Patriots Live Blog: Tom Brady Throws 4 TDs As Pats Beat Bills 37-22
Final, 37-22 Patriots: That's all she wrote. What an incredible second half by the Patriots, who now stand alone in first place in the AFC East.
Fourth quarter, 1:12, 37-22 Patriots: A Ninkovich sack robs the Bills of their last hope, and Orton's pass falls to the turf on fourth down. Pats take over, and the fat lady is warming up her vocal chords.
Fourth quarter, 2:49, 37-22 Patriots: Never mind a first down -- Tom Brady wanted a touchdown. And he got it. Brady went deep to LaFell on a corner route, hitting the receiver in stride. LaFell turned it up the right sideline and flipped himself over the goal line. It was a 56-yard touchdown pass, and that will do it.
Brady is now 27-for-37 for 361 yards and four touchdowns. LaFell has four receptions for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Fourth quarter, 3:00, 30-22 Patriots: Brady just stepped up on a third-and-16 and delivered a dagger of a first-down pass to Rob Gronkowski.
Buffalo just had to use its first timeout. One more first down from New England would likely seal it.
Fourth quarter, 5:58, 30-22 Patriots: Orton capped off the drive, in rather impressive fashion, too. He hit Hogan up the left seam for 17 yards and then dropped a beauty of a pass to Hogan for a touchdown. Not bad, Kyle Orton. Not bad at all.
Orton then hit Woods on a quick out at the goal line on the two-point conversion attempt, and though he was held up and knocked back, the official ruled that he did cross the goal line.
So it's a one-possession game, and it's certainly not over yet.
Fourth quarter, 6:45, 30-14 Patriots: Facing a fourth-and-2 at their own 40-yard line, the Bills went to the shotgun, and Orton unleashed a deep ball to the right side to Robert Woods. The receiver got behind Dennard and the Bills picked up a big 35 yards. Bills are driving...
Fourth quarter, 8:42, 30-14 Patriots: Rob Gronkowski's touchdown reception got called back due to a Jordan Devey holding penalty, but no matter for the Patriots. Brady followed it up with a screen pass to Gronk for a gain of 10, and then he hit Brandon LaFell in stride over the middle. The receiver hauled it in and ran right into the end zone, and the Patriots now lead big with just 8:42 left to play.
It's been an impressive fight for the Patriots today, and for the first time all day it seems as though they have a win secured.
The big plays on that drive were a 17-yard out to Edelman and a 15-yard penalty on Hughes for diving in low and late on Brady.
(It's a shame that Gronkowski touchdown won't count. It was pretty spectacular.)
End of third quarter, 23-14 Patriots: It would likely be four-down territory for Buffalo, but that's not an option after Rob Ninkovich sacks Orton on third down. It set up a fourth-and-26 for the Bills, and they'll have to punt to start the fourth quarter.
Deontae Skinner started the drive with a sack of Orton, breaking free up the middle after a slight delay and crushing the flat-footed Orton. But Orton responded with big gains to Chandler and Chris Hogan before flags started to fly all over the place. A facemask penalty on Duron Harmon and offensive PI calls on Sammy Watkins (setting a pick) and Robert Woods (pushing off) led up to the Ninkovich sack.
Third quarter, 3:07, 23-14 Patriots: It wasn't the cleanest drive, and it saw some injury scares, but it did result in a field goal that turned it into a two-possession game.
The 33-yard catch by Gronkowski and the 17-yard pass interference penalty on an incompletion to Gronk did most of the damage on that drive.
Third quarter, 3:31, 20-14 Patriots: Hey look, it's good news. Rob Gronkowski is back. Just a scare for him.
Third quarter,3:52, 20-14 Patriots: More bad news, as Stephon Gilmore goes helmet-to-knee on Stevan Ridley. The running back's leg took a hard shot from Gilmore's helmet on that play, and Ridley is down on the field. Things are certainly taking a turn for the worse here for New England.
(On replay, it appears Ridley landing on his left ankle was what caused the injury, not the helmet to the knee.)
Third quarter, 4:52, 20-14 Patriots: Some potentially bad news for the Patriots, as Rob Gronkowski is slow to get up after a diving catch attempt and takes time to grab his left knee after getting up. The trainers came out, and Gronk was clearly in a lot of pain.
Gronk got the drive started with a huge 33-yard catch up the right sideline.
Third quarter, 5:33, 20-14 Patriots: The Buffalo Bills do not plan on going away quietly today.
