In what turned out to be a day full of bizarre plays and even more bizarre upsets, the Patriots were able to hold on against division-rival Buffalo, 40-32.
On the first drive of the game, the Bills offense looked unstoppable, as they marched down the field in 5 minutes, a drive that was capped off with a Karlos Williams 2-yard touchdown run. It was a dominating drive by the Bills offense, as Bills rushers were able to gain 60 yards on the opening possession. Following a quick three and out by New England, it seemed like the Patriots were in for a long game. But on the ensuing Bills’ possession, the Patriots defense clamped down, causing a quick three and out, with a great sack by Rob Ninkovich, the first of 8 for the Pats on the day. On the next drive, Brady flew up the field, and tied the game at 7 on a Julian Edelman 8 yard touchdown.
After the opening drive, the Patriots defense completely obliterated the Bills offense, causing 5 consecutive 3 and outs, 3 of which ended in sacks, as well as an incredible, acrobatic interception by Malcolm Butler. The Pats offense began to roll, putting together 3 straight touchdown drives, two of which began deep in Bills territory thanks to the Patriots defense and the referees, who absolutely refused to chill all game long. The Patriots finished with 11 penalties for 119 yards, while the Bills drew an unseemly 14 flags for a whopping 140 yards. The combined 25 penalties set the record for the most in a Patriots-Bills game in the history of the rivalry.
After touchdown’s by Dion Lewis (138 total yards, TD) and Rob Gronkowski (7 rec, 113 yds, TD), the Pats led 21-7. After a Charles Clay touchdown from Tyrod Taylor, the Patriots answered with the first of 4 field goals by their All-Pro kicker Stephen Gostkowski. After an interception by Duron Harmon on a Taylor long ball, the Patriots went into halftime with a 24-13 lead.
Coming out of the halftime, the Patriots were on fire, marching down the field to the redzone, but they failed to score a touchdown after 2 dropped touchdowns by Pats TE Scott Chandler. While they settled for a field goal, the Pats got the ball back quickly, as their defense once again forced the Bills to go 3 and out on offense. On the ensuing drive, Brady was masterful again, throwing his 3rd touchdown of the game to his security blanket Julian Edelman (11 rec, 97 yds, 2 TDs), to give the Patriots a commanding 34-13 lead. However, on the Edelman touchdown, Bills safety Aaron Williams suffered an apparent neck/head injury, which resulted in a lengthy injury delay as he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
The game seemed locked up as the Patriots added another Gostkowski field goal to close the third quarter, but the Bills refused to quit. As the Patriots offense seemed to coast through the first 10 minutes of the 4th quarter, the Bills offense went gangbusters, scoring 19 points on 3 Tyrod Taylor touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing), to cut the near insurmountable Patriots lead to just 5 points.
On the Patriots next drive, Brady was able to effectively mix moving the ball down the field and killing clock, as they marched the ball into the red zone thanks to a PI penalty on Bills linebacker Nigel Bradham on RB Dion Lewis, as well as a ludicrous 29-yard catch by wide receiver Danny Amendola, his first and only catch of the game.
After the Patriots gave it to LeGarrete Blount to kill more clock, Gostkowski came out and drilled his 4th field goal of the game to give the Patriots a 40-32 lead. On the first play of the Bills next drive, Taylor rolled out of the pocket and fired downfield, where the ball was tipped up by Clay, and was intercepted on an acrobatic maneuver by Patriots corner Logan Ryan to end the ballgame.
Notes:
- Aaron Dobson finally showed up for the Patriots, collecting 6 passes for 82 yards, 5 of which went for first downs. Dobson, the 3rd year receiver from Marshall, has struggled through injuries and inconsistency in his 3 years in Foxboro, and a game like this one might be a sign of Dobson finally transitioning his potential into tangible dividends.
- The Patriots defense harassed Tyrod Taylor and the Bills offense all game, collecting 8 sacks, their most in a singe game since the 2003 season, 3 forced fumbles (all recovered by Buffalo) and 3 interceptions.
- Tom Brady threw 3 more touchdowns today, extending his league-leading number to 7, and passing fellow future Hall-of-Famer Drew Brees for 4th on the all-time list. Brady finished the game with 399 career scores, needing only 1 more to join Dan Marino (420), Brett Favre (508) and arch-rival Peyton Manning (533) in the 400 TD club.
- Brady also finished the game with 466 passing yards, the highest number ever by any quarterback against the Bills’ defense, and the second highest number of his career.
- Jamie Collins and Chandler Jones both had outstanding games, combining for 13 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and a forced fumbled on the day.
- Patriots starting right tackel Sebastian Vollmer exited the game briefly in the third quarter with an apparent finger injury. He was listed as questionable, but was able to return to the game in the 4th quarter, and never left. Stay tuned for updates on Vollmer’s injury status for next week in Jacksonville.
Michael Alvarez is a senior writer for OTWS, and covers the Patriots, Red Sox, and the Celtics. You can find him on Twitter at @malvarez3396
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