ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — “Listen man if I had a dollar for every tough one with those freaking guys (the Patriots), it makes me vomit.”
I am happy to report that veteran defensive tackle Kyle Williams did not vomit in the locker room after the Buffalo Bills heartbreaking 23-21 loss to the New England Patriots. Although Williams and the rest of his teammates did look a little ill as they addressed the media after watching Tom Brady and the Patriots do what they do best, beat the Bills.
Since 2008, New England is 10-1 against Buffalo and even when the Bills think this is going to be their day, Brady rips out their heart in the end.
With the Bills holding onto a 21-20 lead late in the fourth quarter, Brady and the Patriots’ offence took over at their own 34-yard line with 4:31 left to play. Brady then led the Patriots on a 12-play drive that chewed 4:26 of invaluable time off of the clock. By the time Stephen Gostkowski nailed an easy 35-yard field goal to give the Patriots the lead there was only five seconds left on the clock.
“It is what it is. You come down to two or three plays. I mean in a game like that, one. That’s the reason they’ve been so successful, when it comes down to it he’s (Brady) made those plays. We had an opportunity to make it and we didn’t do it, and that’s the reason we lost the football game,” Williams said afterwards in a sombre Bills locker room.
What hurts the most for the Bills is had they not shot themselves in the foot time and time again, they would have won the game.
The Bills’ defence took not one, but two, too many on the field penalties.
The Bills had a first down pass from EJ Manuel to Robert Woods wiped out because tackle Cordy Glenn got called for an illegal hands to the face penalty. Later on in the third quarter Manuel hit Fred Jackson on a 15-yard passing play that would have resulted in a Bills’ first down, only to have it called back for an illegal hands to the face penalty, this time it was guard Craig Urbik.
The Bills took a total of 10 penalties to the Patriots’ four.
“We killed ourselves the whole day. Whether it was a penalty, a missed assignment, a drop whatever it may be. Offensively it was us hurting ourselves,” Centre Eric Wood said. “If they’re going to call a tight game like that we have to adjust to it. A lot of those penalties are avoidable and we got to get that fixed before next week.”
What was also unavoidable was C.J. Spiller’s fumble deep in his own end in the first quarter. Spiller was stripped of the ball by Kyle Arrington and three plays later Brady hit Julian Edelman for the game’s first touchdown. Those kind of turnovers can’t happen at that part of the field, especially when you’re playing the Patriots.
The loss wiped out a solid NFL debut for Manuel as the Bills starting quarterback. After a slow start Manuel looked more comfortable running the Bills’ offence and said so after the game. “Obviously with every play I was continuing to get more and more comfortable and more confidence in myself and continue to relax.”
In the end Manuel was 18-of-27 for 150 yards with two touchdowns, zero interceptions and a quarterback rating of 105.5. For a pivot making his first NFL start against a team coached by Bill Belichick, those are impressive numbers.
“We knew what type of player he was when we got him. We know that he’s capable of making plays for us, we just got to do whatever we can around him to help get him in his comfort zone and he’ll make plays for us. It’s on us as the skill guys to take some pressure off of him and were looking forward to that challenge,” Fred Jackson said.
Manuel’s first touchdown of the game and the first of his career was an 18-yard beauty to fellow rookie Robert Woods in the back corner of the end zone.
Manuel was not the reason the Bills lost the game. That alone should be reason for optimism for Bills’ fans trying to find a silver lining to another loss to the Patriots.
The way the team lost prevented the Bills from finding many positives in the game. “We did some good things and we’ll see that on film. But at this point there’s nothing that’s going to make you feel too good about that one,” Wood said.
The Patriots’ offence ran a staggering 89 plays in this game, 28 more than the Bills. That is one of the reasons the Bills were unable to stop the Patriots game-winning drive; they ran out of gas. That and Brady is still Brady.
What really will hurt when the Bills watch the game film is their costly three and out late in the fourth quarter. Moreover, they left way too much time on the clock for Brady to do his thing and they paid for it in the end. All of this on a day when the Patriots’ offence dearly missed tight end Rob Gronkowski and were Brady fumbled on the Bills two-yard line.
The final word for Sunday’s loss to the Patriots goes to Williams, the Bills longest-serving player.
“Coach (Doug Marrone) said we’re going to learn from it and keep pushing and wake up better for it tomorrow. But it doesn’t seem like it now.”
Game Ball: Had the Bills won I would have given my game ball to safety Da’Norris Searcy. Starting in place of the injured Jairus Byrd, Searcy played an excellent game and was one of the main reasons the Bills’ defence kept the game close. Searcy ended up with eight tackles, one sack, one quarterback hit and returned a Stevan Ridley fumble 74 yards for a touchdown.
Next week: The Bills are back at the Ralph Wilson Stadium next Sunday as they host Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.