Patriots, refs defeat the fearless Bills

By Connor Byrne  |   Monday, October 31, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Buffalo Bills
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It was Sunday night football, it was the Buffalo Bills against the New England Patriots, it was Tedy Bruschi's return, it wasn't supposed to be close. Stunningly, the Bills walked fearlessly into Foxboro, Massachusetts and were just a couple plays from pulling out one of their best wins in recent history and taking sole possession of first-place in the AFC East. However, it was ripped away and the Bills dropped to 3-5, while the Patriots improved to 4-3. The Bills fell from a potential first-place spot in the division all the way to third-place. Meanwhile, the Patriots now have a safe cushion over the division and it looks like their reign atop the East will continue on.

The Buffalo Bills offense got the ball first and started the game with a purpose, establishing a great run game and their best passing performance since mid-2004. They drove to the Patriots 35 but were forced to punt on their opening drive. After that, not much happened in the first half. Bills' kicker Rian Lindell missed a kick that would have put the Bills up 3-0, but later atoned for it a 23-yard field goal. As for the Patriots, they didn't generate much of anything offensively. They drove down the field twice in the first half. The first time, running back Patrick Pass fumbled on a play where he injured his hamstring. Buffalo recovered and that led to the aforementioned Lindell field goal. The second time the Pats drove was at the end of the first half, kicker Adam Vinatieri set up for a 39-yard field goal and hit it to tie the score. However, there was a delay of game call on the Pats and Vinatieri was forced to kick again, this time from 44 yards. He missed it and the Bills headed to the locker room with a shocking 3-0 lead on the Patriots. The Bills amassed 193 total yards in the half while the Patriots totaled just 104. Buffalo dominated the time of possession, as they had 49 plays in the half to the Patriots 35.

The Patriots got the ball to start the second half and looked like a different football team. They took just five plays to go 68 yards as the half's opening drive culminated with a 33-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Tom Brady to wide receiver Deion Branch. The Pats took a 7-3 lead but the Bills still wouldn't go away. On the ensuing drive, the Bills went 83 yards as quarterback Kelly Holcomb found receiver Eric Moulds wide open for a 55-yard touchdown. After that, it got sloppy for a little while. Buffalo's next drive was cut short by an intercepted pass by Pats' cornerback Asante Samuel. However, the Bills defense stood tough and forced a punt. On their next drive, the Bills went 76 yards and kicked another field goal to grab a 13-7 lead. The Patriots drives consisted of two punts and a great play by Bills' defensive end Aaron Schobel. He stripped Tom Brady of the ball with 12:55 to go in the game and Bills' defensive tackle Lauvale Sape recovered to give Buffalo terrific field position. That would lead to another field goal to give Buffalo a shocking 16-7 lead with about ten minutes left in the game. However, as expected, Tom Brady would lead another comeback victory for the Patriots. It began as he fired a deep strike down the sideline to Deion Branch that didn't look like a catch. Buffalo challenged but naturally, the play stood. After that, the Pats would complete their drive with a Corey Dillon touchdown run to narrow Buffalo's lead to 16-14. Buffalo got the ball back but Kelly Holcomb was stripped inside his own territory by Roosevelt Colvin. He recovered his own forced fumble and the Pats took over with 5:24 to play. The Patriots put together a two-play 23-yard drive for a Corey Dillon touchdown run, and took the lead 21-16. The Bills got the ball back and once again, fearlessly marched down the field. Holcomb fired strikes to his receivers and running back Willis McGahee rammed it down the Patriots' throats as he had all night. There was a crucial 3rd and 5 play, Holcomb completed a pass down the middle for a first down to Eric Moulds. However, what was an obviously biased officiating crew called a push-off on Moulds and the play was called back. It was clearly incidental contact but the refs weren't going to allow the Patriots to lose in Tedy Bruschi's return. Buffalo had to do the play over, expect it was 3rd and 16 this time. Holcomb completed a 9-yard pass to receiver Josh Reed and the Bills were down to their final play. On their last gasp play, offensive coordinator Tom Clements and head coach Mike Mularkey flat out blew it. They had Eric Moulds run a three-yard route to the left flat and Holcomb had to throw it to him since nobody else was open. Moulds was tackled immediately and the Pats won the ball game.

It's certainly a tough pill to swallow for the Buffalo Bills. This was the best game they've played in Foxboro since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002. In the three previous meetings in the stadium, the Pats outscored the Bills 87-23. This time, they outscored them 21-16. Kelly Holcomb looked poised for the Bills as he completed 20/33 passes for 263 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Eric Moulds was brilliant as he caught 9 balls for 125 yards and a score. Running back Willis McGahee played the best road game of his career as he gashed the Patriots for 136 yards on 31 carries. The Bills tallied a season-high 394 total yards. They dominated the time of possession 39:20 to 20:40. How could they lose this game? It's fairly suspicious. They completely destroyed the Patriots in every phase of the game but they made a couple of costly mistakes, but more than anything, the officiating ripped the game from the Bills. They blatantly handed the game to the Patriots because the league simply was not going to let an upstart Bills team ruin Tedy Bruschi's return from a stroke. The hero worship received by Bruschi courtesy of ESPN was enough to make yours truly sick. He was treated like the second coming and praised for everything he did. ESPN even went so far as to count how many hits Bruschi totaled, that's ludicrous.

Buffalo's defense played terrifically in this game. Defensive end Aaron Schobel was a menace as he had two sacks and a forced fumble. The defense applied pressure to Pats' quarterback Tom Brady all night. The group has nothing to hang their head about, considering they finally stopped the opposing team's running game.

As for the Patriots, Brady was efficient as he completed 14/21 passes for 199 yards and a touchdown. He led his 20th career fourth quarter comeback. Running back Corey Dillon ran for 72 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Deion Branch caught 3 balls for 92 yards and a score. As for the defense, the real hero was linebacker Mike Vrabel. He tallied 14 tackles and a sack, while Bruschi added 7 tackles and didn't really make an impact.
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