Next Gen Stats from Bills-Patriots highlight Josh Allen’s excellence

The Buffalo Bills are on a three-game winning streak after beating the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football. Exactly what the Bills needed to happen, happened — the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins both lost, giving Buffalo sole possession of the No. 1 seed in the AFC and first place again in the AFC East.

The weekly Next Gen Stats (NGS) have dropped, giving fans a better look into who excelled in the dominant victory over the Patriots.

Quarterback Josh Allen looks to be back in full form following a few off games, amassing over 240 total yards and two touchdowns. On his second touchdown of the game, Allen showcased why Bills fans love him. Per NGS, Allen was just 0.3 yards from the sideline on his magical eight-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gabe Davis — marking the second-closest proximity to the sideline on a completion in the NGS era. Since 2016, there have been only four completions with a release within a yard of the sideline — all by Allen. He scrambled a total distance of 33.1 yards on the play, traveling 8.98 mph at the time of the throw.

On the other sideline was quarterback Mac Jones, who had a night to forget. Near the end of the third quarter, Jones scrambled for 66.4 yards on his incompletion to wide receiver DeVante Parker. That distance is the most any quarterback has scrambled on a pass attempt since NGS began tracking in 2016. The viral video of Jones expressing his concerns with the offensive gameplan to Patriots play-caller Matt Patricia was for the right reason, as he averaged just 2.4 yards per completion, the lowest of the week, per NGS. Jones also ranked fifth-lowest of the week in air yards per attempt (6.0).

New England’s only touchdown came on a 48-yard catch-and-run touchdown by defensive specialist Marcus Jones. It was Jones’ first career offensive snap in the NFL, and he reached a top speed of 20.88 mph (fastest by a New England ball-carrier this season) and gained +44 YAC over expected (team-best since 2018).