Patriots vs. Bills: Buffalo Grades, Notes & Quotes
Back to reality, Buffalo fans.
Tom Brady threw for 466 yards and three touchdowns, Rob Gronkowski finished with 113 yards and a touchdown and Dion Lewis added 138 all-purpose yards as the New England Patriots staved off a late rally to defeat the Bills, 40-32, in Buffalo.
It was the second straight impressive performance from Lewis and the Patriots (2-0), who dismantled Pittsburgh last week and have averaged 34 points per game so far this season. And it was a disappointing setback for the Bills (1-1), who knocked off Indianapolis last week and entered the game hoping to send a strong message to the rest of the AFC.
It was a somewhat bizarre unraveling for Buffalo. On the game’s opening possession, quarterback Tyrod Taylor—making his second start for the team—led the Bills on a 10-play, run-heavy 80-yard drive that culminated in a two-yard touchdown run from Karlos Williams. And when the rowdy crowd at Ralph Wilson Stadium forced Brady to call timeout on New England’s opening possession, leading to a three-and-out, the Patriots appeared headed for a long afternoon.
But it was not to be, as New England would score touchdowns on each of its next three possessions. Julian Edelman, superb in yet another workmanlike performance, caught an eight-yard bullet from Brady on the Patriots’ second drive of the day. And Lewis, in his second straight game with over 120 total yards, scored from six yards out with under a minute to go in the first quarter. Buffalo would not regain the lead.
To its credit, Buffalo did make things interesting at the end of the game. At one point in the third quarter, the Bills trailed 37-13 in what appeared to be a blowout. But in the fourth quarter, the offense came alive: a 32-yard touchdown pass from Taylor to wideout Robert Woods made the score 37-20, and Taylor scored on a seven-yard run with 5:27 to play. And, after Jerry Hughes forced a fumble with a hit on Brady, Taylor hit receiver Sammy Watkins for a 24-yard score, drawing the Bills to within 37-32.
After a Patriots field goal, Buffalo trailed by eight, and—incredibly—had the chance to mount a comeback with under two minutes remaining. But a Taylor pass was intercepted by New England cornerback Logan Ryan, ending the game. All in all, it was a convincing reminder that the road to the AFC East title runs through Foxborough.
Buffalo Positional Grades
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| Position Group | Group Grade |
| QB | B- |
RB | A- |
| WR | B+ |
| TE | B- |
| OL | C |
| DL | D |
| LB | C |
| S/CB | C |
| Coaching | C |
The chart above includes letter grades, by positional grouping, for Buffalo’s roster. A couple of specific notes:
First, Taylor’s combination of youth and talent were on full display. On one hand, Taylor finished 23-for-30 with 242 yards and three touchdowns against the defending Super Bowl champs. That’s positive. But on the other hand, Taylor threw three interceptions, and the bulk of his offensive stats derived from a single eight-minute span in the fourth quarter, with his team down 24 points. It wasn’t a terrible performance, but it wasn’t very good, either.
It didn’t help that Taylor’s offensive line was practically perforated, allowing six sacks and constant pressure.
Second, I wrote on Saturday that to beat New England, you need to pressure Brady. This game should serve as a further reminder of that fact. The Bills managed two sacks, one of which forced a fumble that became a touchdown. But for the vast, vast majority of this game, Brady did whatever he pleased. His chemistry with Edelman remains uncanny, Gronkowski was unguardable and Lewis—whose name Rex Ryan professed not to know—was everywhere.
One of the few silver linings for the Bills was the performance of their running backs corps. LeSean McCoy, who finished with 89 yards rushing on 15 carries, was far more effective on the ground than he was last week. And Williams is quickly making a name for himself, particularly in the red zone. Needless to say, Buffalo needs that to continue.
Important Game Note: On Penalties, Yet Again
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The Bills need to figure out their penalty problem.
In Buffalo’s victory over Pittsburgh last week, the team gave up 113 yards on penalties. That was inexcusable. Somehow, it was even worse on Sunday: The Bills were penalized 14 times for a total of 140 yards. And, in keeping with last week’s troublesome trend, the flags came on both sides of the ball and were accumulated by several different offenders. A few violations stood out in particular:
During one second-quarter drive, Buffalo tackle Marcell Dareus sacked Brady on third down, but a five-yard penalty on Ronald Darby allowed the drive to continue. That possession resulted in a New England field goal. Then, in the third quarter, another five-yarder against Darby turned what would have been 3rd-and-10 into a Patriots first down; that possession resulted in a touchdown.
And in the fourth quarter, with the Bills trailing 37-32, a penalty on Nigel Bradham turned a Brady incompletion into a 22-yard gain. That ended in a crucial Stephen Gostkowski field goal.
New England is the defending Super Bowl champion. It ended up with 507 yards of total offense. It cannot be given 140 of those for free.
Quote No. 1: Buffalo S Duke Williams
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The game’s scariest moment came in the third quarter, when Buffalo safety Aaron Williams was carted off the field in an ambulance with a neck injury. Williams, who had been attempting to tackle Edelman, remained motionless on the field for more than 15 minutes as his teammates huddled in prayer.
According to ESPN.com’s Mike Rodak, Williams has been released from the hospital and is experiencing full mobility in all of his extremities. From a football perspective, Williams is a starting safety, and Buffalo’s secondary (which already lacks depth) relies on his instincts. His absence will be felt. But, as fellow safety Duke Williams explained to Rodak, injuries like that transcend football.
“Guys go down all the time, and when you see guys not moving, that’s a concern. Now it’s not about football anymore. It’s about that person’s health, and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping he’s all right,” Duke Williams said. Hopefully, Aaron Williams will suffer no long-term effects, and will return to full health soon.
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Quote No. 2: Buffalo HC Rex Ryan
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Buffalo head coach Rex Ryan, after his second game in Buffalo, did not mince words in his opening postgame statement.
“I’m going to tell you exactly like I told our team, this loss is squarely on one man’s shoulders. It’s on my shoulders,” he said. “Yeah, we’ve got to get better as a team, no question, but I have to get better. Belichick outcoached me, no question about it and that’s how it ended up. It’s unfortunate. The plan has to be better on defense. You can’t give up 500 yards and beat anybody.”
Ryan should be applauded for his willingness to accept blame, and some of his self-criticism is accurate. The defensive “game plan,” if you could call it that, was virtually nonexistent for most of the game. Buffalo did not pressure Brady, did not cover Gronkowski, failed to bump receivers off their routes and allowed the unheralded Lewis to stomp all over them. Those issues, along with the especially egregious penalty problem, come down to coaching.
But Ryan should not take all of the blame. Taylor, despite his inexperience and half-decent stat line, cannot turn the ball over the way he did. And while Buffalo’s failure to pressure Brady is partially coaching-based, the game is played on the field. Penalties are a sign of poor coaching; a poor pass rush comes down to the players.
And, of course, however one allocates the blame for this loss, it’s worth remembering that New England is probably the best football team in the world. Some of Buffalo’s struggles today were self-created. But the outcome of the game also reflected a superb performance from an excellent team.
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