Here is who caught our eye for better or worse upon live viewing.
First-half QB Drake Maye: Maye came out red-hot in the first half, out-dueling MVP favorite Josh Allen despite Buffalo challenging New England's receivers in man coverage and throwing pressure looks at the rookie. Maye was calm against the blitz and capped off an opening drive touchdown with a perfectly placed ball down the right sideline to Kayshon Boutte.
New England's next scoring drive saw Maye overcome a pair of penalties to move the chains with both his arm and legs as he posted +0.35 EPA/play over the first two quarters.
CB Jonathan Jones & CB Christian Gonzalez: Playing man coverage over 60 percent of the day, New England's corners were exceptional against Josh Allen and the Bills offense. With no Marcus Jones, Jonathan Jones largely handled Khalil Shakir in the slot. It was a vintage performance from the veteran holding their top wideout to two catches on five targets and recording a pass breakup in the end zone.
Elsewhere in the secondary, Christian Gonzalez was his usual self along the outside not allowing a catch. Alex Austin also got in the stat sheet as well with an early third down pass breakup.
S/LB Marte Mapu: After being a healthy scratch the last two weeks, Mapu found himself back in the lineup with Jabrill Peppers (hamstring) sidelined. Playing 43 snaps, Mapu's day was highlighted by an interception off Josh Allen -- which he hesitated as a returner resulting in him being tackled at the one-yard line.
But, Mapu was active elsewhere as he nearly recorded another INT as he drove on a crosser for a pass breakup and tallied a pressure to help lead to a third-down sack.
Second-half QB Drake Maye: There was still some good from Maye in the second half, including a pretty 22-yard off-platform completion to Boutte and (finally) getting involved in the designed quarterback run game. But after an early spray over the middle to an open Boutte, Maye had some other misses and was part of two turnovers that proved costly in the second-half collapse.
On the interception, a scissors concept led to Kendrick Bourne and Austin Hooper being in the same area which seemed to not allow the tight end to completely finish his route. Maye throwing an anticipation ball then allowed the Bills defender to swoop in. The backwards pass fumble was an all-around mess backed up near their own goal line.
OT Demontrey Jacobs: Aligned against Von Miller on the right side, Jacobs surrendered five pressures in 16 matchups against the veteran. Jacobs also failed to cut Greg Rousseau on the aforementioned backwards pass that resulted in a Bills defensive touchdown and was called for two false starts. If Caedan Wallace is ready to go next week, the door is open at right tackle.
Run defense: James Cook needed just 11 carries to hit the 100-yard mark, as New England's usual issues in the ground game came to light with an early 46-yard touchdown run by Cook. In total, Buffalo's backs and Josh Allen combined for 172 yards on 28 carries (6.1 yards per clip). The Bills finished with a 52 percent success rate on the ground and their backs only running four times in the first half felt like they were doing the Patriots a solid.