Remembering 2011 - 9/25/2011 Game 3.
The first thing you will think of when you start watching this game will be this:
oh man, football, yes. Divisional game, the Bills...easy win.
The second thing you think of will be this:
oh man, don't the Patriots lose this game?
And that pretty much takes the fun out of it, but learning from the storylines of yesteryear will inform our thinking about this 2012 season, which is upon us. This is just like watching tape... These 2012 Bills are pretty confident, and the Jets are looking about 106 pounds lighter. The Dolphins endure #thechadphenomenon.
Nevertheless, the division is as strong as it has ever been. If the Bills offseason acquisitions live up to expectations, then the division gets really crowded...
Tale of the Tape
1st Quarter was all Patriots, and I mean all Patriots. Brady went 5/5 with a TD to Welker on the first drive. Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick threw 2 INTs to Kyle Arrington. Patriots scored 14, and another 7 early in the second.
The 2nd Quarter was all Patriots until the clock struck 2:00. Brady was leading the 4-minute offense with Woodhead, and Woodhead had 3 consecutive plays for nice gains: a screen, a catch in the flat, and a draw. Brady gets us down inside the 10, and looks for Woody again, but the ball tips up for an INT. The Bills use the final 1:57 on a well-led drive by Fitzpatrick, who hit Stevie Johnson for a TD over McCourty.
Brady's first pass of the 3rd Quarter is intercepted. The replay clearly shows Chad 85 on a lazy route. Chad had a step, but trailed away. The Bills circle the wagons for another TD pass to the TE Chandler, 17-21 Patriots ahead by 4. Brady leads as creative drive, but they stall inside the 10 - FG is good 17-24 Pats up 7.
Buffalo goes 3 and out. Brady hits Welker and gronk for big gainers, Mesko punts inside 10. Buffalo 3 and out, punt from inside endzone.
The 4th Quarter begins with the teams trading punts again, but soon Brady and company get help from rookie Stevan Ridley, who starts to show some explosion in this game. Despite a nice drive, Brady goes for the endzone to Gronk, INT. Fitzpatrick starts throwing deep, and gets down the field in a hurry. The Patriots appear to have an INT by Barrett, but there turns out to be the imfamous Sergio Brown pass interference penalty. The Bills punch it in from the 1. 24-24 tie game. Brady comes out with a vengeance, gains a few yards, only to be deflected again for an INt that goes the other way for a TD, 31-24 Bills. Ridley has a great series, but on every 3rd down Brady looked to and found Wes Welker. After that Brady finds welker on 4th and goal to tie 31-31. The Bills lead another explosive drive, and appear to score on a break-out gain by Fred Jackson, but here's the kicker. The Booth decides to review and overturn the TD to give the Bills the ball at the 1 with under 2 minutes to go. The Bills kneel it and kick a FG.
Tale of the Stat Sheet
BILLS
oh man, football, yes. Divisional game, the Bills...easy win.
The second thing you think of will be this:
oh man, don't the Patriots lose this game?
And that pretty much takes the fun out of it, but learning from the storylines of yesteryear will inform our thinking about this 2012 season, which is upon us. This is just like watching tape... These 2012 Bills are pretty confident, and the Jets are looking about 106 pounds lighter. The Dolphins endure #thechadphenomenon.
Nevertheless, the division is as strong as it has ever been. If the Bills offseason acquisitions live up to expectations, then the division gets really crowded...
Tale of the Tape
1st Quarter was all Patriots, and I mean all Patriots. Brady went 5/5 with a TD to Welker on the first drive. Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick threw 2 INTs to Kyle Arrington. Patriots scored 14, and another 7 early in the second.
The 2nd Quarter was all Patriots until the clock struck 2:00. Brady was leading the 4-minute offense with Woodhead, and Woodhead had 3 consecutive plays for nice gains: a screen, a catch in the flat, and a draw. Brady gets us down inside the 10, and looks for Woody again, but the ball tips up for an INT. The Bills use the final 1:57 on a well-led drive by Fitzpatrick, who hit Stevie Johnson for a TD over McCourty.
