Archives for November 10, 2008

‘The Buffalo Bills had allowed only two teams to rush for more than 100 yards against them all year coming into Sunday. Then the New England Patriots racked up 144 yards in a 20-10 victory.’

‘Passing game: F: Edwards had third straight bad game. Threw two awful interceptions. Was admittedly befuddled at times by the Patriots’ schemes.’

‘First to worst in the span of three weeks.’

‘The coaches were outcoached, and that’s putting it mildly. The offense was throttled by a veteran Patriots defense that seemed to be one step ahead of slumping Trent Edwards throughout this gorgeous New England afternoon. The defense was picked apart by a backup quarterback, Matt Cassel, who wasn’t even a starter in college, and by New England’s fourth-string running back, a chap named BenJarvus Green-Ellis who, believe it or not, had more yards rushing (105) than he does names.’

‘Play of the game: It happened on New England’s first offensive series when Wes Welker made a 21-yard reception on the left sideline that wouldn’t have counted had Dick Jauron challenged the play. Replay showed Welker did not get both feet in bounds, but Jauron was slow to challenge and the catch stood. It gave the Pats a first down at the Bills 17 and they took a lead they never relinquished two plays later. Had the Welker play been overturned, maybe the Bills still don’t win, but you never know.’

‘Both coordinators, Perry Fewell and Turk Schonert, need to take a step back and re-evaluate what they’re doing. In the last three losses, neither man has distinguished himself and both of their units were outplayed by the Patriots.’

‘You know what you’re going to get from the Bills head coach – vanilla with a side of mayonnaise. But Sunday called for a dash of habanero.’

‘The Bad: How about the coaching staff not being able to toss the red flag in front of a ref when Wes Welker was clearly out of bounds on a deep out?’

‘”The week after we beat the Chargers, everybody was pretty high and talking about being 5-1,” Bills centre Duke Preston said. “That is the nature of the NFL. As fast as we got out to a good start, that’s how fast it can go away.”‘

‘But this week Jauron and his staff must crack deeper riddles. Where, for instance, did the Edwards of September go?’

‘Confounded not only by New England’s clever defense, which kept disguising its coverages, Buffalo’s sputtering offense also was hampered by a pair of interceptions by Edwards, who completed 13 of 23 for 120 yards. In his first four games of the season, Edwards completed 65.5 percent of his passes (78 of 119) for 930 yards with 4 TDs and two interceptions. Lately his productivity has declined and his mistakes risen; he’s completed 58 of 93 for 624 yards with 2 TDs and five picks in his last three games.’

‘”We need to give a lot of credit to that defense,” Edwards said. “They play fast and they show a lot of different looks. On a few plays here and there it’s confusing to know what their coverages are, what their fronts are.”‘

March madness (Boston Globe)

Fired-up defense pulled out all the stops (Boston Globe)

Winners punched time clock (Boston Globe)

Green-Ellis now the name of the game (Boston Globe)

Cassel really is starting to get it (Boston Globe)

Left with that sinking feeling (Boston Globe)

Moss finds he’s in a fine ($20K) mess (Boston Globe)

Photo gallery (Boston Globe)

Mammoth march closes out Buffalo Bills (Boston Herald)

Patriots shut down Buffalo attack (Boston Herald)

BenJarvus Green-Ellis puts on a show (Boston Herald)

Wes Welker’s record effort doesn’t stop short (Boston Herald)

Bill Belichick delivers stern answer (Boston Herald)

Sources: Adalius Thomas breaks arm (Boston Herald)

Patriots’ bite worse than Bills’ bark (Boston Herald)

In the zone (Boston Herald)

Patriots players of the game (Boston Herald)

Randy Moss catches flak from NFL (Boston Herald)

Best and Worst of yesterday’s game (Boston Herald)

Patriots bettors pull up covers (Boston Herald)

Pats beat Bills, and gear up for Thursday showdown with Jets (Providence Journal)

‘Awesome’ 19-play drive helps close out the victory for Patriots (Providence Journal)

