It was perfectly clear on Monday night as to which team was heading to the playoffs as the AFC East champion and which team will be watching the playoffs from home for the first time in 12 years.
Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs emphatically carried the Buffalo Bills to a 38-9 victory over the New England Patriots on Monday night. Allen tossed four touchdowns on the night, three of which went to Diggs, as the Bills earned a season sweep of the Patriots for the first time since 1999. It didn’t even take four full quarters to do it as Allen and Diggs both earned a seat on the bench for most of the fourth quarter.
Allen completed 27-of-36 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns while Diggs caught nine of those passes for 145 yards and three scores. In the process, Allen set the Bills franchise records for touchdowns in a season (34) and completions (375), surpassing the previous marks held by Jim Kelly and Drew Bledsoe, respectively.
The Patriots actually led 3-0 after a 45-yard Nick Folk field goal on the opening drive of the game.
It was all Bills from there. Buffalo would score touchdowns on four straight drives that didn’t include a lone kneel down to end the first half.
After a 22-yard Tyler Bass field goal, Zack Moss scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to give Buffalo a 10-3 lead. Cam Newton scored on a 9-yard touchdown run to pull the Patriots back within just a point after a missed extra point from Folk.
Lee Smith caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Allen as the Bills lead grew to 17-9 before Diggs hogged the rest of the scoring output. Allen and Diggs connected on a 50-yard touchdown as Buffalo took a 24-9 lead into halftime. Diggs would add touchdowns from 18 yards and 8 yards before the two took a seat on the bench for the remainder of the night.
Newton completed just 5-of-10 passes for 34 yards before being pulled in the third quarter in favor of Jarrett Stidham. Stidham finished with 44 passing yards on 4-of-11 passing in his limited action. Newton’s 34 yards passing are the fewest for a Patriots starting quarterback since Scott Secules had just 16 yards passing against the Bills in 1993. Secules left the game with an injury after just seven attempts.