Inside the play that had Bills head coach Sean McDermott most frustrated after Patriots' comeback victory

BOSTON -- Football games always are decided by dozens of key plays over the course of 60 minutes. Yet after Sunday's comeback victory by the Patriots over the Bills, Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott was particularly perturbed about one play that the Patriots executed against his defense.

The play came just after Josh Allen scored on a QB keeper to put the Bills up 25-22 with 1:58 left to play. The Patriots took over at their own 25-yard line, needing about 40 yards to get into range for a game-tying field goal and needing the full 75 yards for the game-winning score. Considering Mac Jones hadn't led a game-winning drive or a fourth-quarter comeback since Week 5 of his rookie season, the Bills' defense must have had some confidence when taking the field protecting that three-point lead.

Yet the confidence was shattered after just one play -- a 34-yard screen pass to Rhamondre Stevenson that flipped the field and instantly allowed the Patriots to start hunting the touchdown instead of the field goal.

It played out like this: Receiver Demario Douglas motioned from left to right before the snap. Hunter Henry and Kendrick ran upfield hunting for blocks. Center David Andrews released upfield, initially drawing a flag, which was rightfully picked up after officials determined he was within a yard of the line of scrimmage at the time the pass was released. Right tackle Mike Onwenu went for a cut blcok against edge rusher Leonard Floyd; he didn't get Floyd down, but he did disrupt the rush just enough to allow Mac Jones to flick the pass out to Stevenson behind the line of scrimmage to the right side.

Within five yards of the line of scrimmage, Henry blocked safety Micah Hyde, while Bourne and Douglas double-teamed a block on cornerback Taron Johnson. At that point, the Bills were in position to keep the play to a minimum gain, with cornerback Dane Jackson in the open field and defensive tackle Jordan Phillips pursuing Stevenson from behind:

Had Jackson forced Stevenson back to the middle of the field, Phillips would have been there to likely wallop Stevenson after a short gain.

Yet after Jackson committed to the outside, and after Henry's block continued to push Poyer closer to the boundary, Stevenson made a full-speed cutback toward the middle of the field. With an ever-so-slight lane opening up by the numbers on the field, Stevenson was just fast enough to force Phillips to attempt a diving tackle, and while the 341-pound lineman got his arms around Stevenson, the running back was able to run through the would-be tackle.

Here's that cut from the high angle:

Schematically, the Bills had the play defended well. But the game is played at high speed, and tackles can be difficult to finish.

That effort by Stevenson turned it into a first down, but safety Taylor Rapp had the opportunity to limit the play to a 20-yard gain. Instead, he flopped face-first onto the turf after failing to tackle Stevenson by the ankles.

After breaking that tackle at the New England 47-yard line, Stevenson continued on to the Buffalo 41-yard line to complete the 34-yard pickup.

"Got to close the game out when it comes down to it, gotta close the game out," McDermott lamented during his postgame opening remarks. "So, just better overall tackling fundamentally. Defensively, we've got to do a better job there, and that starts with me."

Later, McDermott was asked about the frustration of failing to hold the lead, and his answer started and ended with that first-down play.

"Yeah, I think the first play was a huge play for them, right? They throw a screen, we're in four under, three-deep defense. And we didn't do enough to leverage the formation and make the tackle where we needed to make it.," McDermott said. "I think that was a 34-yard gain, and that's -- all of a sudden, now, you take the field and you're saying, hey, they got under two minutes there, and I think they had two timeouts at the time. So, they could run it. They could draw. They could screen early, and they did. And, we've got to be better just not allowing it to do what it did to us. Thirty-four yards is unacceptable. So, I think part of that is leveraging the formation -- they got into a four-by-one set. And making a tackle. And then after that, they got the ball wherever they had it, I think it was over midfield and still a timeout or two there. So, they could run it. They could throw it, and it makes it tough right there. But at the end of the day, we've got to do a better job."

Stevenson rushed up the gut for 5 yards on the next play, before stumbling behind the line for a negative-3-yard reception after that. Really, the Bills could have survived that 34-yard screen pass, and they came within inches of forcing a game-ending turnover on the third-and-8 that followed.

Yet Mac Jones waited patiently for Henry to get open over the middle, releasing a pass just before A.J. Epenesa got home:

That pass was good for a 14-yard completion.

The Patriots continued to execute from that point forward, getting some clock help on a defensive pass interference penalty to give New England a few cracks at the end zone from the 1-yard line.

But in McDermott's mind, it all could have been prevented with some better tackling on the first-and-10 from the New England 25-yard line.