Sunday’s used to be a great day, a day I looked forward to, especially at this time of the year with the Red Sox setting their rotation for the playoffs and the Patriots blowing teams out.
What the hell happened?
The New England Patriots were winners of 15 consecutive games against the Buffalo Bills heading into Sunday’s match up at the Ralph. Well after four Tom Brady interceptions, a drive that the Buffalo touchdown should have been credited to the officials, a bizarre second time out called and 10 seconds mysteriously disappearing from the clock that streak no longer exists.
The Buffalo Bills, the NFL’s only CFL team, beat the New England Patriots, 34-31 on a weird winning drive and a last second field goal Sunday afternoon.
After jumping out to a 21-0 lead in the second quarter on Brady touchdown passes to Wes Welker and two to Rob Gronkowski the game looked like not only was it potentially over but that the Patriots were going to whip the Bills to the Canadian border and back again.
Defensively CB Kyle Arrington had two INT’s that stopped two Buffalo drives and a shorthanded secondary was looking pretty stellar early on.
But something happened on the way to winning the 16th game in a row over Buffalo. Someone forgot to tell the Bills to rollover.
Buffalo was able to cut the lead to 21-10 by halftime after a Steven Jackson TD catch and a Ryan Lindell field goal.
Buffalo scored it’s first touchdown near the end of the second quarter as the New England defense gave up 96-yards rather easily that lead to a Ryan Fitzpatrick TD pass to Johnson of 11-yards.
Brady didn’t help matters as he threw a pair of first half picks. One bounced off of the hands of Danny Woodhead near the Buffalo 10-yard line and was grabbed on the deflection. This led to the Buffalo field goal and ended up being a 10-point swing as the Patriots were looking to score.
An earlier Brady interception was also the product of a tipped ball in the red zone once again killing a New England Drive.
The second half didn’t play out much better as the defense was constantly challenged and the offense kept shooting itself in the foot courtesy of the league’s MVP.
The third INT of Brady’s day was intended for a very well covered Chad Ochocinco that was an exceptionally poor read by Brady, who tried to force the ball to Ochocinco and Leodis McKelvin undercut the route and ended up with the ball.
Buffalo cut the Patriots lead to 21-17 when a wide open Scott Chandler caught a 4-yard TD pass from Fitzpatrick in the 3rd quarter. The Patriots extended their lead to a touchdown when they answered with a Stephen Gostkowski 23-yard field goal.
Buffalo totally was back into the game and actually claimed the lead 31-24 after scoring two fourth quarter touchdowns within 14 seconds. They scored on offense when Fred Jackson was able to get in from the 1-yard line and after the ensuing kickoff Drayton Florence had a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown and the Bills fans were bringing down the house on a lovely fall Canadian day.
You can credit the Jackson run to the officials though, who called 48 yards in penalties on that drive. One was a phantom roughing the passer call, the second was a phantom illegal contact call and the third was a very subjective pass interference call in the end zone. That put the ball on the one-yard line and set the stage for Jackson’s game tying TD run.
After a shaky drive got the Patriots into the red zone, Brady was able to find Welker for his second TD catch of the day with a 4th down pass of 6 yards and once again we were tied.
But not for long.
Buffalo once again responded with some quick hits against an apparently gassed New England secondary. A bizarre series happened when the Bills had apparently scored but the play was over turned after review.
First an additional 10 seconds ran off the clock after the player should have been marked down, then Bill Belichick took a second timeout so he could argue with officials over the time not being put back on the clock as part of the review. And then Buffalo basically ran out the clock allowing Lindell to kick a game winning 18-yard field goal as time expired to snap the NFL’s longest current losing streak to one team.
Patriots at Bills Gamebook. This includes the box score, all the stats, play by play, drive charts and more.
Patriots at Bills Game Recap via Associated Press.
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Turning Point of the Game
Brady’s fourth INT that was returned by Leodis McKelvin for a TD and gave Buffalo the lead at 31-24 just 14 seconds after having tied the game.
Offensive Player(s) of the Game
Shared by Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick who was 27 of 40 for 369 yards with 2 TD’s and 2 INT’s and Patriots WR Wes Welker who had 16 catches for a team record 217 yards.
Defensive Player of the Game
Patriots CB Kyle Arrington has 6 tackles (3 solo) and 2 INT’s that were returned for a total of 37 yards.
