FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (WROC) — With the second seed in the AFC playoffs locked up, the Bills rested most of their starters and suffered a 23-16 defeat to the New England Patriots in the regular season finale. While the result was meaningless to the Bills, it was very costly to the Patriots' franchise as the win cost them the #1 overall pick in the 2025 draft. New England will now draft fourth. Both starting quarterbacks made brief cameo appearances. Josh Allen played just one snap, handing off to James Cook. The move kept his consecutive start streak alive, now at 115 games, most among active QBs. Drake Maye played just one series, with Joe Milton relieving the rookie QB. Maye did play long enough to get sacked by Von Miller, which earned Miller a $1.5 million incentive for the season. The Patriots led 14-10 at the half. Milton led touchdown drives on his first two possessions in the NFL. He ran in a one-yard touchdown to cap off a 13-play, 55-yard drive. Then, he threw a 48-yard touchdown to Kayshon Boutte. In between those two possessions, Mitch Trubisky threw a two-yard touchdown to Ray Davis on fourth and goal. Tyler Bass kicked a 49-yard field goal on Buffalo's third possession of the game. The Bills opened the second half by driving into New England territory, then punting the ball on the 35-yard line. Ja'Marcus Ingram saved the ball from going into the end zone, with Reid Ferguson downing it at the six-yard line. That earned punter Sam Martin a $100,000 incentive for his 25th punt inside the 20 of the season. Javon Solomon recovered a fumble on New England's next possession. The Bills turned that into a touchdown, with James Cook being inserted into the game for a one-yard touchdown run. That gave him 16 rushing touchdowns on the season, tying O.J. Simpson's 1975 season for the most in franchise history. Tyler Bass missed the extra point to make it a 16-14 game. Trubisky played the first half and most of the third quarter before handing over the keys to Mike White. Trubisky tallied 12 rushing yards in the game, giving him positive rushing yards for the season. Entering the game, Trubisky had -11 rushing yards, the worst in the NFL thanks to all of the QB knees he took this season. Joey Slye kicked three field goals, one in the third quarter and two in the fourth quarter, to give the Patriots a 23-16 lead. The Bills got the ball back with 1:47 left with a chance to tie the game or take the lead, but White threw four incompletions to end the game. With the Broncos taking care of business and beating the Chiefs 38-0 in Week 18, Denver has earned a trip to Highmark Stadium to play the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. The game will be played on Sunday, January 12th at 1:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on CBS, locally in Rochester on WROC.