Patriots

‘Just a terrible first 20 minutes’: Bill Belichick discussed Patriots’ loss vs. Bills

"Can't make those kind of mistakes against Buffalo."

Bill Belichick addressed first half struggles after the Patriots' loss to the Bills. AP Photo/Adrian Kraus

December 31, 2023

More Patriots

After a mistake-filled first half cost the Patriots in a 27-21 loss to the Bills on Sunday, Bill Belichick had an obvious diagnosis in the postgame press conference.

“Just a terrible first 20 minutes,” Belichick told reporters. “I thought our guys really hung in there, battled away, but obviously just gave them too big of a lead. Just couldn’t quite get it back.”

The Patriots, now 4-12, turned the ball over four times in the first half, one of which (a Bailey Zappe interception) was returned for a touchdown.

“Turnovers obviously the big story in the game,” Belichick continued. “Knocked the ball off [Josh] Allen a couple of times, but we couldn’t get it, so they had a big edge there.”

“Can’t make those kind of mistakes against Buffalo,” he concluded.

New England’s defense was once again solid, limiting the Bills’ offense for much of the day (and intercepting Allen in the second quarter). And despite the turnover disparity, the Patriots pulled the deficit back to just six points in the fourth quarter.

Asked how New England got back into the game — and if there were any specific adjustments — Belichick offered a simple response.

“Just stop turning it over,” he said of the Patriots’ offense. “Once we did that, we were competitive.”

As for his communication with Zappe amid the young quarterback’s first half struggles, the Patriots’ coach said his focus was elsewhere.

“There were a lot of other problems besides [Zappe].”

Belichick said he gave “zero” thought to calling timeouts at the end of the first half when his team got the ball at its own eight-yard line with 1:05 left in the quarter. After scrambling for two yards, Zappe simply kneeled the ball down to end the half.

One notable absence on Sunday was left tackle Trent Brown, who was a healthy scratch. Belichick was questioned about Brown not playing.

“Activated players who wanted to play,” he said in response, offering no additional details after multiple follow-up questions.

The Patriots have now clinched the worst year of the Belichick era, exceeding the 2000 season in losses (in which New England went 5-11). But when asked at the end of the press conference how he plans to “restore the ‘Patriot Way,'” Belichick was typically laconic.

“We’ll get ready for the Jets next week.”