Top 3 Things We Learned

Top 3 things we learned from Bills vs. Patriots | Week 4

Oct 04, 2026 at 07:05 PM

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Buffalo Bills vs New England Patriots, Regular Season, October 04, 2026 at Highmark Stadium.

The Buffalo Bills suffered their first loss of the 2026 season Sunday afternoon, falling 29-26 to the New England Patriots in a tightly contested AFC East matchup. Buffalo battled back to take a fourth quarter lead, but defensive struggles, mounting injuries and late turnovers ultimately proved too much to overcome.

Here are the top three things we learned from the Bills' Week 4 defeat.

1 — Question marks remain for Bills defense as injuries mount

Following a strong Week 3 outing, the Bills defense appeared to be on an upward trajectory. Questions remain after Sunday's loss as the unit surrendered 405 total yards and 5.5 yards per play against New England.

Through four weeks, the Bills have given up the fourth-most receiving yards among all NFL teams. The unit continues to live in "feast or famine" mode, as defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard put it during the week.

The Bills struggled to get off the field on crucial downs, allowing New England to convert 5 of 12 (42%) on third downs, 2 of 2 on fourth downs and 2 of 2 in goal to go situations. The Patriots also converted a two-point conversion after their go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter to take a 29-26 lead.

On the defining drive of the game, with Buffalo leading 26-21 at the time, Patriots QB Drake Maye found WR Efton Chism in the back of the end zone on a third and 5 from the 23-yard line. Buffalo surrendered four plays of 10+ yards on New England's go-ahead drive.

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"It is disappointing because we work hard and we work on the situation," OLB Greg Rousseau said. "Like I said, it's not going to be perfect. They're trying to score, too. All you can do is watch your film, try to get better and just try to grow from it."

To make matters worse, the Bills suffered injuries to multiple key starters, losing DL Ed Oliver (knee) and CB Dee Alford (ankle) during the game. DB Te'Cory Couch and DL Landon Jackson also had injuries, though Jackson was cleared to return.

Coming into the game, the Bills were already down starting corner Christian Benford due to a toe injury and defensive lineman T.J. Sanders who is still recovering from his appendectomy.

Buffalo head coach Brady expects the Bills to learn and grow from their first loss of the season.

"We knew this game wasn't going to define us one way or the other," he said. "And I don't mean that like 'This game didn't matter.' I mean it like, 'All right, well we're going to have to continue to find ways to get better,' and we're putting stuff on tape and how we're going to grow as an offense, defense, special teams. And obviously I'll look at the tape to see exactly where the detail was with it."

2 — Josh Allen's interception overshadows go-ahead scoring drive

Much like Week 3, the Bills played from behind most of Sunday. A three-and-out offensive possession on the opening series gave the Patriots the chance to strike first — and they did so with a statement touchdown drive of 12 plays, 97 yards to go up 7-0.

The Bills went three-and-out on two of their first three possessions and then again on their second drive of the second half.

"I think we just didn't get in a rhythm today. Had a couple drives, three and outs that can't happen starting with the first drive of the game," Brady said.

Buffalo's run game sputtered in the first half with the team totaling 28 yards on 11 carries. It was the third-fewest rushing yards the Bills have had in the first half of a game since the start of the 2024 season.

Still, the Bills managed to string together enough scoring drives throughout the afternoon to remain in lockstep with their AFC East rival, with every snap of Sunday's contest a one-possession ball game.

Buffalo finally broke through in the fourth quarter when Josh Allen engineered a go-ahead touchdown drive, finding WR Keon Coleman in the end zone on a beautifully thrown 34-yard strike to take a 26-21 lead with just over four minutes remaining.

"I ran my route, won, and then that was it," Coleman said. "I saw Josh's eyes, I'm like, there's the ball."

The two-point conversion was no good and the Patriots followed by scoring a touchdown and a two-point conversion on the following possession.

Trailing 29-26 with just under two minutes remaining and all three timeouts, the Bills had plenty of time to either get into field goal range or go all the way down and take the lead again. Neither scenario occurred as Allen threw a deep pass into double coverage and was intercepted on the third play of the series.

"It stings. I feel like we hurt ourselves tonight," Allen said. "Offense, defense, special teams, everybody. We all feel like we could all play better. These ones sting. The division ones sting,"

Allen described how the play unfolded, emphasizing he should've thrown the ball away.

"Just a flood concept," Allen said of the offensive play call. "[Patriots] went man coverage, I made a guy miss, threw one up… should've thrown that one out of bounds and live another day."

Added Brady, "We obviously have plenty of time right there and I'm going to start by saying I got to have a better play call in that situation and we got to protect and put them in a better position to have success."

The Bills turned it over twice on Sunday, the second consecutive game with at least two turnovers. WR Khalil Shakir fumbled in a two-minute drill at the end of the first half, though the Bills were fortunate to intercept Drake Maye on the following possession and still get a field goal before half time. Brady said two minute situations are particularly important points of the game where ball security is paramount to winning or losing.

"We protect the football, we're going to win the game. It's not very hard. And we had two two-minute drill situations where we want to be in those situations," Brady said.

3 — Keon Coleman has breakout game after DJ Moore's injury

Bills wide receiver DJ Moore left Sunday's game in the second quarter due to a shoulder injury and did not return. It was the second time in the last three weeks Moore has left the first half of a game and not re-enter.

In Moore's absence, Coleman finished with 116 yards and a touchdown on six catches, his second-highest receiving game of his career. The third-year wideout made several acrobatic catches and hauled in the go-ahead fourth quarter touchdown.

Coleman was a go-to target for Allen in the second half on crucial downs, making catches of 22 and 24 yards in third down situations in the fourth quarter.

"He made some big catches for us there on the third down, the go-ball. We need more of that moving forward," Allen said.

Coleman described his acrobatic catches as "focus" plays and not wanting to let the ball hit the ground.

"It just shows my teammates that they can count on me," Coleman said. "It's still a loss. So I don't look at it too crazy."

WR Khalil Shakir was another reliable target for Allen Sunday afternoon. The shifty receiver led the team in targets (8) and receptions (7), recording a season-high 82 yards.

However, Brady lamented the lack of involvement of tight end Dalton Kincaid. The star TE was held to seven receiving yards on one catch and two targets.

"I gotta be better. There's no reason Dalton Kincaid should have two targets," Brady said.

Kincaid has totaled just 45 receiving yards over the last two games after posting 225 receiving yards in Weeks 1 and 2.