Josh Allen was fine, but he wasn't the Allen who carries Buffalo by himself. He went 23-of-33 for 253 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception, and his longest strike was a 34-yard touchdown to Keon Coleman. That interception matters more than it looks. The preview's whole Patriots path was forcing mistakes and making Allen play from behind, and New England got one from him in a game decided by 3 points.
James Cook was the other big Bills question. He ran for 154 yards against the Chargers and was supposed to punish a Patriots front missing Christian Barmore. He finished with 12 carries for 75 yards and a touchdown. That's efficient, but 12 carries isn't how you bury a road underdog. Buffalo never leaned on him the way it did a week ago, and the game stayed in Maye's hands.
The line score shows a game that kept flipping. New England scored a touchdown in every quarter. Buffalo went silent in the 1st and the 3rd and dropped all 17 of its first-half points in a single 2nd-quarter flurry to lead 17-14 at the half. The Patriots answered out of the break to take a 21-17 lead into the 4th. Then came a back-and-forth final quarter, 9 points for Buffalo and 8 for New England, with the 8 coming on Efton Chism's late touchdown and the conversion that put the Patriots ahead to stay.
The injury reports shaped this one in ways nobody expected. New England played without Christian Gonzalez, Barmore and Channing Canada and still held a top offense to 26. Buffalo was already without Christian Benford and then lost more bodies during the game: DJ Moore was doubtful to return with a shoulder injury, and corners Te'Cory Couch and Dee Alford both went down. The preview said the Patriots' best chance was pushing the ball against a thin Bills secondary. Maye's 3 touchdown passes, with Hunter Henry leading the team at 62 receiving yards, say that's how it went.
So the AFC East looks different tonight. Buffalo is 3-1, still the team that has won ugly most of the year, but this time the margin ran out. New England is 2-2 with its quarterback back on track. The Patriots' scoring this year had gone 10, 20 and 6, and they put up 29 on the road against the division favorite. One week doesn't prove the Jacksonville game was a fluke. It does stop the conversation about whether Maye should be benched.