Are opponents more than picking up on the Patriots’ weaknesses?
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So, all in all, it was an evening full of intrigue in Foxborough, Mass.
The undefeated New England Patriots survived a physical war and topped the Buffalo Bills 20-13 on Monday night.
Amendola snagged the ball and with nothing but green in front of him for the next 60 yards.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady survived a sustained buffeting from the Buffalo defense to steer the reigning Super Bowl champions to their 10th win of the current campaign.
Yet the typical mix of humor and assertiveness offered by Ryan in his media sessions was otherwise absent on Monday night. But at the end of the day, they find ways to win. But a few plays later Watkins ended the game, when he accepted a Taylor pass for 16 yards along the sidelines and to the BUF 48 which is where he tried to end the play at. Ten days ago, Ryan was on top of the world, intoxicated with delight over beating his former team in the stadium he coached in and ready finally defeat Belichick and Brady. But because of the inadvertent whistle, play was halted and Bills cornerback Ronald Darby did not attempt to tackle Amendola. Brady scrambled to his right and, as he was nearing the sideline, threw 14 yards to an open Amendola, who had only one opposing player between himself and a touchdown.
“Once it did happen, the crew, I thought, did a good job of handling where they were going to put the football, because both teams are affected by the whistle blowing”, NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said on NFL Network.
Simply said, no matter what part of the season we are in, Rex Ryan has the Patriots on his mind.
However, as the ball was in the air, the line judge on that side of the field – Gary Arthur – blew his whistle for no reason whatsoever. So then the team with possession gets an option.
It might be a somewhat obscure rule, but it’s a rule nonetheless: A player can’t intentionally bat a ball, unless he’s trying to tip a forward pass. When the Detroit Lions faced the Seattle Seahawks in Week 4, the game came down to an illegal bat when Calvin Johnson caught a pass but was stripped of the ball at the 1-yard line by Kam Chancellor. “So for them to give the (Patriots) the spot, that was just insane”.
Those on the field were mystified by the development. Ryan’s Bills are 5-5 and will have to make a big late season push to even sniff a Wild Card. “I hope I am wrong, but I don’t see it happening”.
We’d ask which coach you’d rather have, but unless you too played under Ryan, what’s the point? And when you watch the play, it sure sounds like they biffed the application of the rule as well. He played great all night….
Coachspeak: “We had to work around it a little bit tonight”.
As a Patriots fan, I will tell you, he did not.
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“That’s a good question”, Ryan said. But by the third quarter, in what felt like the longest televised spectacle I’ve ever had the misfortune of watching in its entirety due to the constant flag-throwing and replays, including a downright perplexing and lengthy pause to review a Brandon LaFell catch that was clearly unnecessary, things started to get weird. And then apparently I got a 15-yard penalty on me at the same time…. The refs came clean and said it was an inadvertent whistle. But before he completed the act of catching the ball – whatever that means – the ball was jarred loose and popped directly into the hands of linebacker Jonathan Anderson.
