The Bills looked like the same old patsies on Sunday as the New England Patriots ran their record against Buffalo to 17 and 1 in the last 18 games, scoring on six straight possessions in the second half on their way to a 52-28 blowout over the defenseless Bills.
If this is the year the Bills are going to end their 12-year playoff drought, there was little evidence of that possibility Sunday as the Pats took control in the second half and for the game rolled up a total of 580 yards behind a devastating rushing attack and Tom Brady’s 340 passing yards with three touchdowns, one to Williamsville native, tight end, Bob Gronkowski who caught five passes for 104 yards.
Bills’ quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had his moments, throwing for 380 yards and four touchdowns but the Bills could do little on the ground as Fred Jackson and C. J. Spiller were held to a total of 62 yards.
It was a brutal defeat and Bills Coach Chan Gailey’s post-game comments said it all; “I don’t like to play like that and I don’t like to think that’s who we are,” he said. “But that’s who we were today. You can’t sugarcoat it.”
Gailey’s blunt assessment tells the story. The Bills were steamrolled by the Patriots and you can’t say much more other than this team appears to be a long way from its goal of making the playoffs, and the defense, led by $100-million-dollar- man Mario Williams, notched only one sack against Brady and were pummeld on the ground with two New England backs rushing for more than 100 yards.
After the game, Williams said, “We have to have a reality check and see what’s going on.” Wow, what an observation, Mario. What’s going on is the defense got shredded and the Bills got steamrolled again by the Patriots. The Pats are now 2-2, like Buffalo, but it is quite obvious New England is the much better team, head and shoulders above Buffalo at this point and the Bills have a long way to go to catch up.
It won’t get any easier next week for the Bills who head west to take on the San Francisco 49ers who shut out the Jets on Sunday, 34 – 0. That’s right, the same New York Jets who clobbered the Bills on opening day.
Unfortunately, it is hard to see a reversal of fortune for this team which is mistake-prone on offense and lost on defense, the much-hyped pass rush nonexistent. Well, there are still a lot of games to play, and that can cut both ways. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope things can get turned around somehow, but frankly that seems unlikely. But miracles do happen and I’m sure the fans will give them a few more chances before giving up on the season. |