Good afternoon, Patriots fans! Well this game certainly made my weekend! Both the Buffalo Bills and our New England Patriots came into this game tied for 1st place in the AFC East at 3-2. Not anymore. After another strong performance, the Pats took care of the Bills in Orchard Park and stand alone on top of the division at 4-2, while the Bills fell to 3-3. Side note: The Dolphins and Jets lost their games against the Packers and Broncos, respectively.
This was a pretty even first half. Neither team was moving the ball too often in each other’s territory. Stephen Gostkowski was supposed to put the Patriots up 3-0 with a 36 yard field goal, but he missed. No worries though because after Jamie Collins picked off Kyle Orton, Tom Brady led the Pats down the field and finished the drive by finding Tim Wright in the end zone. Later in the half, Orton did lead Buffalo down the field (mostly due to key catches by tight end Scott Chandler) and finished that drive with a touchdown pass to Robert Woods. Chandler Jones later recovered Orton’s fumble in Bills territory and Gostkowski hit a 42 yard field goal. As the half was about to expire (6 seconds left to be precise), CJ Spiller fumbled the ball in Buffalo territory again (damn Bills, what’s up with all the turnovers?! Not that I mind or anything but still…). After a quick pass from Brady to Julian Edelman, with 3 seconds left, Gostkowski made a 53 yard field goal to put the Patriots up 13-7. Not the lead I wanted but hey, a lead is a lead.
New England opened up the third quarter with style. Brady threw a deep ball (43 yards) to Brian Tyms (who made his regular season debut) for the touchdown! Incredible play because Tyms beat triple coverage and made an outstanding catch (look for that to be on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays tomorrow). Unfortunately, Buffalo did respond with a Fred Jackson rushing touchdown. On the next Patriots possession, Rob Gronkowski looked to injure his elbow (not the one he was recovering from) and he left the field gingerly. But he did come back! That drive ended with Gostkowski hitting a 40 yard field goal. Gronk would be okay though! He later even had a touchdown catch but that was called back due to a holding. But no worries because Brady found Brandon LaFell, who ran it 17 yards for the touchdown. Sadly though, the Bills responded really quickly. On 4th and 2, Orton completed a deep pass to Woods and that drive finished quickly with Orton finding Chris Hogan for the touchdown (the 2 point conversion was good). Now the pressure was all on the Pats. Starting deep in their own zone, all they had to do was get first downs and run out the clock. They did just that and props to Gronk and Minitron for catching key passes for first downs. But New England put the icing on the cake with Brady finding LaFell again for a touchdown. But it wasn’t just any ordinary touchdown, it was a 56 yard BOMB! That would be it. Your final score: New England Patriots 37, Buffalo Bills 22!
So Pats fans, how do you feel? I can tell you that I’m feeling awesome! The Patriots are now 4-2 and have sole possession of first place in the AFC East. While New England does have some things to work on, they still played strong. My confidence in this team is almost back. They did lose Jerod Mayo and Stevan Ridley to injuries and I’m slightly worried since they might not probably be back for a while, especially Ridley (who may have torn his ACL – but hopefully he didn’t). Now that this game is over, the Patriots will be changing their focus to the New York Jets, who they will be playing this Thursday night. I think that will be a pretty good game for New England but until then Pats fans, enjoy the next few days! Follow me @vaidyeah33 and the blog @foxboroblog on twitter and let’s go Patriots!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
