Patriots continue dominance over Bills

Oct 22, 2006, 20:10 GMT

Orchard Park, NY - Corey Dillon ran in a pair of touchdowns and Tom Brady threw two more as the New England Patriots routed the Buffalo Bills, 28-6, at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Brady, who is 11-1 versus Buffalo, finished 18-of-27 for 195 yards and two scores while Benjamin Watson caught five balls for 60 yards for the Patriots (5-1), who have won the last six meetings.

'It's good to get a win, the weather conditions are always tough up here; it's cold, rainy and windy,' said Brady. 'We got a division win on the road, and it always feels good to win.'

Dillon finished with 47 yards on 14 carries and Laurence Maroney gained only 29 yards on the ground for New England, which is 29-7 against the AFC East since 2001.

J.P. Losman completed 16-of-25 passes for 193 yards but fumbled once and threw an interception for the Bills (2-5), who have lost three straight games before heading into their bye week.

Willis McGahee carried the ball 20 times for 59 yards and made two catches for 61 yards while Peerless Price caught five passes for 53 yards for Buffalo, which committed three turnovers.

'I don't know that a loss can get worse,' said Buffalo head coach Dick Jauron. 'You like to perform for your crowd, particularly after what our fans and city have been through. You'd like to give them some sunshine, but we clearly didn't provide.'

The Pats came out firing on all cylinders as they used 14 plays to cover 71 yards for a 7-0 lead. Watson's screen gained 14 yards to the Buffalo 19, and five plays later Dillon reached the end zone with an eight-yard run.

'Our emphasis all week was to start fast,' said New England safety Rodney Harrison. 'That was the emphasis, we worked hard on it. Part of that is mental focus, physically we have the tools, but mentally you have to be in tune with the game.'

The Bills countered with a nine-play, 58-yard drive, capped with 40-yard field goal from Rian Lindell. After two straight penalties, Buffalo was faced with 3rd-and-14, but McGahee reeled off 56 yards on a shovel pass to highlight the possession.

Maroney returned the ensuing kickoff 74 yards to the Buffalo 21, but New England struggled to gain any yards. On 3rd-and-10 Brady was scrambling to find an open receiver, dodging numerous oncoming sackers, but the quarterback took a seat to surrender the play. However, London Fletcher and Chris Kelsay both hit Brady after he was on the ground for an unnecessary roughness penalty and a first down. Dillon ran the next play 12 yards for the TD and a 14-3 margin.

On the 11th play of a drive that saw Losman guide the Bills to the New England 23, the quarterback was picked off by Asante Samuel, who returned the ball to the Patriots 18 with 1:52 left in the second. It was the second straight possession with a turnover for the Bills, who outgained New England in total first half yards, 176-87.

After the New England offense totaled seven yards in the second quarter, Brady put together a good drive that stalled at the Bills 40 before connecting with Chad Jackson on a 35-yard TD pass in the back corner of the end zone on the second possession of the second half, extending the lead to 21-3 with 2:42 remaining in the third quarter.

The Bills pulled within 21-6 as Lindell booted a 46-yard field goal with 11:45 left to play. Losman moved the ball around, hitting Price with a 25-yard pass followed by a 10-yard completion to Robert Royal.

The Patriots countered with an eight-play possession, culminating with a five- yard TD catch from Doug Gabriel with nearly 7 1/2 minutes to play.

'It was a long day and we continued to make foolish errors that really don't give us much of a chance to win the game, especially against good opponents and this was obviously a good opponent,' continued Jauron. 'The roughing the passer was an unbelievable situation...The kick returns hurt us. Those are foolish things that we have to stop doing and they're on my shoulders.'

Game Notes

Brady has thrown a TD pass in 10 straight games.

Aaron Schobel has 9 1/2 career sacks against Tom Brady for the most in the NFL.

Brady had been sacked five times this season before the game but was pulled down four times in the contest. The Bills have sacked Brady seven times this season.

New England wide receiver Troy Brown needs four catches to surpass Stanley Morgan (534) for the most in club history.

For the second time this season the Pats didn't allow Losman to throw a TD.

McGahee (2,938) passed Antowain Smith (2,932) for 7th on the all-time franchise rushing list.

Price surpassed the 5,000 receiving yards plateau.

© 2006 The Sports Network