Patriots' Snap Counts Reveal Complete Game Battle

Offense Observations:

The Patriots had six players align for every snap on offense: quarterback Drake Maye and the entire starting offensive line consisting of left tackle Will Campbell, left guard Jared Wilson, center Garrett Bradbury, right guard Michael Onwenu and right tackle Morgan Moses.

Rookie left tackle Will Campbell maximized each of his 60 snaps, 40 of which he aligned on as a pass blocker. The fourth overall selection in April’s draft was credited with a 97.2 percent pass block efficiency [per Pro Football Focus,] while allowing zero sacks, pressures or quarterback hits.

Vederian Lowe aligned on only one snap, which became memorable for the wrong reasons. Facing 3rd-and-Inches with just over six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Lowe aligned on a package requiring an additional lineman. He was whistled for a false start penalty, derailing a potential scoring drive, which ultimately resulted in a Bryce Baringer punt.

Prior to running back Antonio Gibson suffering a first-half knee injury which promptly ended his night, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels appeared to be employing an evenly-spread distribution of the football to his rushers — a strategy which worked well during their Week 4 win over the Carolina Panthers. Rhamondre Stevenson (31 snaps), TreVeyon Henderson (30 snaps) and Gibson (9, before his injury) turned in a solid performance — with Henderson rebounding from a first-quarter fumble to finish the game with two rushing touchdowns.

With Gibson out for the season as a result of a torn ACL, New England should still be expected to continue their rusher-by-committee strategy in the coming weeks. On that basis, the Pats should be in the market for a veteran addition at the position.

Perhaps no player earned more of a return on investment from his offensive snaps than receiver Stefon Diggs. Aligning on 30 snaps (which puts him at 54.4 percent on the season, the 31-year-old put up his biggest numbers of the season. Diggs caught 10 passes for 146 yards against his former team — his longest coming on a 32-yard connection with Maye in the third quarter

Intent on using the run game to facilitate the passing game, the Patriots deployed additional blockers at both the running back and tight end positions, As a result, fullback/tight end Jack Westover took a season-high 14 snaps.

DEFENSE

On defense the Pats overall snap count was 68 versus the Bills.

Defense Observations

New England had three defensive players align on each of their 68 snaps on the preventive side of the ball: linebacker Robert Spillane, cornerback Christian Gonzalez and safety Jaylinn Hawkins.

In just his second game back from a hamstring injury which sidelined him for the first three weeks of the season, Gonzalez logged six total tackles and one pass defensed. His break up of Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen’s fourth-quarter pass intended for receiver Khalil Shakir on 3rd and 10 at the New England 27-yard line helped keep the Patriots within reach of a a victory inside the final two minutes of the game.

Marcus Jones returned to his role as the team’s third corner, having aligned on 76 percent of the team’s snaps on defense. New England played a great deal of nickel coverage in their hopes of containing Josh Allen

In the absence of injured starter K’Lavon Chaisson, third-year defender Keion White aligned on 23 snaps, getting the starting nod at his position. Unfortunately, he was limited to just 34 percent of New England’s defensive plays due to an elbow injury.

Seeing his first action of the 2025 season, linebacker Jahlani Tavai logged 15 defensive snaps, earning two total tackles. The Pats veteran, who was activated from injured reserve last week, also aligned on 13 special teams snaps against the Bills.