A Few Thoughts about the Pats Game - Post yours as well

[Bruffalo]

Just another fun wrinkle to think about:

 

-Allen is 1-6 when Hochuli's crew is officiating. 

-In the same timeframe, the Patriots are 6-0.

 

So Allen has a 16% winrate with that crew, but a 70% winrate overall. The Patriots have been dogwater since 2020, but have a 100% winrate when he's the ref.

 

Not the only reason we lost, but definitely a contributing factor. 

[dcinmuncie]

10 minutes ago, BVBILLS said:

A white out in October is pretty dumb

agreed

 

burn those effing jerseys

as poorly as they played in general. had the turnover battle been just even, the bills win the game. just sad

[technobot]

Drought level ineptitude on offense, except we have Josh Allen, James Cook, and one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. The penalties were atrocious, totally playing down to an opponent and letting them make a game out of it. 

 

When we lose tough games comparisons with the drought get thrown out casually (I am the worst offender) but this was "it". 3 points in the first half, with a stacked roster (game changing boundary WR notwithstanding).

 

It had the drought ending where the defense, who had been derided going in to the game, played well enough to keep us in the game in the first half. And then couldn't make a stop when we needed it at the end. Particularly egregious was the third down escape by Maye where he made a Josh Allen style play: falling down and still enough arm strength to get it to Diggs who played his mind out in his revenge game.

 

Josh made some questionable decisions, and was getting smoked for good portions of the game. It was all there, driven into turf on his right side, the classic head bounce off the turf for good measure a couple times as well.

 

Rousseau and Epenesa had great first halves in particular, and both made some plays in the second half. Kincaid had a nice game, although he also took some hits to the head. Keon had some good plays but all you remember later is that damn fumble. Cook looked like he was almost ready to break some huge runs but it never happened.

 

Tell me if you've seen this movie before: a Mike Vrabel team out-physicals the Bills. I don't know if it's because the Patriots were treating this like their Super Bowl and we were looking past them. I hope that's the answer. I know there's structural issues with this team, but there is no perfect team in the NFL (no, not the Colts). We're still one of the elite. But really hoping this is one of those bilp games we have every year. And truth be told, putting all those division titles aside during the Josh era, we've "done this" before. You know, where the Bills inexplicably lose to an allegedly, vastly inferior division opponent. It's happened to Saleh's Jets (twice), McDaniels Phins (the second game last year required a career highlight by Bass), and a Mac Jones lead Pats squad.

 

Onto the Falcons, I guess.

 

[muppy]

 

Holding opponents to 71 yards rushing and getting 4 sacks usually means a Dub.  Not last night

[skibum]

I don't feel that bad about it. Sloppy game, but I don't think that's the way the Bills usually play.

 

I couldn't stand watching Ed Hochuli's games, and his son is even worse. Classic overofficious jerks. 

 

The Bills will be fine. They aren't going to win every game, and the Pats are a good team with a legit QB now. 

 

The worst part was watching Diggs have his best game in years. 

[dcinmuncie]

7 minutes ago, Bruffalo said:

Just another fun wrinkle to think about:

 

-Allen is 1-6 when Hochuli's crew is officiating. 

-In the same timeframe, the Patriots are 6-0.

 

So Allen has a 16% winrate with that crew, but a 70% winrate overall. The Patriots have been dogwater since 2020, but have a 100% winrate when he's the ref.

 

Not the only reason we lost, but definitely a contributing factor. 

was he the ref for that philly game in november 2023? where they had like 11 penalties in the first half and philly had almost none

[BillytheKid]

Lots of reasons the  Bills lost last night mainly all self inflicted.

 

But two main plays you can basically say lost the game were Keon Coleman fumbling the ball in the Bills own red zone giving them a free 3 points and then Allen throwing the interception inside the 10 yard line taking 3 away from the Bills. 
 

I still think the Patriots had to play the very best they can play to win and the Bills played a very bad game for their standards. 
 

Honestly the Bills have seemed like they have been somewhat flat a lot of this year. Also Brady’s play calling isn’t my favorite. Think he runs the ball to much , especially on 1st and 2nd down. But I guess it doesn’t matter what I think. 
 

Just hope they bounce back and start playing up to their ability and look better when those suspended and injured guys get back. 
 

also of note the last 15 regular season games Allen has played the Bills have scored 30 or more points in 13 of them. The 2 they didn’t were both against the Patriots. 

[Bruffalo]

1 minute ago, dcinmuncie said:

was he the ref for that philly game in november 2023? where they had like 11 penalties in the first half and philly had almost none

He was. 

 

Not shocking at all, honestly. 

[goldenboy81]

Just get toast white off the field. Can't believe the last couple teams didn't go right after him

[dcinmuncie]

Just now, Bruffalo said:

He was. 

 

Not shocking at all, honestly. 

totally makes sense now

[corta765]

8 minutes ago, dcinmuncie said:

was he the ref for that philly game in november 2023? where they had like 11 penalties in the first half and philly had almost none

Yep horsecollar in all in front of him. With that said I generally agreed with the penalties called and the pats had a ton especially late that had they lost I am sure they would've been pissed about.

