Patriots vs Bills: Was Tom Brady Bad, or Is Buffalo for Real in 2011?

This just in: the 2011 Buffalo Bills are for real.

Over the first three weeks of the season, the quality of their opponents has steadily grown.  The results, however, have not changed. Three weeks, three wins, with the latest coming over division bullies, the New England Patriots.

The Bills 2011 season has been as impressive so far as their comeback from 21-0 was today. Though there will be a major impulse among the media and Patriots fans to chalk this one up as more of a Patriots loss than a Bills win, those opinions are seriously off base.

Sure, Tom Brady threw as many INTs today in one game as he did in sixteen games last season. But when you go back and look at the replay, those INTs were as much about an opportunistic defense making plays as they were about Brady giving them away.

But the real story of this Buffalo team is their surprisingly high octane offense, led by Harvard man Ryan Fitzpatrick. To steal from his alma mater, Ryan Fitzpatrick is “The Veritas” (The Truth). The Bills came into today leading the league in scoring at over 39 points per game. After scoring 34 today, they are unlikely to come down off that perch.

What’s even more impressive is how balanced they are on offense.

Entering today, they had the league’s best rushing attack. When faced with a Patriots defense that was more adept at stopping the run, they picked up the ball and passed for nearly 370 yards. You could spend a long time searching for a team that can get that kind of production out of both phases of the offense, but you are unlikely to find one at this point in the season.

While it is obviously too soon to crown the Bills in a division as tough as the AFC East, what is clear is that this is no fluke. Whether or not they can consistently perform this way over the course of 16 weeks and beyond remains to be seen.

But things in that division have certainly gotten interesting. With a new legitimate playoff contender on board, the Jets and Patriots may find themselves looking over their shoulders as they seek to maintain their stranglehold on the AFC East.