In their two meetings this season, the Buffalo Bills had a chance to beat the New England Patriots, but they came up short twice. On Saturday, the Bills led by 17-13 entering the fourth quarter before the Patriots' 42-year-old quarterback Tom Brady engineered two scoring drives in the fourth to help the Patriots clinch their 11th straight AFC East title. Brady led an 11-play, 77-yard drive that Nick Folk capped with a 21-yard field goal to cut the deficit to one. After the defense forced the Bills to punt, Brady led a seven-play, 59-yard drive that running back Rex Burkhead ended with a one-yard scoring rush that brought the Patriots back on top.
Then, Brady completed a two-point conversion with a pass to Julian Edelman to give the Patriots a seven-point lead, 24-17. The defense then stepped up to force the Bills to another turnover on downs to seal their 12th win in 15 games.
Brady completed 26 of 33 passes for 271 yards and a touchdown, tying Peyton Manning for second on the all-time list for touchdown passes. “Yeah, I mean, their time of possession was significant and it’s hard to win when you have Tom Brady on the field as many times as he was,” said Bills' Head Coach Sean McDermott during his post-game conference, a transcript of which was posted on the Patriots official website. The head coach admitted that his team failed to do a good job in some areas, like establishing the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
Allen says Bills must find ways to get over hump
Bills quarterback Josh Allen, for his part, lauded Brady and the Patriots defense after their clash, saying they played a heck of a game. “It’s a really good defense and obviously they’ve got No. 12 over there at quarterback. It s*cks,” said Allen. With the Patriots as division rival, Allen said the Bills (10-5) must find a way to get over that hump despite playing themselves into a position to potentially win the game.
In their first meeting, the Patriots edged the Bills, 16-10, despite a lackluster performance from Brady.
Belichick lauds Brady for his good decisions
During his post-game conference, a transcript of which was posted on the Patriots official website, Patriots' Head Coach Bill Belichick lauded Brady for leading the team to some big plays when they needed it most.
“There were times when they had pressure, he did a good job of getting the ball out and he hit some big plays,” said Belichick. The veteran head coach also lauded the team’s running game, led by second-year rusher Sony Michel, who ran for 96 yards on 21 carries. The defense also did its share, sacking Allen four times, while the offensive line protected Brady well as it gave up no sack. The Patriots did enough to cover their seven-point spread over the Bills that Las Vegas placed on them earlier in the week. Brady, for his part, improved to 32-3 against the Bills in his career. The Patriots can clinch the No. 2 seed in the AFC and a first-round bye with a win over the Miami Dolphins next week.