[Saint Doug]

Great thoughts. I agree, losses will come. It just sucks it was a divisional loss. These are not the games we should be dropping. 

[finn]

Seems like the Patriots are the first team to figure out that if you stop Cook, you stop the Bills. How many times did we see Allen waiting, waiting, waiting for someone to get open? Coleman, Palmer, Shavers, and Samuels are all #3 receivers at best; only Shakir and Kincaid are threats, and that's not enough without a running game. They don't need a superstar at WR, just someone you can't cover with a single DB. 

[nedboy7]

Based on how they were calling that game, that was PI on the Shakir pass. 

[Success]

Some of the calls in that game - there were a couple that you couldn't even see on replay.  They were so quick to pull the flag out all night.

 

No fans want to see flags flying all over the place.  That crew wanted to be the star of the game.  

 

I think we win that game w/ any other crew.  One flag too many yesterday.

 

 

[SCBills]

Bills didn’t deserve to win that game, but Hochuli and Buffalo is an issue at this point.  Enough data to support that. 
 

And if you’re going to call soft contact all game, you can’t swallow the whistle when the DB hits Shakir before the ball arrives on a critical 3rd down. 

[Andy1]

 Cook didn’t get as many touches this game, but that is intentional as they are trying to pace him so he has something left at the end of the season. They should try activating Gore if Davis continues to do nothing. 

[ExiledInIllinois]

1 minute ago, SCBills said:

Bills didn’t deserve to win that game, but Hochuli and Buffalo is an issue at this point.  Enough data to support that. 
 

And if you’re going to call soft contact all game, you can’t swallow the whistle when the DB hits Shakir before the ball arrives on a critical 3rd down. 

Refereeing shouldn't be a family business. Nepotism, nepobabies have no part in the game.

[PatsFanNH]

31 minutes ago, BillytheKid said:

Lots of reasons the  Bills lost last night mainly all self inflicted.

 

But two main plays you can basically say lost the game were Keon Coleman fumbling the ball in the Bills own red zone giving them a free 3 points and then Allen throwing the interception inside the 10 yard line taking 3 away from the Bills. 
 

I still think the Patriots had to play the very best they can play to win and the Bills played a very bad game for their standards. 
 

Honestly the Bills have seemed like they have been somewhat flat a lot of this year. Also Brady’s play calling isn’t my favorite. Think he runs the ball to much , especially on 1st and 2nd down. But I guess it doesn’t matter what I think. 
 

Just hope they bounce back and start playing up to their ability and look better when those suspended and injured guys get back. 
 

also of note the last 15 regular season games Allen has played the Bills have scored 30 or more points in 13 of them. The 2 they didn’t were both against the Patriots. 

Umm the Pats didn’t play the best they could play last night! It wasn’t even close  they had 8 penalties for 93 yards, (Bills had 11 for 90 yards so both teams were sloppy!) they had 2 fumbles 1 they recovered (Gibson got hurt on the play so I can understand fumbling at least) and they had multiple drops by receivers.  Also had so many missed tackles and well Allen always frustrating when he gets away and scampers for the first down..

 

But ya this was not a perfect played game for the Pats not even close. 

[WideNine]

 

I have never liked Hochuli's crews as I feel like they always have a bias against the Bills and I was thinking it was going to be a hard game to watch when I saw it was his crew.

 

AI can be pretty cool for taking what you think you see as a bias and aggregating the data to validate some of those trends:

 

Shawn Hochuli’s crew has penalized the Buffalo Bills more heavily in first halves than almost any other team over the past five seasons—especially in primetime games.

 

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📊 Penalty Volume vs. Buffalo in First Halves
- In the October 5, 2025 game, Hochuli’s crew flagged the Bills 8 times in the first half, totaling 90 yards—tied for the second-most first-half penalties under head coach Sean McDermott.
- The record for most first-half penalties against Buffalo under McDermott is 10, also from a game officiated by Hochuli’s crew.
- These totals are well above Hochuli’s average first-half penalty count for other teams, which typically ranges between 4–6 flags per half.

 

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🚩 Comparative Trends Across Teams
- Hochuli’s crew averages 11.7 penalties per game across all teams, but the distribution is not uniform.
- Road teams tend to get flagged more often than home teams under Hochuli—about 9.0 vs. 6.25 penalties per game, respectively.
- The Bills, regardless of home/away status, have consistently been on the high end of Hochuli’s enforcement spectrum, especially for:
  - False starts
  - Defensive holding
  - Unnecessary roughness
  - Roughing the passer

 

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🧠 Strategic Implications
- Hochuli’s crew appears to have a pattern of tight enforcement early in games, particularly against Buffalo, which can disrupt rhythm and field position.
- This trend is not mirrored across all teams—suggesting either matchup-specific scrutiny or systemic bias in how Buffalo’s style interacts with Hochuli’s rule emphasis.

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Yeah, his crew sucks and makes our games almost unwatchable.

 

There were some legit calls and unforced dumb mistakes sprinkled in by our offense, but far too many ticky tacky calls early against my Bills that kept erasing good plays, putting stress on the offense, and keeping them from establishing a rhythm.

 

 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by WideNine