Mac's interceptions spark Bills comeback in AFC East clash
With a streaking Odell Beckham Jr. down the sideline, Mac Jones decided to put faith in his receivers one more time after throwing three interceptions previously which helped bring the Buffalo Bills back into the game.
Jones' faith in Beckham Jr. would pay off with a 58-yard touchdown but Mike Tomlin's faith in his offense -- led by backup and wildcat quarterback George Abraham would not. Abraham's game winning attempt on the two point conversion would fall short as the defense was ready for it, closing out the 38-37 win for Buffalo on Sunday night.
Abraham had helped the Patriots jump out to a 31-10 lead with 8:43 remaining in the third quarter after a goal-line touchdown and Jones converting the two-point attempt with a completion to Rondale Moore.
After a long Buffalo drive that resulted in a touchdown, the Bills would be aided by Jones' second interception of the night which then led to a breakdown in the secondary that allowed Gabriel Davis to score on a 46-yard touchdown.
Jones would throw another interception on the next drive, leading to Orlando Haden's touchdown to make it a seven point game with 11:30 left. Following a New England three and out, Buffalo would take the lead with a drive that included gains of fifteen, twenty eight, fourteen, thirteen and eleven as Davis was left once again wide open by the defense.
Despite Stefon Diggs being blanketed all night by Jaire Alexander (just one reception for 13 yards), Josh Allen still threw for 328 yards and five touchdowns, completing 70 percent of his passes.
On the next drive, New England would get it going, going on a twelve play drive but on 4th and 7, Jones would throw it short of the sticks to Dre Agnew who was unable to get away from the defense, resulting in Buffalo getting the ball back with 1:34 remaining.
With two timeouts, New England was able to stop the clock and Buffalo, getting the ball back with 41 seconds.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Scoring Summary
Quarter 1
[BUF] D. Singletary 39 Yd pass from J. Allen (14:07)
[NE] K. Nwangwu, returned kickoff 93 Yds (13:58)
[BUF] A. Szmyt, 37 Yd FG (5:13)
[NE] H. Butker, 23 Yd FG (0:25)
Quarter 2
[NE] H. Butker, 29 Yd FG (12:21)
[NE] D. Agnew 1 Yd pass from G. Abraham (3:23)
[NE] H. Butker, 17 Yd FG (0:00)
Quarter 3
[NE] G. Abraham, 2 Yd run -- 2pt (8:39)
[BUF] J. Ross 1 Yd pass from J. Allen (2:41)
Quarter 4
[BUF] G. Davis 46 Yd pass from J. Allen (14:13)
[BUF] O. Harden 19 Yd pass from J. Allen (11:21)
[BUF] G. Davis 11 Yd pass from J. Allen (6:10)
[NE] O. Beckham Jr. 58 Yd pass from M. Jones -- 2pt failed (0:31)
---------------------------------------------------------------- Buffalo Bills
QB Josh Allen: 19 of 27, 328 yards, 5 touchdowns, sacked once
HB Devin Singletary: 23 carries, 78 yards, 6 receptions, 105 yards, touchdown
TE Dawson Knox: 7 receptions, 116 yards
WR Gabriel Davis: 2 receptions, 57 yards, 2 touchdowns
WR Justyn Ross: 2 receptions, 18 yards, touchdown
WR Stefon Diggs: 1 reception, 13 yards
LB Tremaine Edmunds: 17 tackles, 3 tackles for loss
S Alohi Gilman: 12 tackles, 2 interceptions
LB Ben Jones: 11 tackles, tackle for loss
CB Sidney Jones IV: 8 tackles, tackle for loss, interception
New England Patriots
QB Mac Jones: 28 of 45, 382 yards, touchdown, 3 interceptions (40.4 PFF grade)
QB George Abraham: 1 of 2, touchdown, 2 carries, 3 yards, touchdown
HB Damien Harris: 21 carries, 76 yards (53.0 PFF grade)
HB Kenneth Walker III: 8 carries, 18 yards (40.5 PFF grade)
TE Dre Agnew: 7 receptions, 46 yards, touchdown (55.1 PFF grade)
WR Rondale Moore: 6 receptions, 75 yards (73.6 PFF grade)
TE Darnell Washington: 4 receptions, 42 yards (32.3 PFF grade)
WR Odell Beckham Jr: 3 receptions, 83 yards, touchdown (92.6 PFF grade)
WR Charleston Rambo: 2 receptions, 53 yards (85.6 PFF grade)
LT Patterson: 50.3 PFF grade | LG Alexander: 56.9 PFF grade | C Mitchell: 47.2 PFF grade | RG Tomlinson: 60.9 PFF grade | RT Onwenu: 68.0 PFF grade
ILB Trez Marshall: 8 tackles, 3 tackles for loss (90.0 PFF grade)
S Jonathan Jones: 8 tackles, tackle for loss (69.8 PFF grade)
ILB Gio Whitfield: 6 tackles, 2 tackles for loss (73.3 PFF grade)
IDL Quinnen Williams: 3 tackles, 2 tackles for loss (99.0 PFF grade)
EDGE Quincey Thompkins: 1 tackle, tackle for loss (96.1 PFF grade)
Jones, Pats offense nearly perfect in rout of Steelers
New England offensive coordinator Marcus Brady wanted a clean game from its offense so even when Pittsburgh jumped out to a 14-3 lead thanks to two touchdowns of over forty yards, he stuck to the efficient quick passing game and New England's rushing attack behind a revamped offensive line with Michael Onwenu back at guard.
