If there was any question what the New England Patriots were up against in their bid to secure a playoff berth in their regular-season finale, it was answered in the opening seconds on Sunday.

In Buffalo’s first action since Bills safety Damar Hamlin nearly died on the field on Monday night, Nyheim Hines returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown against the Patriots on Sunday.

“If you want the truth, it was spiritual,” Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen said of the play. “It really was. Bone-chilling. It was special.”

Hamlin’s heart stopped after making a tackle in the first quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night. Revived through CPR on the field, Hamlin’s revival continued throughout the week at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was able to watch the Bills play against New England.

But the Patriots weren’t overwhelmed by the wave of emotion and held a three-point lead in the third quarter when Hines did it again – returning a kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown. Touchdown passes of 42 and 49 yards by Allen finished off New England’s season as the Bills posted a 35-23 victory.

Patriots quarterback Mac Jones had his first game of the 2022 season with three touchdowns passes. But he also had his second with three interceptions when a victory would have put New England into the postseason. Instead, the Patriots finished at 8-9 after they had made the playoffs in Jones’ rookie season.

And when asked after Sunday’s game if he was satisfied with his progress in his second NFL campaign, Jones answered: “No.”

“You look at each year of your football life, and you want to get better as a player,” Jones said. “And I did. I learned a lot. And I think a lot of guys on our team learned a lot. But it was not the progress that any of us wanted to make. …

“You want to win every game that you play in. You want to win the tough ones and all that. We didn’t get a chance to do that. As a quarterback, put the blame on me because it’s my offense, it’s my group of guys, and we have to put a better product out there. It starts with me. Tough, uphill battle, but learned a lot. Learned more than I ever could imagine in a football season. Just want to be able to build on it. Today’s disappointing. It all goes back to today. We win and we move on, and we lose and we go home, so got to look at that for the next couple of months and kind of work from there. It’s just tough to look to the future right now. A tough, tough day for us.”

As a rookie, Jones completed 352-of-521 passes for 3,801 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions while starting all 17 regular-season games as New England went 10-7.

This season, Jones completed 288-of-442 passes for 2,997 yards with 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 14 games. Jones missed three games because of an ankle injury.

In the first half on Sunday, Jones capped twin nine-play, 74-yard drives with 2-yard touchdown passes to match Hines’ first kickoff return and the first of Allen’s three TD passes.

Jones also had a touchdown pass as the Patriots closed within five points of the lead with 11:37 to play.

On New England’s three touchdown possessions, Jones completed 17-of-17 passes for 169 yards with three touchdowns. On the Patriots’ other 12 series, he was 9-of-23 for 74 yards with three interceptions.

Jones’ first interception came on the first possession of the second half at the Buffalo 2-yard line on a first-and-10 throw from the Bills 21.

The final two came with New England trailing by 11 points in the fourth quarter. A throw into the end zone from the Buffalo 22 gave the Bills possession with 4:52 to play, and a football that bounced off the hand of running back Damien Harris with 2:42 to play allowed Buffalo to run out the clock before turning its attention to next week’s playoff game against the Miami Dolphins.

After Jones’ first interception, the Patriots got the football right back on a fumble at the Buffalo 11-yard line. But three plays netted only five yards, and a Nick Folk field goal put New England ahead 17-14 with 7:06 left in the third quarter.

Hines returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown to put the Bills ahead for good.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.