With a big pass to Scott Chandler for a gain of 22 yards, and a connection with Sammy Watkins (his first catch of the day) for a gain of 20 yards, the Bills got the ball inside the Patriots' 5-yard line. And on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Fred Jackson did the honors, running right up the gut and across the goal line to cap off an impressive 13-play, 80-yard drive that took 6:57.
It was quite the response from Buffalo after things had started spiraling a bit. We'll see if Brady has an answer.
Third quarter, 12:30, 20-7 Patriots: Holy moly. Tom Brady just went deep to Brian Tyms, who was covered tightly by Stephon Gilmore, but Tyms was somehow able to make a cradling catch while falling into the end zone. It was an unbelievable pitch and catch, a 43-yard reception, and it stretched this lead to 13 points. It was a truly "wow!" moment from a game sorely lacking them.
The drive was an efficient one for New England, with a quick pass to Dobson getting it started, followed by a 10-yard Ridley run. An Aaron Dobson false start set up a third-and-9, but Brady connected with Dobson over the middle for a 17-yard gain.
Then Brady just got comfortable in the pocket and unloaded a deep ball to Tyms, who hauled in his first career NFL touchdown. Impressive work all around.
Oddly, the Patriots decided to go for two. Brady took a shotgun snap, Edelman motioned toward the line ... and Josh Kline jumped early. After that, the Patriots decided to settle for the extra point.
By the way, coming into today, Tyms had two career receptions for 12 yards. Now he's got a 43-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady on his resume.
Third quarter, 15:00, 13-7 Patriots: The second half begins with a touchback. Tom Brady's offense takes over at the 20.
End of second quarter, 13-7 Patriots: The Pats elected to run a short out for Edelman, and he gained five yards. It set up a 53-yard attempt for Gostkowski, and he drilled it.
That's six points in the final two minutes of the half, all of them off turnovers. That's what it takes to wind these grinder types of games.
Second quarter, :06, 10-7 Patriots: Buffalo Bills football, baby.
C.J. Spiller came up with a nice gainer ... but then he fumbled.
Devin McCourty and Darrelle Revis combined to force the fumble, and Zach Moore jumped on the loose ball to recover it.
The Pats have no timeouts but let's see what their plan of attack is at the Buffalo 41-yard line.
Second quarter, :14, 10-7 Patriots: The Pats have gone back into the "O-line can't block anybody" mode that plagued the team early in the season. The drive went nowhere, and Tom Brady essentially sacked himself on third down. Things are rough, and with Dan Connolly out of the game with a head injury, it's hard to imagine them getting better in the second half.
Second quarter, :52, 10-7 Patriots: Another good stand from the New England defense, as Rob Ninkovich comes up with a third-down sack with a little over a minute left on the clock. After New England called timeout, Edelman returned the Buffalo punt to the New England 42-yard line. New England has one timeout, looking to tack on some more points before halftime.
Second quarter, 1:42, 10-7 Patriots: A big gain that got the Patriots to the 5-yard line got called back due to offsetting penalties. Jerry Hughes jumped offsides, forcing Marcus Cannon (in at left tackle for the struggling Solder) to hold the pass rusher. LaFell came up with a big catch-and-run on the play, but it got called back. A failed bubble screen and Brady under duress on third down led to a field goal attempt, and Gostkowski had no problem this time.
The Pats now have a lead, albeit a small one.
Second quarter, 2:09, 7-7: That's one way to gain some good field position.
On the Bills first play of the drive, Chandler Jones rushed off the right end, muscled his way through left tackle Cordy Glenn and then jumped and swatted the ball out of Orton's hand. As soon as the ball hit the turf, Jones was right on top of it, and the Pats take over at the Buffalo 24-yard line.
Second quarter, 2:28, 7-7: Unfortunately for the Patriots, I was correct, as Gronk was ruled to never have had possession. The New England punt team took the field, and Allen booted from near his own 10-yard line. He got the ball down near the Buffalo 20, and the Bills take over at their own 25.
Good boot by Allen, but that was a lousy drive for New England. Solder again got dominated by Hughes, leading to a Hughes taking down Brady one yard forward of the line of scrimmage.
Second quarter, 2:28, 7-7: A major replay review will help shape this game, after Rob Gronkowski made a catch before fumbling and recovering the ball himself. The Patriots rushed to the line to try to get the next play snapped, but Buffalo's challenge flag came out prior to the snap.