New England rushed for 163 yards on the ground and Mac Jones completed 77 percent of his passes in the Patriots 38-17 blowout win over the Steelers on Sunday night to get back to their winning ways.
A series of missed kicks by former New England kicker Quinn Nordin kept Pittsburgh off the board and allowed for New England to take the lead and extend it. After Hunter Henry's touchdown, New England responded with their first of the night as Kenny McIntosh went untouched into the endzone.
Nordin's 59-yard field goal would fall short on the next drive, giving New England a short field that they took advantage of with an eight play drive that ended with Jones finding Charleston Rambo on back to back plays for the nine yard touchdown to take the lead.
Nordin would miss two more kicks before the end of the half and his missed 59-yarder in the third quarter would give New England another short field to set up the 29-yard touchdown to Odell Beckham Jr. to put the rout fully in motion.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Scoring Summary
Quarter 1
[PIT] N. Harris, 49 Yd run (12:19)
[NE] H. Butker, 60 Yd FG (7:43)
[PIT] H. Henry 41 Yd pass from M. Corral (5:20)
[NE] K. McIntosh, 8 Yd run (0:48)
Quarter 2
[NE] C. Rambo 9 Yd pass from M. Jones (8:34)
Quarter 3
[NE] O. Beckham Jr. 29 Yd pass from M. Jones (0:15)
Quarter 4
[PIT] Q. Nordin, 19 Yd FG (12:12)
[NE] D. Harris, 4 Yd run (10:40)
[NE] G. Abraham, 6 Yd run (5:14)
---------------------------------------------------------------- Pittsburgh Steelers
QB Matt Corral: 34 of 47, 325 yards, touchdown, interception, sacked 4 times
HB Najee Harris: 12 carries, 146 yards, touchdown, 10 receptions, 76 yards
TE Hunter Henry: 10 receptions, 106 yards, touchdown
WR Juju Smith-Schuster: 5 receptions, 41 yards
WR Jimmie Dobbs: 5 receptions, 41 yards
LB Omar Speights: 13 tackles
LB Devin Bush: 9 tackles, tackle for loss
Injuries
KC LG Joe Thuney (shoulder - season)
KC TE Travis Kelce (ankle)
KC CB David Long Jr. (wrist)
-----------
NE S Malachi Moore (shoulder)
NE IDL Quinnen Williams (elbow)
NE G Eric Alexander (abdominal)
Jones, Patriots keep pace with high-octane Chiefs offense in Arrowhead
Unnerved, unconquered and undeterred. No matter how many yards or touchdowns Patrick Mahomes would throw, the New England Patriots and Mac Jones would come right back despite mistakes of their own.
In a game that was all about the passing attack, it was the running game that helped seal it for New England with Damien Harris and Kenny McIntosh breaking for runs of 28 and 16 yards on back to back plays to set up Harris' game winning touchdown in the fourth quarter as New England escaped Kansas City with the 42-35 victory on Sunday afternoon.
After Mahomes' 74-yard touchdown to Tyreek Hill at the two minute mark to tie it up in the first half, Jones would respond with perhaps his best throw of the night, a 39-yard rope to Charleston Rambo with a minute left to go into the half with a touchdown lead.
