Patriots 52 - Bills 28

Now thattt is what I'm fucking talking about. That's the offense we've been waiting for weeks to see. Sure the first half was disgusting and a total mess. But that second half...wow. I have never in my life seen a team look so disorganized on offense for the first half of a game and look so beautifully perfect in the second half. It really looked like they just did not give a shit in the first half. 

It's kind of like when you let your little brother score on you just to make him feel good. Like you obviously know you could put up triple digits against him if you really cared but you would never do it because he'd cry and you'd get yelled at by your mother and you'd end up feeling like an asshole. Well, unfortunately for the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, mommy wasn't home to save you and big brother got fucking pissed off because you started acting like a punk and you thought you were a whole lot better then you really are. The Bills should just be thankful they had their 33 minutes and 52 seconds of glory when they took a 21-7 lead because that's where their fun ended. And boy did it end fast. Over the last 26 minutes and 8 seconds of the game the Patriots scored 45 points to the Bills 7. They scored 35 points in a row! While only 12 minutes ran off the clock! Who does that in the NFL? This isn't like LSU playing URI in college football where scoring 5 touchdowns in only 12 minutes wouldn't be so shocking. This is the greatest football league in the world and pro defenses just don't allow that to happen.  The Patriots totally destroyed Buffalo's hope and dreams within one half of football. 

Coming into this game the Bills were in first place in the AFC East and as they took a 21-7 lead in the 3rd quarter you could sense that both the players and their fans were getting pretty damn confident and cocky. But it wasn't like a quiet confidence that teams like the Pats and Giants display, it was a cocky and immature type of confidence. You see Ryan Fitzpatrick doing the Aaron Rodgers "discount double-check" aka "world champion belt" celebration after he threw a few touchdowns. Now this is Ryan Fitzpatrick we're talking about here, a guy who has done absolutely nothing in the NFL. Nothing. He's a nerd who went to Harvard and somehow ended up in the NFL. But yet there he was doing this ridiculous celebration after throwing TD's in the first half of a game. Buddy you win a few Super Bowls and you can do whatever you want out there. Maybe win a playoff game, like just 1 and maybe you can do that. But you're a nobody and you look like a fucking moron celebrating like that. And you look especially dumb when Tom Brady and the rest of the Patriots then collectively proceed to stomp on your team's heart and soul for the whole second half. I just love seeing a team like the Bills that's so cocky when they have accomplished nothing and then watching them just get demolished by a real team. (I will also add in the Jets to that last statement as they were also in 1st place heading into week 4 and were feeling mighty confident and then proceeded to get absolutely destroyed by the 49ers 34-0.) 

But enough with my ranting, let's look back to the game itself. There are just so many good and bad things to comment on so I'll try and talk about a few. First off I'm just going to come out and say the first half was awful. They were able to move the ball but just kept making mistakes that ended up costing them points. Fumbles by Welker and Gronkowski were very very frustrating, but I will cut those 2 some slack since they both made up for it in the second half. 

Point number two the running game. Where did that come from? Two 100 yard rushers in the same game for the first time since like '82. I really like the rotation they have going too. Ridley is I guess the lead back for the team and he goes in there for screen passes and he's also able to be a more finesse type back who has speed and the agility to make people miss, but when he needs it can also lower his shoulder and get the tough yards. Then they bring in Brandon Bolden who's more of a Green-Ellis type who can bowl people over as he did on Sunday to that poor Bill's corner who apparently thought he could take him on at the goal line. That man thought wrong. But just like I've been saying for a few weeks now, they want to run a more balanced offense and from the looks of it on Sunday, they're a team to be reckoned with when everything is working. 

Point three, the offense just clicked in the second half so perfectly it was almost reminiscent of 2007.We saw once again, a hugee game from Wes Welker who had 9 grabs for 129 yards. All the man does is move the chains and there's no one better in the whole league. He just such a huge asset to this offense and someone they will definitely need if they want to be playing in New Orleans on February 3. Then you have Gronk who was questionable coming into the game but we all knew there was no way he was sitting out. Buffalo is his home town and he would never miss a chance to put up big numbers against the Bills and that's exactly what he did again on Sunday. He reeled in 5 catches for 104 yards and a TD. That touchdown was also his 30th of his career and the most in the entire league in that 3 year stretch. Not bad when you consider the man behind him with 29 is thought of as one of the greatest players in the league, Calvin Johnson. 

Their offense was just moving up and down the field in the second half like a well-oiled machine and it was just awesome to finally see it come together. Brandon Lloyd finally got into the mix scoring a 4th quarter TD. Brady was just feeding the ball all over the field and Buffalo had just no answers for him. I will admit, I woke up Sunday morning and heard Logan Mankins was out and was worried Brady was going to have a tough game with the Buffalo pass rush going up against a make-shift offensive line, but thankfully I was so wrong. The offensive line did a great job neutralizing players like Mario Williams and Mark Anderson as the Bills only got to Brady for 1 sack and only a few other times when they managed to knock him to the ground. 

On the defensive side of the ball I thought the Patriots made huge strides from where they were last week. Devin McCourty, remember him? The all-pro rookie from 2 years ago? Well Sunday was the first time in over a year that he looked like an all-pro as he picked off Fitzpatrick twice and played good tight defense throughout the whole game. Vince Wilfork was huge once again. He recovered a fumble and was also able to tip a Fitzpatrick pass that LB Jerod Mayo was able to intercept. Chandler Jones played a tremendous game and was constantly pressuring the Bills QB. I could probably go on and on naming players on the defensive side that played well as the team recorded 6 turnovers and 3 sacks.

But unquestionably my player of the game award has to go to Brandon Spikes. He forced 2 fumbles at 2 very crucial times that turned this game around for the Pats. The first was with 1:19 left the first half as Welker had just fumbled at his own 21 yard line and it looked as if the Bills would extend their lead from 14-7 to 21-7. That's when Spikes jacked up C.J. Spiller and cause a fumble that turned the momentum of the whole entire game around. The in the 4th quarter Spikes once again caused a fumble as hit RB Fred Jackson so hard that Jackson's forward progress was completely stopped and he dropped the ball. It looked almost as if he knocked him out and Jackson let go of the ball sub-consciously. That's how hard this guy hits. When he came out of Florida 2 years ago he was projected as a Ray Lewis type linebacker who can punish opposing players and it looks like those projections are coming true. He has this swagger about him on the field that would scare the shit out of me if I was lining up across from him. He has no regard for himself or anyone else on the field, and that's exactly the type of player the Pat's need in the middle of their defense. They've been missing that type of fearless defensive leader the last few years and with Spikes I think they have an up-and-coming star.

Now we wait. Next weekend will be the return of Peyton Manning to Foxboro. The greatest quarterback rivalry of the past 10 years is once again approaching and I can't wait. Many thought we would never see another Brady vs. Manning duel but fortunately we will. There's nothing better than thinking back to when Peyton Manning would pout and complain every year as his Colts would get eliminated in snowy Foxboro. I can't wait. I know it's been awhile but here's a picture for all of you so you know exactly what I mean. Bring on Peyton and the Broncos!