For many reasons, Sunday's loss to the Buffalo Bills was an emotional one for the New England Patriots.

The first couple are obvious, being that the loss ended their season as they fell to 8-9 and will miss the playoffs plus the fact that they went up against a Bills team that was playing in the wake of safety Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest in their game last Monday.

But it also likely marked the end of an era in New England. Special teams ace Matthew Slater heavily implied following the game that Sunday was the last of his 15-year career and there's been a lot of speculation that safety Devin McCourty will retire, too.

Center David Andrews was brought to tears when asked about their importance to the Patriots following Sunday's loss.

“It's been a lot. It's been a lot,” the eight-year vet that's played his entire career in New England replied as his eyes welled up before leaving the podium.

There are some similarities between how this season ended for the Patriots ended compared to last season, losing to the Bills in Buffalo to close out the year. While they made the playoffs last season, that loss was a blowout from the start as they fell 47-17 in a historical playoff loss. On Sunday, the Patriots actually held a 17-14 lead in the third quarter but failed to go toe-to-toe with the Bills for all four quarters.

That's part of the reason why Andrews thinks the team is better after the end of this season compared to a year ago.

“I think so,” Andrews said when asked if he thought the Patriots were in a better spot now compared to a year ago. “I mean, that's hard to say. I thought we showed some good mental toughness today, especially with kind of, you know – we knew it was going to be an emotional game for them. And an emotional environment. Four seconds into the game we were down but we battled back and kept fighting. We tried to answer every time, we just didn't answer at the end.”

Mac Jones was a big reason why the Patriots were able to hang in Sunday's game for as long as they did. The second-year quarterback throw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and added a third in the second half before a pair of throwing a pair of interceptions while the Patriots were in desperation mode at the end of the game.

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Andrews was proud of Jones' competitiveness not just on Sunday, but throughout the season as he dealt with a lot.

“He battled all year,” David Andrews said of Jones. “He faced some adversity. He dealt with injury. That's part of the business of this league. He battled all year. I appreciate the fight and the effort he put forth this week and all year.”

Even though the Patriots are likely saying goodbye to a pair of leaders from their last few Super Bowl wins, the way Jones played Sunday and reacted to adversity all season is why Andrews there's still a bright future in New England.

“I think there's growth every year,” Andrews said. “There's good and bad every year. You take some time and try to learn from it. We can all do better. It's been a long year. Everybody needs to take a deep breath and as soon as we can, let's get back to it. He'll find his process and find things he can do better like we all will. It's a constant strive to get better – each week, each year, each day. For us, it starts now.”