 'what, who's that?'"
The more things change the more they stay the same. This has been the same process Bill Belichick has employed for the past two decades and is what made him win six rings when Tom Brady was his QB. Now, it looks like he's got it all figured out again with another rookie QB in Mac Jones.
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While the run game and the defense has proven elite during New England's seven-game win streak, the only real worry moving forward is having a rookie quarterback leading your team down the stretch and into the playoffs as probably a top one or two seed. Is Jones up for the pressure?
"That's the ultimate question that needs to be answered," D'Abate said on Locked On Today. "What I've seen from Mac Jones, what I've seen in practice, and the prowess that he's able to show and the leadership he's been able to show with this team, as long as they put him in a position to run that timing-based offense predicated on the short, accurate pass...that's where you're going to see Mac Jones come alive."
Jones and the Patriots have defeated the Chargers and Buffalo in close games during their win streak, with blowout wins over the Panthers, Browns, Falcons and Jets. They go on bye in Week 14 before some big games ahead against the Indianapolis Colts and then the Bills again in Week 16.
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