Welker sets a new NFL receiving record, and gives credit to Cassel (Providence Journal)

Patriots’ defense confused Buffalo quarterback Edwards (Providence Journal)

Likeable Green-Ellis succeeds by keeping it simple (Providence Journal)

Cassel does damage with his arm and his legs (Providence Journal)

Status of Adalius Thomas unknown after arm injury (Providence Journal)

Officials helped Patriots take an early lead (Providence Journal)

Patriots cornerback Hobbs stands tall on gridiron (Providence Journal)

Moss fined $20,000 for criticizing officials after loss in Indianapolis (Providence Journal)

Patriots-Bills postgame analysis (Providence Journal)

Pats march on Buffalo (Metro West Daily News)

Pats pull off important win (Metro West Daily News)

Green-Ellis fitting in fine (Metro West Daily News)

Tough ‘D’ leads to easy ‘W’ (Brockton Enterprise)

Green-Ellis makes his mark (Brockton Enterprise)

Winning has become a real grind for Patriots (Quincy Patriot Ledger)

Record-setting day for Welker (Quincy Patriot Ledger)

Cassel runs for daylight (Quincy Patriot Ledger)

Making name for himself (Worcester Telegram and Gazette)

Moss decides to keep money (Worcester Telegram and Gazette)

Ready for Thursday (Worcester Telegram and Gazette)

Time to know his name and his game (Lawrence Eagle Tribune)

The alternative is not pretty (Lawrence Eagle Tribune)

Two-Minute Drill (Lawrence Eagle Tribune)

Photo gallery (Lawrence Eagle Tribune)

Jauron, Bills not quick enough on the draw (Lynn Daily Item)

Pats follow the team mantra and simply do their jobs (Lynn Daily Item)

Patriots Overpower Bills (Hartford Courant)

Patriots Not Worried About Short Week To Prepare (Hartford Courant)

Pats Rookie Is The Name Of The Game (Hartford Courant)

Photo gallery (Hartford Courant)

Patriots all business in victory over Bills (Attleboro Sun Chronicle)

Green-Ellis: Man of the century (Attleboro Sun Chronicle)

Welker adds another record to resume (Attleboro Sun Chronicle)

Pats defense becoming dominant (Attleboro Sun Chronicle)

Pats fans confident over new life atop AFC East (Attleboro Sun Chronicle)

After win, Pats looking at ‘quick turnaround’ for Jets (Attleboro Sun Chronicle)

Cassel, Green-Ellis lead Patriots past Bills 20-10 (Springfield Republican)

The Patriots basically shut down the Bills’ offense from start to finish (Springfield Republican)

Green-Ellis makes his name (New Bedford Standard Times)

Sloppy still getting the job done (New Bedford Standard Times)

Bendable, but unbreakable (Manchester Union Leader)

Knocked Down Early This Season, Patriots Rise Up (New York Times)

In Patriots’ season of change, winning ways have remained (USA Today)

Belichick plugs in parts to keep Patriots machine humming (CBS Sportsline)

Bills learn frustrating lesson: Pats still scary (NBC Sports)

Obscure players win for Pats (AP)

Patriots make it 10 in a row against Bills, 20-10 (Patriots.com)

Not an easy win, but easier (Patriots.com)

Patriots Postgame Quotes (Patriots.com)

Bills Postgame Quotes (Patriots.com)

Bill Belichick Postgame Presser (Patriots.com)

Matt Cassel Postgame Presser (Patriots.com)

Patriots vs. Bills: Game Notes (Patriots.com)

Photo gallery (Patriots.com)

‘Welker’s play left Greer scratching his head to find the answers. He said the wideout’s success was a matter of execution. “If I knew the answer, we’d be in a different position than we are now,” said Greer after the game. “I think they called good plays for the coverage. They executed well and they made the plays when they needed to make them.”‘

‘So, Jauron mulls it, gets information on his headset, mulls it again and then barely tosses his red challenge flag onto the field. The next Patriots play is close to starting. Jauron and his staff and his players stand there. They begin to wave. No urgency. Patriots snap it. Ludicrous.’