Good bye? Patriots travel to Buffalo

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, October 17, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

New England Patriots
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Ah, to contemplate the bye week...

The tradition of the bye week was instituted in 1990 - though it seems the institution would have become necessary in 1999 with the reintroduction of the Cleveland Browns, the NFL's "newest" addition and 31st team.

Of course, this is New England Patriots land, where contemporary history goes back to the beginning of the decade. In this epoch known down Foxborough way as the Belichick Era, the Patriots are 4-2 following the bye week. Overall, the best record after the mandated off-week is 13-4, held jointly by the Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles.

Taking a look back at the Patriots' previous six games following up the mini-vacation, then:

2000 - In Belichick's first meeting against the Bills as New England's head coach, the lowly 2-7 Patriots hosted the Bills in Week 10 following the bye. The week off didn't do these Drew Bledsoe-led Pats any good, however. In a game that featured a QB duel of John Friesz (?) vs. Doug Flutie (!), by the final gun in overtime, it was Buffalo, 16-13. Belichick's Patriots have not lost in extra time since.

2001 - An odd Week 16 bye gave the Patriots a 10-5 record going into a must-win game at the Carolina Panthers. They did. The unheralded navy blue-and-silver (geez, remember those days?) won their fifth straight by dominating the Panthers, 38-6. The Pats tied the Dolphins atop the AFC East at 11-5, won the tiebreaker, got a "Tuck Rule" call a couple of weeks later, and the rest is history.

2002 - In their dismal 9-7 season, the defending Super Bowl champs sat out Week 7, and returned in Week 8 to begin a Belichick Era tradition: inexplicably losing to the Denver Broncos. This time it was 24-16, and marked the fourth loss of a four-game losing streak. Brian Griese was a sick 18-of-23 for 229 yards.

2003 - After three straight victories of six points or fewer, the Patriots drew the bye in Week 10, coming back to blank Bill Parcells' Dallas Cowboys 12-0. The low score was indicative of the Patriots' extremely versatile game plan in their second Super Bowl season. In Week 9, the Patriots won 30-26 at Denver and one week earlier 9-3 over the Browns. The win against the Cowboys was the first of three shutouts for New England that year.

2004 - After a Week 3 bye, New England won its 18th straight game in Week 4 at Buffalo, 31-17. Drew Bledsoe and the Bills, with the assistance of a rare kickoff return TD against the Pats for 98 yards by Terrence McGee, fought the Pats to a 17-17 tie at the half. In the second half, the Patriots adjusted and dominated. Brady racked up stats of 17-for-30 for 298 yards and two TDs.

2005 - The Pats faced a legendarily difficult schedule in weeks one through six, the injury-riddled team clawed its way to a 3-3 record against squads that would ultimately compile a composite record of 56-40, or 52-28 not including Week 1 opponent, the Oakland Raiders. A tough 28-20 Week 6 loss at the Broncos was followed by a bye week and a 21-16 victory in Week 8 over the Bills in a game most notable for return of Tedy Bruschi, who had suffered an offseason stroke.

What can be made of this? Though a small sample size, the game following the bye week is directly correlative with the Patriots' overall success. Win following the bye week, make the playoffs. Or should that be "in order to make the playoffs, win following the bye week?"

Going into the Bills game, the Patriots would clearly appear to be in the driver's seat in the AFC East. Being an old hand at this point, surely Belichick is well-aware that each win brings his guys closer to home-field advantage in the playoffs. Together with history and the all-too-close meeting with these same Bills in Week 1, desire will be high on New England's side of the field this Sunday.

More on Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots at RealFootball365.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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