3 Takeaways from Patriots' Week 16 Loss

The gap in talent between the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots was on full display Monday night. 

New England did not have an answer for the AFC East champion once its offense got going. The Patriots are used to being on the other side of that type of game. 

Cam Newton continued his disappointing season, and he was not helped out by the group of skill-position players that the Patriots surrounded him with. Although Jarrett Stidham put up marginally more passing yards, he did not look much better as the facilitator of the New England offense.

Bill Belichick's team enters Week 17 with many questions to answer about its roster for the 2021 season, and it is clear after Monday's performance that the answers may not be on the current squad. 

Cam Newton Was Ineffective in Passing Game Again

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

In the last five weeks, Newton has thrown for 200 yards on a single occasion.

On Monday, the former Carolina Panthers quarterback completed five of his 10 passes for 34 yards. 

That total simply is not good enough for any starting signal-caller in the NFL, no matter what his team's situation is. 

Newton made up for his inefficiency in the first half by making a few plays with his legs, including the nine-yard touchdown run in which he escaped a tackle in the pocket. 

On that play alone, Newton looked like the Most Valuable Player who seemed unstoppable in both aspects of the offense during his time in Carolina.

After that, though, he looked like Superman without any of his powers. The Patriots were shut out after that score, and Newton was replaced by Stidham—4-of-11 passing for 44 yards—in the second half. 

With nothing to play for in Week 17, the coaching staff may be better off handing Stidham the start to showcase what he can do in a full game.

Wide Receivers Provided Little Help to Both Quarterbacks

Kyusung Gong/Associated Press

The other issue with New England's passing attack is it does not have a dominant No. 1 wide receiver. 

Jakobi Meyers, Damiere Byrd and N'Keal Harry would be decent options to have if they were filling out depth, not the marquee targets in an offense. 

The most egregious error from the trio on Monday came from Byrd, as he dropped a pass inside the five-yard line on the opening drive of the contest. 

Instead of marching down the field to score a touchdown, the Patriots settled for a field goal that was matched six minutes later by the Bills. 

Meyers and Byrd have combined for 1,258 receiving yards this season, but neither has been effective around the end zone. Byrd is the only one of the two with a touchdown catch. 

Harry has not lived up to his first-round draft pick status, as he sits behind James White and the injured Julian Edelman on the team's receiving chart. Edelman played seven fewer games and still has 23 more receiving yards than Harry. 

If the Patriots are in the market for a new quarterback in the offseason, they should also pursue one or two of the top free-agent wide receivers to ensure their offense looks much different in 2021. 

Defense Was Torched by Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

In the previous four games, the Patriots passing defense turned in some decent performances, as it held each opponent beneath the 200-yard mark. 

Any positivity about the secondary was ripped away by Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs' four-quarter dissection at Gillette Stadium.

Allen and Diggs connected nine times for 145 yards and three touchdowns, and Buffalo finished with 344 yards through the air to match the highest total passing yardage conceded to a team by the Patriots in a game this season. The Houston Texans also threw for 344 yards in Week 11, which was the last time New England allowed over 200 aerial yards. 

In the five games the Patriots have allowed over 250 passing yards this season, they have conceded 27 points or more.

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Statistics obtained from Pro Football Reference.