The Patriots were certainly brilliant on Sunday night, but they did something that has finally set them apart from recent years. They put the dagger in the heart of a team that was showing signs of potentially getting back into the game.<\/p>\n
\nIn the final quarter of play New England held the ball for over 10-minutes, marching 91-yards on 15 plays, with the knockout blow coming as they punched it in on San Diego to put them back up by 24 points. At that point there were under four minutes left in the game, and the Chargers were demoralized.\n<\/p>\n
\nNeedless to say, game over.\n<\/p>\n
\nThey say the good teams take care of business against what are supposed to be \u201cweaker teams\u201d. After beating a very good Chargers team, the big test will be whether or not they can continue their dominance over a Buffalo Bills team that was at the wrong end in time of possession, losing 26-3 to the Steelers on Sunday. Granted nearly half of that point total came after the Bills defense held the Steelers to four field goals in the first half, but the more interesting point was the fact Pittsburgh held the ball for over 20-minutes in the first two quarters. It carried over into the second half where they were scored on during two out of the first three possessions in the second half, and spent nearly 40 minutes of the game on the field.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe first half was brutal,\u201d defensive end Chris Kelsay told the Buffalo News. \u201cWe all played hard, but I think we had a lot of guys who were tired. A lot of that was we were on the field for so long. You\u2019re going to have games like that, but that\u2019s when you really have to step it up, pick up your play and get the offense the ball back because really if [opposing offenses] have the ball it\u2019s our job to get it back to our offense. We didn\u2019t do a very good job of that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\nThey were tired, and it definitely showed when they couldn\u2019t get off the field on third down. Pittsburgh converted 11 of 16 of those opportunities, and punted just once the entire game.\n<\/p>\n
\nIf you\u2019re a Patriots fan you have to like their chances, although you could also consider this a \u201ctrap game\u201d. It will be interesting to see if they don\u2019t \u201cplay down\u201d to their level of competition and take control early on. I have to believe that this team is at a different level than we\u2019ve ever seen them at. Let\u2019s be honest, anything less than a big victory over a Bills team, whose offense is woefully atrocious, would be a disappointment. You would have to think after watching the way New England\u2019s offense played against the Chargers, it appears that Buffalo\u2019s defense may be in for another tough time this weekend.\n<\/p>\n
\nTo make matters worse for Buffalo, they haven\u2019t exactly gotten much out of their offense. The word in Buffalo is that quarterback J.P. Losman and the rest of the Bills offense hasn\u2019t been too thrilled offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild, accusing him of being \u201ctoo conservative\u201d. But so far the media in Buffalo is putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of Losman, who has reportedly been erratic and also has yet to throw a touchdown pass this season. There are also some that feel his performance against the Patriots could also fuel controversy for backup Trent Edwards. A big surprise\u2026another QB controversy in Buffalo.\n<\/p>\n
\nNeedless to say Sunday\u2019s game will have it\u2019s own intrigue. I guess the more important point is that it\u2019s nice to finally be able to start focusing on football again.\n<\/p>\n
\nRandom Thought<\/b>\n<\/p>\n
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