My guess is that the play will be overturned. I don't think Gronkowski caught the ball before losing it, but who knows when it comes to making a catch?
Second quarter, 3:52, 7-7: We have ourselves a tie game.
Robert Woods got himself around Dennard before streaking across the end zone, and Orton delivered a strike for the 7-yard touchdown pass.
Scott Chandler was again a menace for the Patriots on that drive, as he caught a 28-yarder up the left sideline after getting behind Chung and then got the Bills a first down in the red zone with a five-yard reception on a third-and-5.
Orton had time to operate in the pocket on the touchdown pass, and he didn't miss this one.
The Patriots will be trying to complete the first half of their beloved "double score" here, but it won't be easy.
In injury news, Dan Connolly also headed to the locker room with some sort of ailment. That means Devey comes in at left guard. Look out, Tom Brady.
Second quarter, 7:40, 7-0 Patriots: This is bad news for the Patriots -- Jerod Mayo is down, and he is in a lot of pain.
The injury came after a back-to-back runs up the gut. It's impossible to tell what Mayo hurt, but he was grimacing on the ground while his teammates took a knee around him. It does not look good at all.
Mayo had to get carted off the field.
Replay showed that it didn't look like a knee injury, but perhaps a back or rib issue as he got twisted while making the tackle.
Second quarter, 8:43, 7-0 Patriots: The Patriots inserted Marcus Cannon at right tackle in place of Sebastian Vollmer on that drive, but it was the left tackle who made the major mistake.
Nate Solder slide inside on first-and-10, giving Jerry Hughes a free lane to Tom Brady. Hughes crushed Brady for a sack and a loss of nine yards, and the Pats went into hand-Vereen-the-ball-and-hope-Tom-is-OK mode.
The Bills take over at their own 33-yard line after Ryan Allen's punt.
Second quarter, 10:41, 7-0 Patriots: The Bills were backed up at their own 6-yard line after a holding call on the kick return, but they nearly got the chains moving with a third down completion to Robert Woods. But Alfonzo Dennard did a great job in closing in on Woods, hitting the receiver as soon as he caught the pass and stopped him short of the sticks.
On the ensuing punt, the officials threw two flags before taking a long time to figure out the penalties. It turned out there were penalties on both teams, so the Bills had to punt again.
On the second punt, Edelman got nowhere and was tackled at the New England 31-yard line.
Second quarter, 13:04, 7-0 Patriots: Tim Wright for six.
The quarterback hit the tight end for an easy one-yard score, which came after Duke Williams stupidly shoved Julian Edelman in the end zone as Brady's pass was heading that way (but was not going to be completed).
Edelman was key on that drive, as he came up with a 13-yard catch-and-run on a third-and-2 and followed it up by rushing for 10 yards on an end-around.
But it was the Williams penalty in the end zone that gave the Patriots 29 free yards, and Brady took advantage with a play-fake/jump-throw to a wide-open Wright. That's touchdowns in two straight games for Wright, who's working his way into this offense.
Second quarter, 14:53, 0-0: The firsts quarter ended with great excitement for the Bills, but the second quarter started with great disappointment.
Kyle Orton had plenty of time and space in the pocket after faking a hand-off, but he delivered a pass right to linebacker Jamie Collins, who was able to make the interception.
The Pats take over at the New England 39-yard line.
End of first quarter, 0-0: The first quarter ends on a 17-yard strike from Orton to Chandler, and the Bills have the ball at midfield.
First quarter, :57, 0-0: There is justice from the football gods.
The Patriots were given a gift of a penalty call on Jerry Hughes. In my opinion, it was a make-up for missing Hughes' late shove from behind on Brady a few plays earlier, as Hughes was issued a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty for simply congratulating his teammate after a third-down tackle.
The penalty kept the Patriots' drive alive and moved them deep into Buffalo territory. On the field-goal attempt, long snapper Danny Aiken was flagged for a false start, and then his next snap was a bad one. Ryan Allen tried to get it down in time, but Gostkowski flubbed it wide left, and the game remains tied at zero.
Considering the Patriots didn't really deserve points because of that dubious flag, things worked out as they should have there.
First quarter, 6:39, 0-0: The Bills moved the ball 30 yards on that drive, most of it on a third-and-5 pass to Chandler over the middle for a gain of 15, but it stalled out at midfield yet again. The drive ended when Kyle Orton missed a pass up the left sideline to Marquise Goodwin by a mile.
Colton Schmidt's punt bounced at the 1-yard line and into the end zone, and the Pats take over at their own 20.
