New England Patriots roll over the Buffalo Bills 41-25 avenging a loss suffered to them earlier in the season. Tom Brady threw for four touchdowns to four different receivers for 315 yards to bring his season totals to 1,319 passing yards and 12 TDs with zero interceptions.
Danny Amendola scored the first touchdown of the day from nine yards out after Brady found Julian Edelman for a 10-yard pass on third down. Patriots’ defense shut down the Buffalo Bills on offense to force a three and out allowing Brady to come back on the field.
On a third and eight, Brady found Edelman deep right for 47 yards to the Buffalo one, but an offensive penalty on Marcus Cannon brought it back to the spot of the ball. The Bills celebrated too early as Brady would hit Chris Hogan deep left for the 53-yard touchdown to take a 14-3 lead.
Buffalo had some difficulty on offense due to not having veteran RB LeSean McCoy, Mike Gillislee had to step up. He finished the game with 85 yards and a second quarter three-yard rushing score to keep them in the game at 14-10.
New England’s next drive was set up by a pass short right to Hogan 19 yards out near the sideline. Brady then found none other than Rob Gronkowski for a 53-yarder as well for the touchdown extending their lead to 21-10. Gronkowski’s TD catch was his 69th career receiving touchdown for a Patriots franchise record.
The Bills attempted a field goal, but Dan Carpenter missed the 49- yard attempt. With 27 seconds remaining in the half, Brady found Amendola for 15 yards then Gronkowski for seven yards to set up a Stephen Gostkowski 51-yard field goal to take a 24-10 at the half.
The turning point for the Patriots win was at the start of the third quarter as Amendola returned the kickoff for 73 yards to the 24-yard line. Martellus Bennett got in on the action with a 12-yard reception putting the Patriots in the red zone. A short right pass from Brady to Edelman was successful for Edelman’s first receiving touchdown of the season.
A crazy fourth and 15 play by punter Colton Schmidt gave them the first down. Schmidt ended up dropping the punt but recovering the ball and running for his life for 16 yards and the first down. The Bills had another fourth down attempt where the New England defense set up the blitz but Tyrod Taylor read it and rushed for a 26-yard score.
RB LeGarrette Blount added to the board and recorded his ninth rushing touchdown with a one-yard airborne score over the Bills’ defense making it 38-17. After a field goal by Gostkowski and a stop on defense by New England, second string QB Jimmy Garoppolo was put into the game to finish as well as E.J. Manuel for the Bills.
A 35-yard pass to Walt Powell and then a defensive pass interference by Eric Rowe gave way for a one-yard rushing touchdown by rookie Jonathan Williams. Buffalo converted a two-point attempt to make the final score 41-25.
Taylor finished with 19 completions for 183 yards and one rushing touchdown. Gronkowski had five receptions for 109 yards and one score and Hogan added his own 91 yards and one touchdown to the mix.
Gronkowski knows his team just needs to take it one week at a time.
“We’re just trying to work together as an offense, just everyone having the chemistry coming together and helping each other out to drive the ball down the field,” he said. “It’s not just one person just trying to make a big play. Everyone is just trying to help each other out to come together as a team and make points.”
Although the Bills were defeated, they delivered five sacks on Brady.
New England will head into their bye week atop of the AFC East and the AFC with a record of 7-1. Buffalo will face Seattle next week for Monday night football.
