New England Patriots dominate Buffalo Bills from start to finish
It wasn’t the most exciting of games when New England Patriots improved to 5-1 by defeating Buffalo Bill 28-6 on the road. Unlike the first time the two met this season, the Patriots had little difficulty in taking care of the Bills. The Patriots racked up a number of big plays, while the Bills managed only one, a 56 yard catch and run to set up Buffalo’s first field goal.
New England’s biggest play was probably Laurence Maroney’s 74 yard kick-off return after Buffalo’s field goal. It seemed as if the Bills would get out of that jam with just a New England field goal attempt, but defensive lineman Kelsey managed to rough quarterback Tom Brady, giving runningback Corey Dillon a chance to truck in from the 12 yard line with just under a minute remaining of the first quarter.It was Dillon who provided the bulk of New England’s running game with 14 carries for 47 yards and two touchdowns.
And that was pretty much all she wrote. The second and most the third quarters turned into a defensive slugfest where the Patriots’ defense consistently frustrated Buffalo’s offense by bending but not breaking.
Much pre-game attention was paid to Troy Brown closing in on Stanley Morgan’s club record for career receptions, but Brown had a fairly quiet day with 2 catches for 21 yards, leaving him four short of the record. Brady’s main targets were tight end Ben Watson with five catches for 60 yards and Reche Caldwell with five catches for 22 yards, including two that converted third downs. Caldwell also dropped a pass in Buffalo’s end zone. Doug Gabriel chipped in 45 yards on three catches, including a touchdown. Rookie Chad Jackson had one 35 yard touchdown catch and 14 yard carry on a reverse.
The offensive line was its usual self, well above League average but not necessarily much more. Left tackle Matt Light struggled some in the pass protection, as he often does against speed rushers.
The defense was outstanding and Asante Samuel was the star of the game with one interception and overall dominating pass defense.
The AFC East is ridiculously bad. The New England Patriots are now 5-1. They are 4-0 against AFC East, but only 1-1 against NFL opponents. Unfortunately, of New England’s remaining 10 games eight are against NFL teams. The Patriots are clearly the best team in the AFC Eats, but how well do they stack up against the NFL? New York Jets defeated the woeful Detroit Lions today, but Miami Dolphins lost to the woeful Green Bay Packers.
Mark at BfloBlog isn’t happy about Buffalo’s quarterback JP Losman:
I just don’t think that the kid has it. He continues to hold the ball too long, make bad reads, lock onto receivers without looking off the DB�s, and worst of all, he keeps turning the ball over. Losman fumbled the ball three times today (the Pats recovered two of those) and he threw an interception after staring at the intended receiver for the entire play. That’s three turnovers by Losman in one game and that�s three too many. In a game that was statistically very even, the difference was turnovers and field position.
Losman’s ballhandling skills are subpar and the way he stared down and locked in on his receiver on Samuel’s reception had “not good enough” written all over it. On the other hand, Brady got away with one on his touchdown pass to Doug Gabriel. That was a daredevil pass across the body, to the middle of the field, aiming at a spot surrounded by three Bills defenders.
