NFL scores: Bills rally from 21 down to beat Patriots, tighten AFC East race
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Trailing by 21 points, Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills were able to pull off a thrilling 35-31 come-from-behind victory over their AFC East rivals, the New England Patriots, on a cold Sunday morning in Foxborough.
Now the AFC East sits between those two AFC powerhouses, with the Bills improving to 10-4 after ending the Patriots’ 10-game winning streak. New England is now 11-3 on the season and still has a one-game lead over Buffalo for the league lead.
Thanks to MVP candidate Drake Maye, the Patriots led the game with two scores in the first quarter to make it 14-0. Meanwhile, the Patriots’ solid defensive unit forced three consecutive punts, allowing their offense to get going early.
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Buffalo Bills’ James Cook III runs for a touchdown in the second quarter against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on December 14, 2025 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Early in the second quarter, the Patriots blew out the gates with a 94-yard touchdown run and rookie TreVeyon Henderson hit a 52-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0.
While Allen and the Bills’ offense had struggled to this point, they eventually managed to at least do something to stay in the game. Allen found James Cook on a five-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 21-7, but the Patriots added a field goal at halftime to take a three-point lead into the locker room.
But the second half was a completely different experience for Mike Vrabel’s Patriots team; Allen displayed his MVP style of play from the start.
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The Bills immediately made it a 10-point game as they needed only six plays to find Dawson Knox on a four-yard pass to score the game. Buffalo’s defense then needed to step up, and they did so by going three-and-out and putting the ball back in Allen’s hands.
Over the next 5:29 of the third quarter, Allen recorded 11 plays and 70 yards and Cook scored a second time, tipping the ball over the goal line to make the score 24-21.
The turning point of the game was an interception thrown by Maye; this ultimately became an “arm shot” as Tre’Dacious White attempted a deep ball to Mack Hollins to secure the turnover at the Bills’ own nine-yard line.
As the Bills took their first lead of the game by driving 91 yards in 13 plays in the third quarter, Knox completed a 14-yard pass for his second touchdown of the game, making the score 28–24.
New England Patriots’ Drake Maye celebrates a first-quarter touchdown against the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium on December 14, 2025 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
If it wasn’t exciting enough, the Gillette Stadium crowd went wild as Henderson went on another long run. On the first play of the drive, Henderson was trying to run to his right when all the holes were clogged. But he used his incredible speed to dart left and blast past all Bills defenders for a 65-yard field goal.
The Bills were again trailing by three points, but the second half belonged to the more creative Bills and they delivered another methodical drive full of great plays, including Cook’s third goal of the game. He ran from 11 yards out to take a 35-31 lead, a big one considering a field goal wouldn’t have evened it up.
The Bills’ defense made two straight stops on two separate drives, including incompletions on 4th and 5th to ice the game from New England’s 22-yard line.
In the box score, Allen was 19-of-28 for 193 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 48 yards on 11 attempts on the ground. Cook also rushed for 107 yards and two scores on 22 carries on the ground while completing two passes for four yards.
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Eight different Bills players caught a pass from Allen, including Khalil Shakir, who had five catches for 65 yards.
For the Patriots, Maye was 14-of-23 through the air for 155 yards with 43 rushing yards. Henderson took just 14 carries but recorded 148 yards with his two scores.
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