New England Patriots
It was a game-time decision, and Spillane (foot) was unable to go on Sunday.
FOXBOROUGH – The Patriots were without their leading tackler during Sunday’s 35-31 loss to the Bills.
Linebacker Robert Spillane was present for pregame warmups Gillette Stadium, but wound up sitting out the contest.
He was listed as questionable with a foot injury after being limited in two of the Patriots’ three practices this week.
“We felt like after going through the warmups and everything that that was what was going to be best for him today,” coach Mike Vrabel said after the game. “And we need everybody, and certainly Robert. And we’ll have to try to get as healthy as we can as quickly as we can.”
Buffalo scored 35 points, the most a team had put on the Patriots defense all season. The team’s confidence in it’s ability to turn things around in time for next week’s matchup against Baltimore is high despite the lackluster performance, linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson said.
“That’s not changing,” Chaisson said. “There’s some minor things that we’ve got to clean up, especially on defense. I think the offense did a great job. You can’t give up 35 points and expect the offense to come save you. We’ve got some things to clean up, we know the things we need to handle going into the game.”
With 97 tackles, Spillane has 29 more than Christian Elliss who is second on the team. He also has a pair of interceptions and is one of three Patriots with a forced fumble this season.
New England, which was also without Milton Williams up front, was unable to maintain it’s strong start against Josh Allen and the Buffalo offense.
The Patriots built a 21-0 first-half lead but it evaporated in the second half as Allen led the comeback effort. Tackling was an issue, Vrabel said.
“They were able to get the running game going. We missed tackles,” Vrabel said. “We didn’t build a good enough wall. Didn’t get off on third down. Weren’t able to create any turnovers. And weren’t getting any stops in the red zone.”
“It’s no secret, you know what I mean? Called the same stuff, they called the same stuff. We just have to be able to take advantage of those opportunities that we get to get the drive stopped. Whether that’s a penalty or one play or third-down conversion, we’ve just got to be able to learn from it.”
Buffalo tallied 168 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground. James Cook went for 107 yards.
“This is a big, physical offensive line,” Vrabel said. “And you have to be able to not give them any cracks or any holes in the wall. And if you have any, Cook finds them. We knew you’d have to get off blocks and have to have color separation and not show them creases. That’s really what it comes down to.”
Spillane was active for the first 13 games of this season. He played all 17 the previous two seasons with the Raiders. New England has three games remaining in the regular-season, starting with Sunday night’s battle in Baltimore.
Get the latest Boston sports news
Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.
