The Result
Wow. Where do you even start? The New England Patriots squashed their AFC East foe Buffalo Bills like a bug on the windshield on their way to a 56-10 rout in Orchard Park NY Sunday night.
Tom Brady was 31 of 39 for 373 yards and had 5 TD passes four of them to Randy Moss and one to Ben Watson. Laurence Maroney and Kyle Eckel ran for scores and Ellis Hobbs returned a fumble for a touchdown. The game was never really in any doubt as in a blink of an eye it was 14-0 New England and even after the Bills scored on a 47 yard bomb by JP Losman to Roscoe Parish to cut the lead in half, you never felt like it may be a game.
Well now the Patriots are 10-0 and cruising not only to the AFC East title but the #1 seed in the conference as they have a two game lead on Indianapolis.
I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Thanksgiving on Thursday I’ll still have your weekly “In The Red Zone” on Tuesday and the game preview on Friday plus any other news of note.
Scoring Plays
| New England | 14 | 21 | 7 | 14 | 56 |
| Buffalo | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
1st Quarter
NE Maroney 6 yard run – kick good – 7-0 Patriots- NE Brady 43 yard pass to Moss – kick good – 14-0 Patriots
- BUF Losman 47 yard pass to Parish – kick good – 14-7 Patriots
2nd Quarter
- NE Brady 16 yard pass to Moss – kick good – Patriots 21-7
- NE Brady 6 yard pass to Moss – kick good – Patriots 28-7
- NE Brady 17 yard pass to Moss – kick good – Patriots 35-7
3rd Quarter
- NE Brady 3 yard pass to Watson – kick good – Patriots 42-7
- BUF Lindell 52 yard FG – Patriots 42-10
4th Quarter
- NE Eckel 1 yard run – kick good – Patriots 49-10
- NE Hobbs 35 yard fumble recovery – kick good – Patriots 56-10
Offensive Players of the Game
The offensive line. The 5-man front of Nick Kaczur, Matt Light, Russ Hochstein, Logan Mankins and Dan Koppen provided quality protection for Tom Brady and Matt Cassel as neither was sacked, the penalites were a minimum and they had good run blocking allowing the running game to gain 127 yards on 29 carries and produced 29 first downs.
Defensive Player of the Game
Cornerback Ellis Hobbs had 3 tackles, defensed two passes and returned a fumble 35-yards for a touchdown.
Turning Point(s) of the Game
Randall Gay interception on the Bills first drive plus the personal foul tacked on at the end.
Tom Brady goes 43 yards to Randy Moss on 3rd and 12 for a TD.
Offensive Leaders/Notes
Tom Brady was 31 of 39 for 373 yards and 5 TD’s and Randy Moss had 10 catches for 128 yards and 4 TD’s.
On the Patriots second play Laurence Maroney goes 6 yards for a touchdown. It is his first TD of the year.
Donte` Stallworth and Randy Moss both dropped passes in the first quarter. Wes Welker had a drop at the two minute warning in the 2nd quarter.
The Patriots were 6 for 6 on 3rd down conversions in the first half. They picked up the first one of the second half before the Bills stoped them on the next three chances.
Brady goes 16 yards on 3rd and 3 to TE Ben Watson.- 3rd and 12 Brady goes 43 yards to Moss for a TD.
- Brady goes 30 yards on 3rd and 8 to Jabar Gaffney.
- Brady goes 12 yards to Stallworth on 3rd and 2.
- Brady throws 12 yards to Moss on 3rd and 3 in last drive of the first half.
- Heath Evans gets a first down on 3rd and inches in final 20 seconds of the half.
- Brady goes 5 yards on 3rd and 3 to Gaffney in the 3rd quarter.
Brady called for intentional grounding on Pats third drive of first quarter. It was Brady’s first intentional grounding call in two seasons.
Brady goes 16 yards to Moss for a TD on the 1st play of the second quarter.
Brady goes 25 yards to Watson on the first play of their 4th drive.
RB Kevin Faulk fumbled after a hard but clean hit on a 1st down screen, Moss recovered. Faulk stayed on turf but left on his own.
Brady hits Moss for an 6 yard touchdown.
Brady goes to Moss for 17 yard TD pass. The Patriots scored on all five first half possesions.
Patriots mixed in Evans and Kyle Eckel into the running game in the second half in place of Faulk.
The Patriots were 2 for 2 on 4th down conversions:
- On 4th and 1 in the third quarter, Brady gets his 5th TD pass of the game going three yards to Ben Watson.
- Eckel was stopped short on a 3rd and 3 and the Patriots went for the 4th and 1 conversion converting on a 3 yard pass to Moss near the end of the 3rd quarter.
Eckel runs 14 yards on a 3rd quarter draw.
Welker picks up 24 yards on a 3rd quarter completion.
Junior Seau and Mike Vrabel played offense on Eckels 1 yard TD run.
Matt Cassel replaced Tom Brady at QB with 10:56 left in the game.
The Patriots punted for the first time in the fourth quarter with 4 minutes left. They had scored on their first 7 possesions prior to the punt.
