New England Patriots Team Grades: Tom Brady Absolutely Demolishes Bills As Pats Avenge Early Season Loss
By Danny Cox
The New England Patriots know who their leader is on the field and how he plays on offense will spill over onto the defense and special teams, as well. Earlier this season, the Patriots were shut out by the Buffalo Bills in the final game before Tom Brady's return from a four-game suspension. This time around, that was not going to take place. Not only did it not happen, but the Patriots won by the convincing score of 41-25.
This was a much different game than what happened a few weeks ago, and the Buffalo Bills just appeared to be outmatched in every single possession and at each position.
Offense: A
This was Tom Brady's day. Brady finished with 22-of-33 passing for 314 yards and four touchdowns. All four touchdown passes went to different players and Rob Gronkowski led the Pats in receiving with 109 yards on five receptions.
LeGarrette Blount has played very well in the past couple of weeks, but he only had 43 yards and one touchdown on Sunday against the Bills. Honestly, the way Brady was playing, there was truly no need to stop him from passing.
Defense: B-
Tyrod Taylor and the Buffalo Bills were truly just shut down by the Patriots and if it wasn't for Mike Gillislee, there would have been next to nothing as far as offensive production. The running back ended the day with 85 yards on 12 carries and one touchdown which was a good day for him, but he didn't get much support.
Taylor had just 183 yards passing, was sacked once, and had more incomplete passes than completed balls. He was sacked just one time while EJ Manuel, who came in late for Taylor, also suffered one sack. Luckily, they didn't turn the football over at all, but it was a poor performance all around.
Special Teams: A
Stephen Gostkowski had a great day by hitting all five of his extra point attempts and both field goal attempts with a long of 51 yards. He was fantastic as always and there is no doubting that he will be from week to week.
One thing that improved this week was the return game. Julian Edelman had a couple punt returns for minimal yardage, but it was the kick return game that was much better. Danny Amendola had two kick returns for a total of 97 yards with a long of 73 yards that helped put the explosive offense in even better position to score.
Coaching: A
Bill Belichick went into this game knowing that the only blemish on his season so far was a 16-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Not only was he making sure that another loss didn't happen, but he wanted a bit of payback. He had his team go out there and pretty much just told Brady to do his thing while advising the defense to contain and push back at the Bills.
Well, it worked.
This was a pure team win from start to finish as so many different aspects of the roster got into it, and it was all cleverly led by quarterback Tom Brady. All players were working hard and putting forth a full effort throughout the 60 minutes. Yes, it did seem as if the gas pedal was let up a bit in the fourth quarter, but there was really no need to push as much at that point.