The Patriots finally forced the Bills to punt, and they stayed in the game with a strip-sack of Josh Allen inside of two minutes.
But New England trails 17-7 at halftime.
The Bills had gone 23 consecutive drives without punting against the Patriots, dating to the 2020 season. Buffalo scored on its first three drives Thursday night to take a 17-7 lead.
But the Bills closed out the half with a punt, and, after having a touchdown negated by a holding penalty, lost a fumble when Josh Uche had a blindside sack of Allen, who lost the ball. Matthew Judon recovered for the Patriots.
Buffalo scored on a pair of 8-yard touchdown passes from Allen to Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. He also had a 41-yard touchdown pass to Diggs that was called back by a holding penalty on Tommy Sweeney. Two plays later, Allen fumbled.
The Bills outgained the Patriots 195 to 133, had 41 plays to 24 for New England and leads time of possession 19:33 to 10:27.
The Patriots gained 85 yards on their only scoring drive, with 48 coming on Marcus Jones' catch-and-run to the end zone. Their final drive of the half went 29 yards following Allen's fumble, but it ended with a missed field goal by Nick Folk. The 48-yarder hit the crossbar.
Allen is 12-of-21 for 118 yards and two touchdowns, while James Cook has rushed for 50 yards on eight carries and caught three passes for 30 yards.
Mac Jones has completed 9 of 15 passes for 98 yards and a touchdown, with Marcus Jones caught two passes for 51 yards and the score.
Thursday Night Football: Bills lead Patriots 17-7 at halftime originally appeared on Pro Football Talk