Brady's first pass of the 3rd Quarter is intercepted. The replay clearly shows Chad 85 on a lazy route. Chad had a step, but trailed away. The Bills circle the wagons for another TD pass to the TE Chandler, 17-21 Patriots ahead by 4. Brady leads as creative drive, but they stall inside the 10 - FG is good 17-24 Pats up 7.
Buffalo goes 3 and out. Brady hits Welker and gronk for big gainers, Mesko punts inside 10. Buffalo 3 and out, punt from inside endzone.
The 4th Quarter begins with the teams trading punts again, but soon Brady and company get help from rookie Stevan Ridley, who starts to show some explosion in this game. Despite a nice drive, Brady goes for the endzone to Gronk, INT. Fitzpatrick starts throwing deep, and gets down the field in a hurry. The Patriots appear to have an INT by Barrett, but there turns out to be the imfamous Sergio Brown pass interference penalty. The Bills punch it in from the 1. 24-24 tie game. Brady comes out with a vengeance, gains a few yards, only to be deflected again for an INt that goes the other way for a TD, 31-24 Bills. Ridley has a great series, but on every 3rd down Brady looked to and found Wes Welker. After that Brady finds welker on 4th and goal to tie 31-31. The Bills lead another explosive drive, and appear to score on a break-out gain by Fred Jackson, but here's the kicker. The Booth decides to review and overturn the TD to give the Bills the ball at the 1 with under 2 minutes to go. The Bills kneel it and kick a FG.
Tale of the Stat Sheet
PATRIOTS
PASSING
| CP/AT | YDS | TD | INT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brady | 30/45 | 387 | 4 | 4 |
RUSHING
| ATT | YDS | TD | LG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ridley | 6 | 42 | 0 | 16 |
| Woodhead | 6 | 21 | 0 | 10 |
| Welker | 1 | 19 | 0 | 19 |
| Green-Ellis | 10 | 18 | 0 | 5 |
| Brady | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Edelman | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
RECEIVING
| REC | YDS | TD | LG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welker | 16 | 217 | 2 | 33 |
| Gronkowski | 7 | 109 | 2 | 29 |
| Woodhead | 3 | 20 | 0 | 13 |
| Ochocinco | 2 | 28 | 0 | 19 |
| Ridley | 1 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Edelman | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Branch | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
BILLS
PASSING
| CP/AT | YDS | TD | INT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fitzpatrick | 27/40 | 369 | 2 | 2 |
RUSHING
| ATT | YDS | TD | LG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jackson | 12 | 74 | 1 | 21 |
| Smith | 2 | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| Spiller | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Jones | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Fitzpatrick | 4 | -6 | 0 | 0 |
RECEIVING
| REC | YDS | TD | LG | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnson | 8 | 94 | 1 | 33 |
| Nelson | 6 | 84 | 0 | 26 |
| Jones | 5 | 101 | 0 | 48 |
| Jackson | 5 | 87 | 0 | 38 |
| Chandler | 2 | 10 | 1 | 7 |
| Spiller | 1 | -7 | 0 | -7 |
Overall
The 4 INTs hurt us a lot, but it showed the weakness of the short-pass offense. Brady does not do well with hands in the passing lanes. However, the timing of the mistakes were terrible. 2 INTs in the red zone, and 3 on tipped passes. The INT to start the 3rd quarter was a momentum sapper for sure. The pick-6 was definitely the straw that broke the camel's back because it gave the lead to the Bills.
Despite all of that, this was a winnable game that slipped away because of the instant replay ruling. I would have loved to see the game go into OT at 38-38 or at least have the Patriots go down fighting. Welker played his ass off, and Gronk also set a career-high with 109 yards. The Defense just wasn't there in the 2nd half.
All in all, the 2012 Patriots need to be a bit more conservative on Offense, yeah, I said it. The Offense needs to be more efficient and methodical. In this game, our aggression became our undoing, and some of the pressure to score must be taken away by an improved defense. The Bills scored too quickly, and Brady's pick-6 in the 4th was a bad decision forced by the need to be aggressive with the pass. Hopefully, we have learned from this loss, and we can continue our new winning streak against the Bills.
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