Still, there is a pretty thick line between hard-nosed, aggressive football and delivering a completely unnecessary late hit on the other team’s best player; which is exactly what Bills linebacker Nigel Bradham did to Tom Brady on Monday Night. But the Pats quarterback withstood the pounding – along with an egregious inadvertent whistle in the third quarter that likely cost him a touchdown – to lead New England to a 20-13 win.
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The Patriots improved to 10-0 against the Buffalo Bills Monday night, but that is not what Patriots Nation is talking about Tuesday.
The Patriots will have to get by with what they have, which, by the way, includes Rob Gronkowski, so it’s not as though this is a dire situation in New England.
“The difference is they made some big plays”, Bills coach Rex Ryan said.
Jerry Hughes is finding a home in Rex Ryan’s defense. He finished with nine catches on 12 targets for 117 yards. The line went thru wholesale changes during the game and in reality never found a comfort level in protecting Brady who easily had his worst game of the season. Someone named Chris Harper dressed at wide receiver for the Patriots last night, and if you say you’d heard of him before a week ago I’d call you a liar. Safety Patrick Chung, who spent much of the game lining up as a third cornerback, had trouble covering Hogan, who caught six passes for 95 yards.
“We’ll see how the week progresses”, Ryan said, without revealing the nature of Taylor’s injury. “And I think there were a lot of plays out there where we didn’t necessarily do our job very well, and if you don’t do it well then no one else can really make up for what you’re trying to do”. “Every game we play from here on out is not going to be easy”.
Brady made 20 completions from 39 attempts for 277 yards, while the Bills lone touchdown came from running back LeSean McCoy to tie the match at 10-10 in the third quarter.
During the play, Watkins reeled in a pass along the sideline and appeared to roll out of bounds untouched at the Bills’ 48-yard line. But the strangest event might have been the two fumbles on a single punt. Williams did not return after being hurt in the second half. 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. It also resulted in Rex Ryan getting penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Bills probably don’t convert a hail mary but they deserved the chance.
After the game, NFL V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino went on NFL Network to explain the ill-timed whistle, per Pro Football Talk.
The Patriots (10-0) are off to their best start since 2007, when they won all 16 regular-season games and two more in the playoffs before losing in the Super Bowl to the NY Giants.
To make things worse, the Pats got no points on the drive when Stephen Gostkowski’s 54-yard field goal went wide right.
And another streak was snapped, too.
At that point, instead of the clock stopping with a few seconds left (which would have given the Bills one final shot at a Hail Mary), the side official motioned for the clock to keep running, and there was not enough time for Buffalo to get back to the line of scrimmage. Brandon Lafell is an interesting speculative add. He is much more durable than Amendola and the favorite in my opinion to be New England’s top receiver moving forward.
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The Patriots’ next opponents are the 8-2 Denver Broncos, on Sunday night out in the Rockies.
