3 stat lines you wouldn’t believe from Patriots-Bills MNF showdown

2. Patriots’ 222 yards rushing

If you (somehow) didn’t think the Patriots’ offense was built for playoff football, Monday night’s win probably changed your mind.

If it didn’t, you’re just in denial.

When all was said and done, New England ran the ball 46 times for a whopping 222 yards. Pretty impressive feat against a Bills team that ranked second in the NFL defending the run coming into the game.

Sure, 64 of those came on Harris’ first-quarter touchdown, but what are we supposed to do, pretend that didn’t happen? Of course not. The Patriots clearly developed this run-heavy approach with the hope that one of Harris, Rhamondre Stevenson or Brandon Bolden would break a long one.

Thanks to a brilliant cutback from Harris, who unfortunately left the game with a hamstring injury, that’s exactly what happened.

We’d also be remiss if we didn’t applaud Stevenson’s showing. The budding rookie rushed for 78 yards across 24 carries (3.3 average), but he earned every single one of those yards, as 95% of them came after contact, per Pro Football Focus. He also helped set the tone with a dominant third quarter, in which he tallied 53 yards on 11 attempts.

Good luck stopping this rushing attack in the playoffs.