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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - It was a glorious day in Western New York, as new Bills owner Terry Pagula was unveiled to the adoring crowd. No chance that the Bills will be relocated to Los Angeles. The beloved Bills are staying put, and thank goodness.
What Pegula got a firsthand look at was one of the ongoing issues with his new team which has been going on down and through the years. The Bills simply don't have the material or the know how to take down the Patriots, and once again the Patriots showed the Bills that they know how to win better than they do. The Patriot defense forced three turnovers, and Tom Brady threw for four touchdowns to lead the Patriots to a 37-22 over Buffalo on Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
With the win, the Patriots take over sole possession of first place in the AFC East. That is richly satisfying for Patriot Nation given that after Week 1 the Patriots were in sole possession of last place.
The Patriots won despite a hail of key injuries throughout the game. Jerod Mayo, Dan Connally, Stevan Ridley and Rob Gronkowski all suffered injuries during the game, and only Gronkowski was able to return later in the game. The offensive line also had some rough moments, playing without Bryan Stork and enduring another bad game from Nate Solder. But as they always seem to do against Buffalo, they found ways to win, and Buffalo found ways to lose.
Offensively, the game was all about Brady. Any reporter who wondered if Jimmy Garoppolo should take over for Brady two weeks ago ought to be ashamed of themselves. Brady carved up Buffalo's defense for 367 yards passing on 27 of 37 passing and a passer rating of 139.6. Ten different Patriot receivers caught passes, with Julian Edelman catching nine passes for 91 yards and Gronkowski had seven catches for 94 yards.
Brady's performance was even more remarkable given how badly the Patriot rushing attack was stifled. This was one area where Buffalo had a clear victory, as Ridley was held to 23 yards on 10 carries, Shave Vereen had four yards on five carries, and Brandon Bolden had six carries for ten yards. As a team, the Patriots averaged less than two yards per carry.
Brady's first touchdown pass was to Tim Wright. Following a stupefyingly awful pass interference penalty on Duke Williams, who pushed Edelman out of bounds in the end zone as the ball was sailing in, Brady play faked to Ridley and Buffalo completely bit on the fake. Wright had nobody within five yards of him in the end zone.
Brian Tyms, playing his first game of the season after his suspension, morphed from August artificial star to legit player with a 43-yard touchdown pass on the first drive of the second half. In triple (yes, we did say triple) coverage, Brady was able to find Tyms deep down the middle and fought his way through Corey Graham, Leodis McKelvin and Stephon Gilmore to make the catch. Brady often times overthrows this ball, but this time he laid it in right there and Tyms made a great play to haul in the pass.
 Brandon LaFell had two touchdown catches in the Patriot victory over Buffalo on Sunday. (USA TODAY Images) |
Brandon LaFell had two touchdown catches in the second half. In the fourth quarter, two plays after a holding call on Jordan Devey negated a Gronkowski touchdown, Brady hit LaFell over the middle on a crossing pattern, and LaFell was able to beat Da'Norris Searcy to the ball and to the end zone. The play covered 18 yards and it gave the Patriots a 30-14 lead at the time.
Needing one more score to make things comfortable, on the next drive Brady was perched at the Patriot 44 facing second down and 12. Brady found LaFell in the right flat, and he was able to beat McKelvin to the ball. Racing down the right sideline, LaFell was able to stiffarm McKelvin and take it 56 yards to complete the scoring.
If you want to make any complaints about the Patriots, the offensive line, minus Connally and Stork, had some shaky moments, and the defense gave up some long gains, mostly on passes from Kyle Orton to tight end Scott Chandler. Chandler finished with six catches for 105 yards, but had a key dropped pass late in the game to somewhat offset his otherwise great afternoon.
In addition to the holding penalty on Devey, Solder once again endured a rough afternoon. Solder had a rough time with linebacker Jerry Hughes, who in one stretch in the second quarter gave up a sack to Brady and another Brady scramble for two yards which was almost a sack. Marcus Cannon had to come in for a time at left tackle before Solder came back in in the second half.
The Bills' three turnovers yielded 13 Patriot points. On the first play of the second quarter, Orton tried to hit Marquise Goodwin on the right sideline but threw the ball right to Jamie Collins, a simply awful throw. Later in the second quarter, Chandler Jones strip sacked Orton at the Buffalo 20, and recovered the fumble. Right at the end of the first half, Fred Jackson ripped off a 15-yard run but was stripped by Devin McCourty, and Stephen Gostkowski was able to nail a 53-yard field goal at the halftime gun.
Gostkowski kicked field goals from 40, 42 and 53 yards. He yanked a 36-yarder wide left to break up a string of 12 straight field goals, but it was a bad snap which affected the placement by Ryan Allen which caused Gostkowski to miss the kick.
Orton finished 24 of 38 passing for 299 yards and two touchdowns for a 94.1 passer rating. Robert Woods had the most catches for Buffalo with seven catches for 78 yards. Chris Hogan chipped in with 72 yards on five catches. The Bills made a little more hay rushing than the Patriots did, but the Patriots, without Mayo for most of the game, managed to hold Jackson and C.J. Spiller to a combined 49 yards on 17 catches, a nice job when either back could drop 100 yards on the Patriots.
It's now a short week for the Patriots, who will turn around and play the Jets at home on Thursday night. The Patriots will play with the division lead for the first time in the season, a position they are very familiar with. The key injuries sustained today, especially for Mayo who may be done for the year, will hurt the Patriots moving forward.
May the Bills stay in Buffalo forever. And may the Patriots continue to enjoy the success they seem to always have against the team that Ralph Wilson founded and now hands off to Pagula. All is right with both the Bills and Patriots for now.
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