The lead would be short lived coming out of the half as Jones was intercepted on his first pass of the second half, his third of the day and eleventh of the season, three shy of his total from all of last season. Three plays later, Mahomes found Braden Galloway in the flats for the touchdown.
Both teams traded punts for the first time all game and Jones got it going again, completing passes of seventeen and sixteen yards to Dre Agnew and Odell Beckham Jr. respectively before finding Rondale Moore in the endzone for the go-ahead touchdown.
Once more, the lead didn't last very long as Mahomes completed a 38-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman to open up the fourth quarter. Jones went back to Beckham Jr. on the ensuing drive on third down, completing a pass of fourteen yards to keep the drive going and setting up Harris and McIntosh's big runs.
Kansas City would get the ball in scoring position with two minutes remaining but the ball was jarred loose from Metchie by Jaylon Smith.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Scoring Summary
Quarter 1
[NE] G. Abraham, 11 Yd run (5:33)
[KC] J. Metchie III 2 Yd pass from P. Mahomes (2:50)
Quarter 2
[KC] J. Metchie III 2 Yd pass from P. Mahomes (5:30)
[NE] C. Rambo 55 Yd pass from M. Jones (4:09)
[NE] D. Agnew 2 Yd pass from M. Jones (2:14)
[KC] T. Hill 74 Yd pass from P. Mahomes (1:51)
[NE] C. Rambo 39 Yd pass from M. Jones (0:55)
Quarter 3
[KC] B. Galloway 6 Yd pass from P. Mahomes (12:52)
[NE] R. Moore 4 Yd pass from M. Jones (1:39)
Quarter 4
[KC] M. Hardman 38 Yd pass from P. Mahomes (13:40)
[NE] D. Harris, 1 Yd run (10:21)
---------------------------------------------------------------- Kansas City Chiefs
QB Patrick Mahomes: 45 of 52, 503 yards, 5 touchdowns, sacked once, 2 fumbles (2 lost)
HB Isaiah Spiller: 7 carries, 10 yards, 5 receptions, 32 yards
HB Clyde Edwards-Helaire: 5 carries, 24 yards
TE Hudson Henry: 13 receptions, 138 yards
WR Tyreek Hill: 9 receptions, 177 yards, touchdown
WR Mecole Hardman: 6 receptions, 95 yards, touchdown
WR John Metchie III: 6 receptions, 33 yards, 2 touchdowns
LB Drake Thomas: 13 tackles, 5 tackles for loss
LB Davion Taylor: 11 tackles, 3 tackles for loss
S Juan Thornhill: 10 tackles, tackle for loss
CB L'Jarius Sneed: 7 tackles, interception
DE Lamar Miles: 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, sack
S DeMarco Hellams: 4 tackles, tackle for loss, interception
CB Chris Jackson: 4 tackles, interception
New England's passing game comes into focus with trade of Golladay, trade for McCormick
The New England Patriots were extremely busy at the trade deadline, trading for Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Steve McCormick and trading away receiver Kenny Golladay to the Baltimore Ravens, who New England will play later this week.
The Patriots got McCormick in exchange for their 2026 fourth and sixth round pick along with offensive lineman Matt Jones. New England restocked their draft capital with the
Golladay trade, losing a fifth round pick but gaining a third round pick from Baltimore to give them four 3rd round picks for next spring's draft.
Golladay is the second free agent signing to not make it to December, joining Jadeveon Clowney who was traded to Houston. Despite playing the third most snaps at receiver, Golladay had caught just nine passes in eight games and was routinely outplayed by Odell Beckham Jr, his backup.
It was a different tale for McCormick in Jacksonville as the former second round pick has yet to register a snap for the Jaguars this season after catching seventeen passes as a rookie which led to the former Penn State receiver requesting a trade.
The movement at the receiver position comes on the heels of Mac Jones' comments to the media on Monday when discussing his league leading eleven interceptions on the season. Jones was quick to point out that New England also leads the league in yardage and attempts.
"Whenever you're pushing the ball down the field or throwing the ball a lot, there's a give and take. You never want to turn the ball over," Jones continued, "But you also want to push the ball down the field and let your guys make plays so it sort of comes with the territory."
Patriots offensive coordinator Marcus Brady saw it differently with a slight chuckle when told of Jones' comments, "I don't know about that, turning the ball over isn't something you accept as an offense."
