The Buffalo Bills suffered their first loss of the season — and their first-ever loss at new Highmark Stadium — falling 29-26 to the New England Patriots on Sunday afternoon. Drake Maye outdueled Josh Allen in a fourth-quarter shootout, throwing the go-ahead touchdown with 1:50 left before Craig Woodson intercepted Allen to seal it.
The Bills trailed 7-0 after one quarter, then exploded in the second: James Cook’s 8-yard touchdown run, Allen’s 2-yard rushing score — which gave him the franchise record for touchdowns from scrimmage (88), breaking a tie with Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas — and a 27-yard Tyler Bass field goal set up by Dee Alford’s interception sent Buffalo into halftime up 17-14.
New England controlled the second half, with Romeo Doubs catching two touchdowns to put the Patriots up 21-17. Buffalo clawed back through Keon Coleman, whose six catches for 116 yards and a touchdown included a 34-yard score that gave the Bills a 26-21 lead with 4:27 to play. But the missed two-point try kept the door open.
Maye kicked it down, finding Efton Chism III on a leaping, one-handed 23-yard touchdown grab, then hitting Rhamondre Stevenson for the two-point conversion to take a 29-26 lead. Allen drove for an answer but, pressured and spinning away from Dre’Mont Jones, threw deep for Joshua Palmer into Woodson’s arms with 1:14 left.
Allen finished 23-of-33 for 253 yards with one touchdown and one interception, while Maye went 22-of-37 for 269 yards and three touchdowns against one interception — a sharp rebound after he’d thrown six picks in his first three games. The loss drops the Bills to 3-1, and with the Patriots climbing to 2-2, the AFC East race just got a lot tighter; Buffalo’s next test comes October 13 on the road against the Rams.