But this Sunday, the Bills can look up at the standings with the third best record in the AFC, only behind the 4-0 records of the two teams who played for the Conference Championship last season, New England and Kansas City.

With that 3-1 record, the Bills have question marks attached to two of the three units of the team. The offense, at many times through the first four weeks, has been very bad. It looked that way early on Sunday, as Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen looked completely overmatched in the early going.

From boneheaded decisions to force the ball into bad spots to awful footwork and holding onto the ball too long, Allen looked to be proving his critics right on Sunday.

In addition, the special teams unit was not much better — if at all — than the erratic Bills offense. From Corey Bojorquez’s blocked punt returned for a touchdown to Stephen Hauschka’s missed field goal that could have had the Bills within one score — and tied with New England after Allen’s quarterback sneak touchdown early in the third quarter — Buffalo clearly made mistakes in two of the three facets of the game.

Buffalo Bills wide receiver John Brown catches a pass in front of New England Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore (24) in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

The defense, however, showed how elite it really is again on Sunday. Any doubts of how good the Bills are on that side of the ball were put to rest, as even the great Tom Brady looked clueless against the Buffalo defense. Hanging in long enough to give the team a chance against the New York Jets is one thing — doing it against the New England Patriots is a whole different story.

In the end, it wasn’t the Brady-led offense that won Sunday’s game. New England’s defense allowed just as many points as the Bills punt team surrendered. The Patriots were dominant, and a cheap shot against Allen didn’t help the Bills’ chances at solving their puzzle.

There are two things that are clear after Sunday’s game. First, the Bills have an elite defense. Holding Tom Brady to only 150 yards passing with no touchdowns and a rating of just 45.9 is a loud statement to the rest of a down AFC. The other thing that is clear, however, is that when the good teams play the Bills, the offense will struggle. Allen is not consistent enough to feel good about the offense’s chances against anyone, let alone the league’s elite.

This year’s Bills will go as far as the defense can carry the other two units. At 3-1 in a year where the AFC is struggling to find any other threats to the top two teams, Buffalo showed on Sunday it can play closely with the best. Taking the next step, to actually challenge the Patriots, is going to rely on a lot of growth from the rest of the team. The defense is already there.

Twitter: @bradencarmen