In The Red Zone

Guess Who’s Back … Back Again? Brady’s back. Tell a Friend.
(with regards to Eminem)

With his New England Patriots trailing by eleven points with around five minutes to go, Tom Brady began to work his magic. He took the Pats down the field on an 11 play, 81 yard drive that culminated with Brady hitting tight end Benjamin Watson in the end zone for the touchdown.

After the Patriots went for two and were denied, Bill Belichick decided not to go for an onsides kick and had Stephen Gostowski kick the ball deep. Buffalo Bills return man Leodis McKelvin decided to return it from about a yard in his end zone. That turned out to be the fatal blow for the Bills as he fumbled the ball when Pierre Woods forced it loose. Gostowski recovered it and gave the Patriots the ball back at Buffalo’s 31 with 1:56 remaining.

It took Brady all of two plays to get the Patriots back in the end zone as he hit Watson again, this time for a 24 yard strike to put the Patriots out front 25-24. They again went for two and were once again denied.

Now it was up to the defense, playing without Jerod Mayo who went down with a knee injury, to stop the Bills and preserve the win.

Bills QB Trent Edwards hit Terrelll Owens for a 19 yard gain to give them the ball at their own 40. But the Patriots defense held strong after that as Derrick Burgess and Tunta Banta-Cain had sacks. A last ditch effort on 4th went for naught and the Patriots escaped with a victory.

When you have Brady at quarterback, you know good things will happen. He didn’t play his best last night by any means but he stepped it up at the right time. You could see the difference in the Patriots from this year to last year and the reason for that is Brady being back in the huddle.

He exudes confidence with his boyish smile and knows what it takes to win the big game or any big game for that matter.

The severity of his Mayo’s knee injury is still unknown at this time and knowing Belichick like we do, we’ll probably never know. But if Mayo is gone for any amount of time, the Patriots defense will need to step it up. He is the leader of the defense from the linebacker spot in just his second year in the NFL. His instincts can’t be replaced but you hope they can be duplicated.

Tom Brady’s postgame press conference [Patriots.com]

Bill Belichick’s postgame press conference [Patriots.com]

Bills defenders gather no Moss [Boston Globe]

It brought out the best in them [Boston Globe]

QB started slow, but finished fast [Boston Globe]

Two-minute warning: Bills give it away [Boston Globe]

Watson had the answers [Boston Globe]

Patriots positional groupings [Mike Reiss – ESPN Boston]

Moss plays 80 of 81 offensive snaps [Mike Reiss – ESPN Boston]

Mailbag: Reviewing the opener [Mike Reiss – ESPN Boston]

Tom Brady, Patriots win stunner [Boston Herald]

Jerod Mayo injures right knee [Boston Herald]