Defensive Leaders/Notes
In addition to Hobbs, Rodney Harrison had 6 tackles and Adalius Thomas had 2.5 sacks and batted down a pass.
Bills QB JP Losman goes 17 yards to Lee Evans on the games first play. Then Patriots LB Adalius Thomas sacks Losman on the second play for a 9 yard loss.
Randall Gay intercepts Losman on the 4th play of the 1st drive, a personal foul on the end gives the Pats on the Bills 14. It was Gay’s 3rd INT of the season. Gay’s INT return was 21 yards.
James Sanders dropped Anthony Thomas for a 3 yard loss on the Bills second drive making it 3rd and 11. DL Mike Wright nearly got Losman on the next play for a huge loss but he was able to scamper back to the line of scrimmage.
Bills get a 3rd down conversion on 3rd and 1 on their 3rd drive.
Patriots defensive line applied continual pressure to Losman in the first quarter with a 4 man line by using Adalius Thomas as a lineman.
DL Jarvis Green forced a fumble but Losman recovered and got a 14 yard completion down field.
CB Ellis Hobbs fell down on coverage allowing Losman to hit Roscoe Parish for a 47 yard TD.
LB Roselvelt Colvin flushed out Losman and then Thomas sacked him for the second time on the Bills second drive of the first quarter.
Patriots defense playing a mix of 4-3 and 3-4 Losman looked hurried and confused.
Thomas got called for hands to the face givng the Bills a first down on their 3rd drive in the second quarter.
Ty Warren and Thomas sack Losman after he got a first down on a sneak. The loss was 7 yards.
Randy Moss played safety on the half’s final play and knocked the ball down at the goal line.
Bills converted a long FGA (52 yards) in the 3rd quarter the kick went off of NBC’s goal post camera and was ruled good because the camera is beyond the cross bar.
Safety James Sanders forced a Dwayne Wright fumble that Hobbs returned 35 yards for a 4th quarter TD.
On the next drive Sanders nearly had an INT that would have been a TD.
Hobbs broke a long pass attempt to Lee Evans in the fourth quarter.
Thomas knocked down a Losman pass. He was the QB’s worst nightmare most of the night.
Special Teams Leaders/Notes
Kickoff coverage team has been exceptional 3 kickoffs two held inside the 20 on short kicks by Stephen Gostkowski because of the wind.
Gostkowski helped make a tackle on a Bills KOR after the second Moss TD.
Bills KR Terrance McGee boots a Gostkowski KO and gets planted at the 12 by the coverage team.
Poor KO coverage after the Pats 6th TD gets Buffalo almost to midfield after they had a chance to tackle McGee around the 30.
Better kickoff coverage after the Eckel TD only allowing 19 yards.
KO cover team only allows McGee 14 yards on the return after Hobbs TD.
Coaching Decisions
BUF challenges a fumble of the Patriots KOR after the first Bills TD in 1st qtr. – Upheld.
NE challenges a 16 yard completion to Lee Evans on 3rd and 6 in 2nd qtr. – Overturned.
Injuries
- NE – Kevin Faulk, head injury, did not return – 2nd qtr.
- NE – Tedy Bruschi, unknown injury, returned – 2nd qtr.
The Officials
Bill Carollo was today’s referee. He became the first referee in 35 years to officiate back-to-back games of the same team after he officiated the Buffalo-Miami game in Week 10.
Missed a late hit on Brady when he slid for a gain in the second quarter.
Missed a pass completion that skipped on the turf to Bills WR Lee Evans. It was overturned on a challenge.
Game Notes
Patriots safety Eugene Wilson was out with an ankle injury. Linebacker Eric Alexander was out as well with a knee injury. Offensive Guard Stephen Neal missed the game with a shoulder injury.
Bills running back Marshawn Lynch was out with an ankle injury.
The Patriots haven’t allowed a point on the opponents opening drive all season.
Bills TE Kevin Everett who suffered a catastrophic injury addressed the Buffalo crowd via video prior to the game.
It was 34 degrees at kickoff.
Russ Hochstein started at RG for Stephen Neal for the 4th time this season.
Laurence Maroney became the 19th different Patriot to score a TD this season in the first quarter.
The Patriots have scored on their first drive on the game 9 of 10 times this season.
The Patriots have scored first in 9 of the 10 games on the year.
The Patriots are 24/24 in red zone scoring this season.
The Roscoe Parish 47 yard TD catch was the longest completion vs. New England this year.
Randy Moss now has 16 TD catches this season and Tom Brady has 38 TD passes.
The Patriots tied a franchise record with 56 points scored set in 1979 vs the NY Jets.
Post Game Press Conferences
Listen to what Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady had to say about today’s game.
Press conferences via patriots.com
Things To Work On For Next Week
Enjoy the holiday and stay healthy.
Next Week’s Opponent
The Patriots host the Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday at “The Razor”. Kickoff is 8:15 p.m. and the game will be seen nationally on NBC and heard on the Patriots Rock Radio Network.
