Four Ups, Four Downs from Patriots' dramatic comeback victory over Bills

BOSTON -- To say that the Patriots weren't expected to win on Sunday would be to make the understatement of the century. With the Patriots coming off three straight losses and looking to be headed for a miserable season, few prognosticators spent even one minute pondering the chances of Bill Belichick's team pulling off a victory against the always-potent Buffalo Bills.

And when Josh Allen fell forward into the end zone just inside of the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter to give Buffalo a lead, it appeared as though the unlikely upset that had been bubbling all day would be ending with a thud for New England.

Yet Mac Jones delivered his first fourth-quarter comeback and his first game-winning drive since Week 5 of his rookie year, leading the Patriots to a stunning 29-25 win over Buffalo.

Unlike in previous weeks, the "Ups" outnumber the "Downs" from this one.

Four Ups

Mac Jones

If the quarterback was being forced to wear all of the blame for the down weeks, he certainly deserves a large chunk of the credit for this one.

Jones was excellent, completing 25 of his 30 passes with two touchdowns and -- most importantly -- no picks. Some of those five incompletions were ugly, and he was a bit hyper-aware of the pass rush, but the quarterback put together arguably the best performance of his career, capped off with a near-perfect game-winning drive.

Demario Douglas

Rookie "Pop" Douglas had the best game of his career, contributing as a receiver, rusher and punt returner.

As a receiver, Douglas caught four passes for 54 yards, including a 16-yard diving catch to convert a third-and-1 (after being interfered with). He also had a 19-yard catch on the game-winning drive, plus a 6-yard catch that didn't count due to another defensive pass interference penalty. And he drew an illegal contact penalty, which negated a third-down strip-sack that would have forced the Patriots to punt. (The Patriots instead scored a touchdown on that drive.)

As a rusher, he took one handoff and took off for 20 yards, leaving one poor defender in his wake.

He also returned one punt and made the most of it, bringing it back 25 yards to help set up a Patriots field goal.

In short, Pop popped.

Jabrill Peppers

The safety was referred to as a "psychopath" by captain David Andrews after the game.

"I just try to be as crazy energetic as I can," Peppers said. "And it's not that I'm a psychopath. I'm just more willing to run into another grown man at full speed than a lot of guys are. So I think that's really it."

Fair enough. Thanks for clarifying.

Peppers got this game off to a hot start for New England, picking off Josh Allen on Buffalo's first offensive play of the game. New England turned that extra possession into a touchdown to take a 10-0 lead early. Peppers finished second on the team with eight total tackles.

Offensive Line

With Mike Onwenu at right tackle, the Patriots finally looked to have an NFL-caliber offensive line. It made all the difference in the world. 

Sidy Sow stepped in at guard -- his more natural position -- over fellow rookie Atonio Mafi, too, and Cole Strange returned from injury to give the Patriots a legitimate five-man unit for the first time all season. It was no coincidence that the offense set a season-high with 29 points.

Trent Brown was hurt temporarily, and Vederian Lowe filled in and immediately committed a penalty before getting hurt himself. But Brown toughed it out and got back on the field for the game-winning drive, capping off an important day of work for the offensive line.

BONUS UPS

Ezekiel Elliott refused to be denied at the goal line, burrowing his way through a crowd to score the Patriots' first touchdown of the day. He now has rushing touchdowns in consecutive weeks after being kept out of the end zone for the first five weeks of the year. ... A series of plays early in the fourth quarter had J.C. Jackson breaking up a deep heave to Stefon Diggs, Jack Jones immediately popping Diggs after a short reception on third down, and Ja'Whaun Bentley punching a pass out of the hands of Dawson Knox on fourth down to force a turnover on downs. ...  Rhamondre Stevenson was enormous on the game-winning drive, taking a short pass 34 yards on the first play and making a 10-yard reception later on the drive. In total, 46 of his 85 yards from scrimmage came on the game-winning drive. ... Mike Gesicki did a good job of beating man coverage to get open for the game-winning touchdown. ... Christian Barmore followed up a solid performance in Las Vegas with another one on Sunday. He was credited with one sack and three total tackles, but he was a presence in the Buffalo backfield for most of the day. ... Rookie specialists Bryce Baringer and Chad Ryland were just about perfect. Ryland was 3-for-3 on field goals and 2-for-2 on PATs on  windy day, while Baringer kicked two punts, averaging 55 yards with both coming down inside the 20. One went 64 yards, and the other went 46 yards and sailed out of bounds at the 3-yard line. ... Tight end Pharaoh Brown continued to be an unlikely contributor on offense, with two catches for 51 yards. He had another catch for 22 yards, too, but Vederian Lowe was deemed to have been too far downfield, so the play did not count.

Four Downs

Missed Tackles

The Patriots missed some tackles on Sunday, most notably with J.C. Jackson allowing Stefon Diggs to pop off the turf and score a touchdown that never should have been scored.

Myles Bryant did not cover himself in glory on that play, either.

Jack Jones had a rough rep near the sideline ... 

... and the normally reliable Kyle Dugger missed an open-field tackle on Latavius Murray, allowing the Bills to convert a third-and-15.

Some of the failed attempts to bring down Josh Allen can be forgiven, as he's quite simply a tough tackle. But overall, the Patriots' defense left a few plays out there in the tackling department.

Field Goal Operation

Bill Belichick had to burn a second-half timeout because the field-goal unit only had 10 players on the field before a 49-yard field goal attempt by Chad Ryland in the third quarter. Sidy Sow was the missing player.

The Patriots ended up surviving the missing timeout, thanks in large part to the pass interference penalty called on Demario Douglas' reception near the goal line on the final drive. But that wasted timeout would have loomed large had Douglas' reception ended with him being tackled inbounds. 

Kendrick Bourne's Fumble

Outside of one play, Kendrick Bourne had a wonderful day. It's just ... it was a pretty large play.

Just after a Buffalo touchdown cut New England's lead to five points in the fourth quarter, Bourne caught a pass over the middle on second-and-15 on a comeback route before turning upfield for more yardage. While going down, he allowed Jordan Poyer to punch the ball out of his grasp. Buffalo recovered at the New England 29-yard line and scored the go-ahead touchdown three minutes later.

Again, Bourne was good outside of that play, leading the team with six receptions and 63 yards while also hauling in a touchdown for the first time since Week 1. But that miscue was a huge one that ultimately got wiped away by a game-winning drive.

DeVante Parker, Tyquan Thornton

The two receivers were almost completely uninvolved with the offense. Parker had one catch for eight yards, finishing with less production than practice squad call-up Jalen Reagor (one reception, 11 yards). Thornton had one catch for two yards. Thornton now has two receptions for eight yards in his two active games this year, and Parker took a notably lesser role a week after committing a key drop and refusing to take public accountability for it.

BONUS DOWNS

Clete Blakeman and his officiating crew were heavily involved in this game. There were 17 accepted penalties plus two more declined penalties. Some penalties obviously had to be called, but certainly neither side was happy to see the officials so involved on seemingly every other play.