Bills defeated Patriots with a 16 - 0 shutout victory at Gillette Stadium.
Not good, but not terrible considering we had a rookie QB. The shutout victory over the Texans last week was more down to special teams, who just didn't come through this week. That said, I'm still disappointed, and most upset by 4 plays:
1) Edelman's 90 yd reception called back because of an offensive penalty. We can't let that happen.
2) Brissett fumbling in the red zone. This one is forgivable because hey, he's a rookie, but it still hurt. We were in field goal range; just had to keep possession of the ball.
3) Gostkowski's missed field goal. WAT?!? That's two in the first 4 weeks, from a guy who only missed 3 the entire of last season. I'm hoping this is just a temporary confidence issue after the missed PAT in Denver.
4) Going for it on 4th down with less than 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Honestly, at this point in the game it was obvious we were going to lose. Optimistically we were only two scores down (2 TDs with 2pt conversions), but realistically it would have to be two TDs and a field goal. That's a big ask for anyone with less than 3 minutes left, let alone a rookie QB. IMO, Bellichick made the wrong call here, and should have kicked the field goal to at least avoid the shutout. Then maybe you get the ball back with some time left and can try and put together a scoring drive to make the score less lop-sided.
Not good, but not terrible considering we had a rookie QB. The shutout victory over the Texans last week was more down to special teams, who just didn't come through this week. That said, I'm still disappointed, and most upset by 4 plays:
1) Edelman's 90 yd reception called back because of an offensive penalty. We can't let that happen.
2) Brissett fumbling in the red zone. This one is forgivable because hey, he's a rookie, but it still hurt. We were in field goal range; just had to keep possession of the ball.
3) Gostkowski's missed field goal. WAT?!? That's two in the first 4 weeks, from a guy who only missed 3 the entire of last season. I'm hoping this is just a temporary confidence issue after the missed PAT in Denver.
4) Going for it on 4th down with less than 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Honestly, at this point in the game it was obvious we were going to lose. Optimistically we were only two scores down (2 TDs with 2pt conversions), but realistically it would have to be two TDs and a field goal. That's a big ask for anyone with less than 3 minutes left, let alone a rookie QB. IMO, Bellichick made the wrong call here, and should have kicked the field goal to at least avoid the shutout. Then maybe you get the ball back with some time left and can try and put together a scoring drive to make the score less lop-sided.
