3 takeaways from the New England Patriots demoralizing Wild Card loss

Well, that was ugly. The New England Patriots and their fans entered the Wild Card round expecting a hard fought contest against their division rivals, the Buffalo Bills. Instead, the Bills destroyed the Patriots, ending their season on quite a sour note in the process.

With a final score of 47-17, this game was never competitive. The Bills, led by star quarterback Josh Allen, moved the ball up and down the field at will against New England’s defense. And despite rookie quarterback Mac Jones‘ best efforts, the Patriots offense was never going to be able to keep pace with Buffalo in a shootout.

It’s a very tough end to what was overall an extremely encouraging 2021-22 season for the Patriots. It would have been one thing if they made the Bills work for their win, but this game was never even close. It was easily the worst loss of the season, and is one of the worst losses of the Bill Belichick-era as well.

It’s tough to remember this in the aftermath of an absolute demolition like the one we just saw, but the Patriots are moving in the right direction for the most part. But it’s clear that even with the progress they made this past season, there’s still a lot of work to do before this team elevates themselves to a championship contender. Before we fully embrace the offseason however, let’s take a look at three key takeaways from the Patriots Wild Card bout.