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FOXBOROUGH – In a year where the Patriots couldn’t figure out how to play winning football consistently, the organization sure picked the worse time possible to figure it out.
Led by Joe Milton’s 241 yards passing with a rushing and throwing TD, the Pats beat Buffalo 23-16 inside a half empty Gillette Stadium on a frigid final day of the season.
A loss would have guaranteed the Patriots the No. 1 overall pick, but instead, the 4-13 Pats drop down to No. 4.
“Look, anytime we step foot – I’ve said this over the last couple of weeks, as a player, as a coach, we always want to go out there and win,” Jerod Mayo said postgame when asked if he had a message for fans that were unhappy the team won on Sunday.
“Told them after the first win of the season, coaches are nothing without the players, and I just told them that again, and I just appreciate all the effort. Also told them, ‘look, today it’s all about the game. We’ll have enough time here tomorrow and the next couple of days to address all the other things.’ At some point in time here, I’ll have my normal meeting with the Krafts and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
As for Joe Milton – who finished 22-29 after starting 10-10 – this was a special day, regardless of what may have been on the line for the future of the organization.
“Man, I’m going to be honest with you all, still to this moment right now, none of this feels real,” he said. “Just because I did scout team the whole year. I didn’t know when my moment was going to come. Everybody around the building just kept saying the same thing, just be ready for your moment, and I didn’t know it was going to come today. Like I said all week, if the opportunity presents itself, then I’ll be ready.
“None of this today still feels real, and even right now it still doesn’t. I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as I can, but at the same time just be cheerful with my brothers and cherish the moments that I have right now before it’s all over.”
Milton understood the fans’ perspective too, but knows this team couldn’t treat the game like most wanted them to, that’s simply not how pro athletes are wired.
“I mean, we’ve got to handle how we handle our program as it is right now,” he added. “We can’t think too far in the future, can’t think too far in the past. We’re just being exactly where our feet are right now, as a program, as an organization. We’re just being here right now in the moment. Thinking about a pick right now is way out of our hands. If they’re going to give it to us, if they do it, they do it; if they don’t, they don’t.
“Today the main focus was to win.”
With Gillette Stadium a little more than half full, Drake Maye started the game, was sacked on third down and was then done for the day as the Patriots punted. After a forced turnover-on-downs with a 4th-&-1 Mitch Trubisky tush push stuff, Joe Milton made his ‘real’ NFL debut as the offense took over at the New England 45.
Milton went on to lead a 13-play march that took 7:16 and ended with him easily running it in from a yard out a few plays after a 4th-&-1 QB sneak at the Bills’ 18. Joey Slye’s extra point gave the Pats a rare 7-0 lead.
It stayed that way until Trubisky found running back Ray Davis on 4th-&-goal for a two-yard touchdown, tying the game at seven apiece early in the second. Just five plays later, Milton had another highlight, this time rolling to his right and throwing an absolute missile back across his body to the middle of the field, hitting a wide open Kayshon Boutte who took it the distance for a 48-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead.
The Bills cut it to 14-10 with a 49-yard Tyler Bass field goal with just over five minutes left in the half. Both teams punted on their final possessions, keeping New England in front by four heading into the break. Milton ultimately went 12-13 for 139 yards and the two scores in his first half of regular season NFL football.
“Yeah, he’s done a tremendous job in practice as the show team quarterback. Done a tremendous job doing that, and I’m glad to see the way he came out today,” Mayo said of Milton. “He did a good job operating in the huddle. Obviously started off on fire. But, it was good to see.”
Buffalo opened the second half with a punt after a few minutes, but New England quickly did its duty trying to lose as Gibson coughed up the football two plays later at the New England 16. James Cook punched in a short touchdown run four snaps later, but a missed PAT kept it at 16-14 Bills.
Joe Milton went on another clock-killing crusade on the next drive, chewing up 6:54 across 12 plays and 54-yards. The march ultimately ended with a less-than-ideal 41-yard field goal for Slye that put the Pats up 17-16 with a minute left in the quarter.
The only drama remaining (aside from the coaching decision coming after the game) heading to the fourth was whether or not the Patriots would choke away the No. 1 pick in the final 15 minutes with mostly Bills fans left in the stadium. Well, with 8:53 remaining, Slye did his best to give Patriots fans the agita as he buried a 42-yarder to put New England back up 20-16.
The Pats continued to hurt the cause by forcing a turnover on downs near midfield with a little over five minutes left, but quickly went three-and-out. Buffalo was no help, immediately going three-and-out again, followed by a lengthy return for the Pats down to the Buffalo 45.
To cap off the worst case scenario outcome, Slye added one more 50-yard field goal just for good measure, securing the mist unwanted win in Patriots history with 1:55 remaining.
So now, fans that sat through a miserable, embarrassing season start the clock with an eye towards Black Monday. Will Mayo be fired? Will just the coordinators be fired? Will Eliot Wolf remain on staff? Do the Pats run it all back or blow it up?
When asked if he believes he’d be back, Mayo certainly sounded like someone who was just as curious as we all are as to what’s next for the franchise at 1 Patriot Place.
“For me it’s all about just this game, to go back to the start. It’s all about this game, and we’ll talk about that tomorrow,” he said.