Thoughts & Reactions: Patriots, Tom Brady Blast Bills In Buffalo

The New England Patriots got their revenge against Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills Sunday in a rout.

There was no shutout this time around. In fact, the Buffalo Bills had a tough time stopping the Tom Brady and company as the New England Patriots ran away with a 41-25 victory over their AFC East rivals.

Brady was hot once again. He went 22 of 33 for 315 yards and threw four touchdowns in the victory. Two of those touchdowns were on bombs, one of which set a franchise record.

Following a touchdown pass to Danny Amendola and a 53-yard bomb to former Bills receiver Chris Hogan, Brady connected with tight end Rob Gronkowski. It was his 69^th career touchdown reception which broke a franchise record previously held by the great Stanley Morgan.

Brady’s fourth touchdown pass was to Julian Edelman early in the third quarter. Stephen Gostkowski added a couple of field goals and LeGarrette Blount ran one in as the Patriots showed the Bills that the first game was just a mirage. Tom Brady is now 26-3 against Buffalo. The 26 wins matches an NFL record set by Brett Farve, who posted a record of 26-9 against the Detroit Lions.

With the victory, the Patriots took a three-game lead over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East and are 7-1 heading into their bye week.

My Thoughts

The New England Patriots’ offense was the story in this one. Rex Ryan’s team quickly learned that the game would take on a different complexion than the Week 4 matchup.

With the team down 3-0 in the first quarter, Tom Brady marched the team down the field on their first possession to quickly take a 7-3 lead. New England really never looked back as they were able to move the ball at will. Brady was his usual self and spread the ball around using all his playmakers.

The offensive play calling was a little suspect at times. It seemed like they were trying to be a little greedy with throwing the ball down field. It would have been nice to run the ball a bit to keep the Bills’ defense honest. They were able to get to Brady a bit and he did take some hits that were concerning. Luckily he is one tough quarterback and was able to stand in there at times and make plays despite taking hits.

Player/coaches reactions

Rob Gronkowski thanks his mom after record-setting game via WEEI:

"“The first thing yesterday — we sat down and I saw her — she came to our hotel and when we sat down she said, ‘Rob, I’m so proud of you when you score your 69th touchdown. I was like, I have to give her a shout out that she is super proud of me. Hi, mom. Thank you.”"

Tom Brady on touchdown pass to Chris Hogan via Patriots.com:

"“That was something that was pretty early in the game and Hog’s just looked like he had a chance. It looked like they were giving favor in coverage to the other side of the field and when you do that, it’s one on one back side and he had a good inside release and Hog’s fast; he runs by people and they don’t catch him, so if you can put it out there for him and let him run under it, he’s able to make those plays. And he’s done that all season long so it was great and that put us up 13-3 and it was a big play in the game.”"

Devin McCourty on third-down defense via Patriots.com:

"“We won matchups. That’s what it comes down to, winning matchups, pass rush, winning matchups, making it tough for the quarterback to just sit back there and find guys. It’s something that we work on every week and we’re going to continue to work on it and try to improve.”"

Next: Patriots Post Game Reactions And Highlights Week 8

The New England Patriots head into a bye week and will next host the Seattle Seahawks in a Week 10 matchup.

Home/New England Patriots