Fired-up Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Defense Lead Patriots to Brink of 10th Straight AFC East Crown With 23-3 Win In Buffalo

It was a frustrating start but satisfying end to the day for Tom Brady.

The star quarterback yelled at offensive coordinator and close friend Josh McDaniels after his first series of the day and couldn’t direct the Patriots into the end zone in the first half.

But Brady, thanks to an overpowering run game and a swarming defense, was able to overcome a sluggish first half and yelling at his offensive coordinator to post a 23-3 win over the Buffalo Bills at New Era Field in Orchard Park, N.Y. The win was the eighth straight overall for the Patriots, who improve to 10-2 on the season and clinch a tie for the AFC East Division title. The Patriots can clinch their 10th straight division title with a win next Monday night in Miami against the Dolphins.

“They did a good job,” Brady said of Buffalo’s first-half defense. “It’s a new defense, a new scheme, some new players. Just got to learn and adjust and try to get the win. Any time you win on the road against a division opponent, it’s a good win. Just got to keep it going.”

The win was also New England’s 14th straight road victory, just four shy of the NFL record set by the San Francisco 49ers from 1988-90.

Before losing his cool late in the fourth quarter, Rob Gronkowski led the pass receiving game, hauling in nine catches for 147 yards, including seven catches for 119 yards in the second half. Rex Burkhead had touchdown runs of one and 14 yards to wear down and pull away from the Bills in the second half. Eric Lee had a key red zone interception on the game’s first drive to turn early momentum in New England’s favor.

Brady, who won for the 27th time in 30 career starts against the Bills, finished 21-of-30 for 258 yards on the day, with an interception and no touchdowns. Brady’s 27 wins is the most ever by a quarterback over an opponent. For a full box score, click here.

As has happened so many times in the past, the highly-charged Bills crowd gave the home team some momentum. LeSean McCoy had five carries for 29 yards and Tyrod Taylor marched the Bills down to the Patriots 6.

But facing pressure up the middle from Alan Branch, Taylor made an atrocious decision to target LeSean McCoy, deciding to pass into a space that was occupied only by defensive end Eric Lee. The former Buffalo defensive end, who was getting attacked by McCoy in the run game, dropped into coverage later in the series and intercepted the pass. Lee saw increased playing time on Sunday with Trey Flowers inactive due to a rib injury sustaining in the win over the Dolphins last week.

It marked the fifth red zone interception this season by the Patriots, and the third in as many games. The drive began with Taylor scrambling to his left. He was chased down from behind, outside the numbers, by veteran linebacker David Harris. On the play, Taylor fell hard on his left knee and limped back to the huddle. He had his knee examined in the blue tent after the series.

With the Patriots taking over, the Patriots drove down to the Bills 31. But on 3rd-and-11, Brady threw behind an open Brandin Cooks over the middle. As Brady came to the sideline, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels appeared to remind Brady of the missed receiver downfield.

Brady erupted at McDaniels.

“It’s nothing. It’s just football,” Brady said. “It’s just football. Two competitive people and that’s just the way it goes… I wish we’d score every time we touched the ball and scored touchdowns on every possession but I thought they played pretty good on defense. (It’s) just football, we’ve been around each other a lot, so I love Josh.”

The first drive of the game took over seven minutes off the clock.

On their third drive, Lewis broke off the longest run of his career, a 44-yarder down to the Bills 7. At the end of the run, Lewis delivered a devastating stiff arm to safety Jordan Poyer.

But the drive stalled and a Kyle Williams sack of Brady forced another Gostkowski field goal – from 31 yards – and it was 6-0 Patriots.

Joe Webb, spotting the banged up Taylor, ripped off a run up the middle of 22 yards out of the run-pass option. Then on a similar read several plays later, had the pass option and had Travaris Cadet wide open on a go route at the 15 yard line. Had he hit Cadet in stride, it would have been a touchdown. Instead, he overthrew Cadet and the Bills had to settle for a Steven Hauschka 49-yard field goal, cutting New England’s lead to 6-3.

Gostkowski added his third field goal of 39-yard with 15 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Patriots a 9-3 halftime lead.

For the first time since Week 1, Brady did not have a first-half touchdown pass, completing 8-of-14 passes for 96 yards. The eight completions and 96 yards were season-lows for the first half. While the Patriots were limited in the passing game, the running game was potent, as Dion Lewis, James White and Rex Burkhead combined for 130 yards on the ground.

The Patriots then opened the second half with a dominating drive that ended with the game’s first touchdown, a 1-yard plunge off the left edge by Burkhead that was followed by a Tom Brady fist pump. The run capped a 70-yard, 10-play drive, taking 5 minutes, 58 seconds off the clock.

After forcing the Bills to punt on their first series of the second half, Kyle Van Noy came off the field limping after battling a calf injury sustained in the win over Miami a week earlier.

Burkhead capped the next drive with an explosive run up the middle for 14 yards and a touchdown. On Buffalo’s next possession, Eric Lee tipped a pair of passes at the line of scrimmage, one of which was nearly intercepted by Deatrich Wise. Tyrod Taylor left on a cart early in the fourth quarter after Wise hit him, causing him to fall to the turf and re-injure his left knee.

Stephon Gilmore, facing his former team for the first time, broke up a pair of passes in the end zone, including one on 4th-and-goal from Nathan Peterman to Zay Jones. On the drive, Malcolm Butler committed a defensive holding foul that extended the drive. Butler raised his arms to the crowd after the call before being yanked off the field by the defensive coaching staff. Butler voiced his objections on the sideline and Bill Belichick turned around to tell him to cool off.

Rob Gronkowski lost his cool when Tre’Davious White appeared to push off Gronk and pick off a pass. Gronkowski threw an elbow into White’s head as he was on the ground on the sideline.

Mike Gillislee didn’t get a chance to go up against his former team, as he was a healthy scratch for a fourth straight week. Also out were Marcus Cannon, LaAdrian Waddle, Matthew Slater, Trey Flowers, Trevor Reilly and Chris Hogan.