First quarter, 10:46, 0-0: A once-promising drive fizzles at midfield, as Julian Edelman was flagged for a false start coming out of the timeout. Brady then handed an inside draw to Vereen, who had a minimal gain, leading to a punt that bounced through the end zone.
Two early punts in this one, and the crowd is rocking in Buffalo.
First quarter, 11:20, 0-0: The Pats have to burn a timeout early, as Brady didn't have his team ready to go on a third-and-10 from the Buffalo 48-yard line. On the last play, Brady targeted Brian Tyms on the receiver's first snap of the year, but Tyms was covered pretty well and the ball hit the turf.
Rob Gronkowski was Brady's early target, gaining seven yards while lined up wide right on the Pats' first play and then coming up with a 10-yard catch-and-run over the middle on a third-and-5 to keep the drive going.
We'll see if Brady goes back to the big man after this timeout.
First quarter, 13:26, 0-0: You couldn't have asked for a better start from the Patriots' defense, as they swarmed C.J. Spiller for a loss of three yards on first down, stuffed Anthony Dixon up the gut on second down and forced an incompletion on third down.
Julian Edelman got clobbered as he caught the ensuing punt, but the Pats take over at their own 37-yard line.
First quarter, 15:00: Gostkowski's kick sailed deep into the end zone for a touchback, and it's first-and-10 from the 20 for Kyle Orton's offense.
1:01 p.m.: A good early sign for the Pats, as they win the toss and elect to defer.
12:42 p.m.: My pregame thought is that I expect some wacky things to take place today. When these two teams meet, the wackiness tends to come out. Sometimes the Patriots open up 28-0 leads and let them slip away, and sometimes it's the Bills who let a seemingly easy victory slip away. Sometimes Danny Amendola goes off for a career day, and sometimes Leodis McKelvin fumbles a kickoff and Ben Watson becomes the hero of the game. Sometimes Brandon Spikes starts fights (that's definitely happening today, by the way), and sometimes the wind is so strong that the goalposts get knocked down in the middle of the game.
Basically, for as much preparation and analysis as you can have heading into the game, the Bills and Patriots have a knack for making all of it useless.
Whatever happens, it ought to be pretty entertaining.
12:28 p.m.: Coach Bill Belichick said in his interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub that Ryan Wendell will start at center. That means Dan Connolly will stay at left guard. And according to pregame warmups, it looks like Josh Kline will get a chance to play at right guard. After Jordan Devey and Marcus Cannon both really struggled on the interior this year, it makes sense that the Patriots would be interested in going to a different player at guard.
11:35 a.m.: The inactive lists have been released, and in potentially big news for New England, wide receiver Brian Tyms is active. Innnnteresting.
Here are the Pats inactives:
Nate Ebner, S
Brandon Browner, CB
Bryan Stork, C
Cameron Fleming, OL
Dominique Easley, DL
Dont'a Hightower, LB
James White, RB
The Bills' inactives:
Mike Williams, WR
Aaron Williams, S
Ross Cockrell, CB
Bryce Brown, RB
Randell Johnson, LB
Cyrus Kouandjio, T
Marcus Easley, WR
We also got some more detail on that myterious Tom Brady ankle injury. Adam Schefter reported that Brady rolled his ankle at practice on Friday, but it's not expected to be an issue. So if you were worried about Tom, worry no more.
10:45 a.m.: The crowd in Orchard Park is sure to be fired up this afternoon, as their beloved Bills will be hosting the New England Patriots in a battle for first place in the AFC East.
The Bills are feeling good after stealing a win at Detroit last week in Kyle Orton's first start with the team, while the Patriots feel pretty good about their dismantling of the Bengals last Sunday night at home.
But last week is in the past, and both teams know it'll take a full 60-minute effort to walk away from today's game in first place.
For the Patriots, that'll be difficult without Bryan Stork, the rookie center who did not travel with the team due to a concussion. His play in the middle of the line has helped to solidify the unit over the past couple of weeks, but it'll be back to square one for the offensive line this afternoon.
That's where the game will likely be won and lost, as Marcell Dareus, Mario Williams and Jerry Hughes will be hungry to get after Tom Brady. And as we've seen this year, when Brady faces heavy pressure, the Patriots cease being the Patriots.
It's anybody's guess how it will play out, and you can follow along with everything -- from pregame news through the final whistle -- right here in the live blog. Check back often.
Read more from Michael Hurley by clicking here, or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
