Patriots vs. Bills: It's a Special Highlight Reel for Buffalo as Streak Ends

Maybe for this week we should rename the Bills the 76ers.

Historically, 76 percent of teams to start the season 3-0 make it to the playoffs, and after a heroic rally from 21 points down to beat New England 34-31, Buffalo joins Green Bay and Detroit at the 3-0 plateau.

The highlights from this one were all Patriots for most of the first half, and it seemed only a matter of time before Tom Brady and Co. would push their early 21-0 lead to a 16th consecutive win over the Bills.

But Buffalo, which got its last win over the Patriots all the way back in 2003, wasn’t having any more of that.

Leading the way was the defensive backfield, picking off four of Brady’s passes, as many interceptions as he had in the entire 2010 season.

One of those picks was made by Drayton Florence, who had one of the four thefts against Brady, and it was a game-changer, returning it 27 yards for a touchdown.

Meanwhile, Ryan Fitzpatrick did a pretty fair impersonation of the Brady of the season’s first two weeks, throwing for 369 yards and a couple of touchdowns, although he, too, did have a couple of interceptions.

The play of the game came in the fourth quarter, a touchdown that wasn’t but was good enough, nonetheless.

Fitzpatrick hit one of his running backs, Fred Jackson, on a slant across the middle that was designed for a short gain. Instead, Jackson managed to weave through the New England defense for an apparent score. However, a review led the officials to place the ball on the 1-yard line.

The Bills weren’t able to punch the ball in, thanks in part to two penalties. But Rian Lindell kicked a 28-yard field goal as time ran out.

Brady hit on 30 of 45 pass attempts but came up just a bit short in his bid for a third consecutive game of 400 or more yards, settling for 386.

Much of that went to receiver Wes Welker, who set the Patriots’ club record with 16 catches and 216 yards. Brady’s tight end, Rob Gronkowski, caught another seven passes for 102 yards and two scores.