One week after being handled down in the Meadowlands by the hated New York Jets, the Patriots returned home to face fellow AFC East rival Buffalo. Over the past decade, the Patriots and Bills have been a tale of two franchises. The Bills have not made the postseason since 1999, during which time they have an abysmal 2-18 record against the Pats. This includes 13 victories in a row reeled off by New England, dating back to 2003. The Patriots, on the other hand, have made the postseason seven times during the Bills stretch of failure, which includes three Super Bowl championships and they came damn near close to winning a fourth. Anyways, that's all in the past now. Let's turn our attention to Foxboro on Sunday, where the Patriots escaped with a 38-30 victory.
When I say "escaped" with a victory, that is not to imply that the Patriots played poorly. But tt was expected to be a much easier contest against the hapless Bills, who had already made a quarterback change just two weeks into the young season.
The Patriots offense didn't disappoint, that's for sure. Tom Brady rebounded from a dismal performance against New York to complete 21 of 27 passes for 252 yards, as well as 3 touchdown strikes. Two of these came to Randy Moss, who caught the 150th and 151st touchdown pass of his career. He trails only former 49ers great Jerry Rice for the most receiver TDs in NFL history.
Brady also continued to get the rookie tight ends involved. Aaron Hernandez caught a game-high 6 balls from Brady for 65 yards, while Rob Gronkowski added 3 catches for 43 yards and a TD.
The rushing attack was the best it's been for the Patriots all season, with third-year man BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushing for 98 yards on 16 carries, including a score. Danny Woodhead, fresh off joining the team two weeks ago, also scored his first NFL touchdown on a 22-yard run in the 2nd quarter.
The defense, on the other hand, had an up-and-down day. They gave up a total of 374 yards of offense, including 134 on the ground. They allowed the Bills to convert 5 of 10 third-down plays, but the most important number of all would have to be 30. As in allowing 30 points to the punchless Buffalo Bills, led by quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was deemed before the game as "the sparkplug the Bills needed". Fitzpatrick did his part, to be fair, keeping the Bills in the game. But the Patriots defense did make plays when it mattered most, including an interception by safety Brandon Meriweather on what proved to be Buffalo's final offensive drive. Patrick Chung also picked off the Harvard grad earlier in the game.
All things considered, you have to be happy with the Patriots performance this week. The offense firing on all cylinders, which included the running game for once. If Green-Ellis can continue perform at a high level, it will do wonders for Tom Brady and the Patriots passing attack. Teams used to the Pats throwing the ball at will are suddenly going to have to keep an eye on the run as well. Giving up 30 points on a regular basis isn't going to get the job done, but as long as the D can step up in big spots with the offense continuing to gel the Pats should be just fine moving forward.
Next up: a Monday night showdown in Miami.
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