Cam Newton’s Late Fumble Ended A Patriots Comeback Bid Against The Bills

The Bills and Patriots met on Sunday with Buffalo looking to maintain a healthy lead in the AFC East standings over the Miami Dolphins. Neither team was able to do much through the air, as Josh Allen and Cam Newton combined for just under 330 passing yards, but both offenses found ample success on the ground in the game.

The two teams combined for almost 400 rushing yards in the game as they kept the ball out of the air in the cold, windy conditions in Buffalo and it made for a fascinating back and forth. Late in the game, the Patriots found themselves marching, down just three, with under a minute to play deep in Buffalo territory and two timeouts. With limited success in the passing game, the battle between the clock and their efforts to run the ball down the field even in a two minute drill was fascinating, but ended in disaster.

Cam Newton, who had 54 rushing yards on the day, had taken them into the red zone with his legs, but as he approached the 10 yard line, had the ball punched out by Justin Zimmer from behind, with Buffalo recovering to end the game as New England seemed in great position to at least force overtime.

Newton has struggled with turnovers this season, often interceptions, but he’d been clean through this game and was a big reason for the Pats hanging tight with the 5-2 Bills. Unfortunately, he coughed it up at the worst possible time thanks to Zimmer’s well-timed punch and New England’s hopes at the postseason all but came to an end with it. At 2-5, the Pats are effectively done, although there is, I guess, still hope for a miracle run late, but they’re now 3.5 games back of Buffalo and, likely, will be two behind the Dolphins, who lead the Rams by two scores at home.