John Murphy: Bills' issues came to light in loss to Patriots

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — It wasn’t because of the “White Out.”

It wasn’t solely because the Bills lost the turnover battle, although that didn’t help.

The Bills lost to the New England Patriots 23-20 Sunday for a variety of reasons, mostly because they were ill-equipped to handle a messy, low-down game that required good coaching. They never got their hands dirty.

Turnovers played a big role.

“Thought we beat ourselves,” according to coach Sean McDermott’s initial postgame comments. “We turned the ball over three times, they got 10 points. We got one takeaway and don’t get any points off of it.”

The Bills run of good fortune on turnovers ran out Sunday. They finished minus-2.

Last season, they were plus-24 on the turnover-takeaway chart. They never had to get used to turning it over.

But there’s more than that. The Patriots stopped the Bills running attack and forced them to pass more than run. That’s not the way the 2025 Bills play.

James Cook got 15 carries in the game, compared to 22 carries against the Saints. He needs the ball at least 20-25 times a game to get comfortable.

The biggest advantage the Patriots had was at wideout.

In his return to Buffalo, Stefon Diggs had 10 catches for 146 yards. The Bills had memories of Diggs.

Which is not to say the Bills should have re-signed Diggs. Buffalo has adopted an “Everybody Eats” formula to their pass offense. The problem is they’re just nibbling small portions - no one is eating enough.

McDermott will take a hard look at wide receiver production this week.

“There’s one-on-one’s every game,” he said after Sunday’s loss. “You wanna make sure you’re winning those. We’ll evaluate that when we look at it on film.”

He’ll see wideouts that lack the speed and physicality to win consistently against good defensive backs. And there doesn’t seem to be any real answers available.

It should be pointed out that New England is rapidly improving. Their quarterback, Drake Maye, is already the second best quarterback in the division. They are well coached by Mike Vrabel and his staff. Their players are not afraid of getting down and dirty, getting their hands dirty to win.

One other factor in Sunday’s game: the officiating. It’s not why the Bills lost but it destroyed the rhythm and flow of the game. It was tough to watch.

Shawn Hochuli gives new meaning to the phrase “over-officious jerk.”

A lot went wrong for the Buffalo Bills in Sunday’s loss. But 12 games, and hundreds of storylines, are still to come.