Game Notes
Starters for the Patriots were:
On Offense:
LT Light
LG Mankins
C Connolly
RG Waters
RT Solder
TE Gronkowski
WR Welker
WR Branch
WR Ochocinco
QB Brady
RB Green-Ellis
On Defense:
DE Ellis
DT Wilfork
DE Carter
OLB Ninkovich
ILB Mayo
OLB Spikes
CB McCourty
CB Arrington
DB Bodden
S Brown
S Barrett
Inactives for the Game:
Patriots
1. T Sebastian Vollmer (back)
2. TE Aaron Hernandez (knee)
3. DE Mike Wright (concussion)
4. S Patrick Chung (thumb)
5. DT Albert Haynesworth (back)
6. WR Taylor Price (hamstring)
7. CB Ras-I Dowling (thigh)
Bills
1. LB Kirk Morrison (hamstring)
2. CB Terrence McGee (hamstring)
3. G Kraig Urbik (knee)
4. DB Justin Rogers
5. RT Sam Young
6. TE Lee Smith
7. NT Torell Troup
The spread (Patriots minus 9) was not covered. But the over/under (53 1/2) was. I am now 2-1 vs. the spread and 3 of 3 calling the under/over.
The Patriots lead the series 61-41-1
New England had won 15 straight games in the series; it was there first loss to the Bills since Opening Day 2003 when Buffalo dismantled New England 38-0 at home.
The 15 game win streak against one team was the third longest in NFL history. San Francisco had a 17 game win streak over the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams from 1990-98 and Miami had a 20 game win streak over Buffalo from 1970-79.
New England is 49-15 vs. the AFC East since 2001.
An AFC East rival has not swept the Patriots in a season series since 2000 when Miami and New York swept them. Buffalo will have that chance in Week 17 at Gillette Stadium.
Bill Belichick coached teams are 20-4 vs. Buffalo. Belichick was 0-1 against the Bills as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
Bill Belichick has 179 wins – 10th all-time.
Tom Brady is now 17-2 vs. Buffalo.
Brady was 30 of 45 for 387 yards; 4 TD’s and 4 INT’s.
He is the first QB in NFL history to throw from 1200 plus yards in the seasons first three games.
This was Brady’s 6th career 4 INT game the others were in 2006 vs. Indianapolis; 2005 vs. Kansas City, 2004 in Miami; 2003 in Buffalo and 2001 in Denver.
Brady is 50-23 on the road in his career in the regular season.
Brady’s 4 TD passes give him 272 in his career he is now 10th all-time. Joe Montana is 9th with 273.
WR Wes Welker now has catches in 82 consecutive games including playoffs, 68 as a Patriot. The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.
Welker set a franchise record with 217 receiving yards on 16 catches. The previous record was 214 yards set by Terry Glenn in 1999.
The Patriots released TE Dan Gronkowski, a Buffalo-area native, on Friday. Practice squad S Ross Ventrone took his roster spot. LB A.J. Edds was re-signed by the team to the practice squad.
Since 2000 the Patriots have the 2nd best road record in the NFL at 58-32. Only Indianapolis 59-30 has better road record in the same span.
Since 2001, the Patriots are 23-11 in September that’s the second best record among all NFL teams behind only Indianapolis who is 26-8.
The Patriots have scored 30 or more points in 11 consecutive regular season games.
New England is now plus 2 in turnover differential.
The Bills are 22-29-1 as the home team in the series.
Buffalo is 21-42 vs. the AFC East since 2001.
Bills head coach Chan Gailey is now 1-3 vs. the Patriots in his career, 1-2 with Buffalo and 0-1 with Dallas.
Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick is 1-3 vs. New England and 15-24-1 in his NFL career with Buffalo, Cincinnati and St. Louis.
RB Fred Jackson had back-to-back 100 yard rushing games in the first two games of the season but New England held him to 74 yards on 12 carries with 1 TD.
Bills CB Aaron Williams was carted off the field but was moving his extremities and waving to fans as he was wheeled off.
Carl Cheffers was the game referee. The temp at kickoff was 78 and sunny.
Referee’s report on the second New England time out and Bill Belichick’s explanation of the situation.
Post Game Interviews
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patriots QB Tom Brady post game press conferences via patriots.com
This Week in the AFC East
Cleveland beat Miami, 17-16
Oakland downed the NY Jets, 34-24
AFC East Standings
Bills 3-0/1-0
Patriots 2-1/1-1
Jets 2-1/0-0
Dolphins 0-3/0-1
Next Game
The Patriots visit the Oakland Raiders at Overstock.com Stadium on Sunday in Oakland CA. Kick off is at 4:15 p.m. on CBS.
Photo credit: AP Photo
