It was a minor miracle that the Patriots were able to stay in Sunday’s 27-21 loss to the Bills for as long as they were given how poorly the first half went on offense.
The Patriots turned the ball over four times on their first five offensive drives. Bailey Zappe threw three interceptions in that stretch, and tight end Pharaoh Brown lost a field goal.
“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 said he was thinking after throwing three interceptions. “It’s football. Things like that are going to happen. You’re going to have turnovers. You’re going to throw three interceptions in a game. It’s how you respond. It’s how you come back in that next series and how 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 got out to a 7-0 lead on the first play of the game when Jalen Reagor returned a kick 98 yards for a touchdown. But Zappe tossed an interception on the Patriots’ first offensive play on a target to tight end Mike Gesicki that Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas tipped and defensive tackle Ed Oliver picked out of the air.
“Yeah, I think that’s just a great defensive play,” Zappe said. “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 should have made a different decision on his next interception, which Douglas jumped on a target to DeVante Parker, who was running a slant. Zappe believed he should have thrown a swing pass to Patriots rookie wide receiver DeMario “Pop” Douglas.
“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 said. “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 final interception was a pick-six by Rasul Douglas. It appeared that Zappe expected wide receiver Jalen Reagor to come back for the ball. Instead, Reagor continued running upfield.
“Yeah, it’s just miscommunication,” Zappe said. “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 said. “I’m going to just leave it at that.”
The Patriots kept the game competitive despite the turnovers thanks to a strong defensive performance and a resilient effort from Zappe, who was 16-of-26 for 209 yards but led the Patriots on a scoring drive early in the second quarter and another early in the fourth quarter.
The Patriots did get the ball back after cutting the Bills’ lead to 27-21, but it was from their own 3-yard line. Seven of the Patriots’ 12 offensive possessions started from within their own 20-yard line, and three of those were within the 10-yard line.