New England Patriots: 5 observations from the AFC East clincher
The New England Patriots wrapped up their 10th consecutive AFC East championship with a 24-12 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
The New England Patriots turned back the clock and won their Week 16 matchup against the Buffalo Bills in the old-fashioned way.
With the defense stepping up and a running game that seemed unstoppable at times, the Patriots turned Tom Brady into a game manager as they wrapped up the AFC East with a 24-12 win at Gillette Stadium.
While the passing game was frustrating at times, Bill Belichick and his team simply did what they needed to do to secure a playoff spot and ease back into the No. 2 seed overall in the AFC.
It wasn’t a pretty game, but there were smiles all around and a great way for the team to go into the holiday after losing back-to-back tough games against the Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers.
"“Well, always a great feeling to win the division,” Belichick said following the game. “You have to give our players a lot of credit. It’s been a tough couple of weeks but they responded with a great week of preparation. I thought we played hard today against Buffalo that also played tough like they always do. They’re well-coached team and they really make you work for everything. I thought our punt and punt return teams gave us a lot of good field position plays throughout the course of the game. Then we were able to run the ball fairly consistently, play pretty good defense.”"
Coming into the game, there was some concern as to how the team would respond without Josh Gordon in the passing game. They responded by turning back the clock and playing the type of football they played back in the early days of the dynasty.
Behind Sony Michel and Rex Burkhead they carried the ball, played great special teams and solid defense through most of the game to get the win.