FOXBORO -- Here are five quick-hitting thoughts on what transpired between the Patriots and the Bills on Sunday afternoon...
BRADY NOT BRADY-LIKE
...Not consistently, at least. The first indication that Tom Brady's knee remains an issue was how he handled his pregame warmup. Instead of running from the Patriots tunnel down the length of the stadium and back, he stopped short of midfield with Jay-Z's "Public Service Announcement" still playing. Then came the first half. He went 7-for-13 with a pick. Even though the pick might've been on Rex Burkhead, who broke outside when Brady threw inside, it wasn't a sharp half from Brady. His first throw of the game was low and behind Julian Edelman. He missed Edelman open over the middle later in the quarter, and at the end of the second quarter he threw inaccurately to Cordarrelle Patterson when he faded away from the throw while anticipating contact. In the second half, the Patriots passing offense continued to sputter, and he finished with 126 yards on 13-of-24 passing, giving way to Brian Hoyer with about six minutes left in the game.
HOW TO COPE WITHOUT GORDON?
It was Patterson, not Phillip Dorsett, who was the clear-cut No. 3 receiver for the Patriots with Josh Gordon out of the mix. And though Patterson didn't factor in as a pass-catcher all that often (one catch for three yards in the first half), he did create some key chunk gains with four carries for 66 yards in the first 30 minutes. We knew the Patriots would have to get creative to move the ball without a matchup player like Gordon available, and using Patterson with runs to the edge (one pitch and three end-arounds) was one of the ways in which Josh McDaniels schemed up offensive momentum. Patterson injured his knee in the third quarter -- seemingly on a short kick-return -- taking away the player who to that point had been New England's most explosive offensive threat.
YOU GOTTA BELIEVE...YOUR KNEE WASN'T DOWN
Julian Edelman has had a tough couple of weeks. He's picked up four penalties in his last two games. He hasn't looked like himself physically at times, but his grind-it-out approach benefitted him in the third quarter when he caught a Brady pass on fourth-and-four, rolled over a defender as he was tackled -- never touching the ground -- and got up and scrambled into the end zone for the touchdown. In a game where the Patriots offense was in desperate need of passing-game playmakers, Edelman gave them one Sunday.
JOSH ALLEN IS WHO WE THOUGHT HE WAS
Keep the quarterback in the pocket has long been the Patriots game plan against the Bills. That was the case against Tyrod Taylor year after year. It was the case again against Josh Allen, and it worked again. With Allen posing a legitimate threat with his legs, the much better option for the Patriots was to force him to make accurate throws again and again instead of giving him chances to run. He couldn't string together more than a handful of on-point throws on the afternoon. And because the Patriots were crush-rushing -- bull-rushing blockers back as much as possible as opposed to attacking a gap with speed -- Allen had nowhere to go. A sequence in the shadow of the Bills end zone exemplified exactly what they were trying to do to Allen. On first down, Lawrence Guy bowled his way to Allen to almost pick up a safety that resulted in an incompletion. Two snaps later the Patriots converged in the Bills backfield, Trey Flowers hit Allen, and his pass fell incomplete.
McCOURTY BROTHER OF THE WEEK
Jason McCourty is in an interesting spot on the Patriots roster at the moment. He spent most of the year as the No. 2 boundary corner on the roster. Then JC Jackson started to come on. He bumped to the slot to help double Adam Thielen all over the field against the Vikings. Then he struggled in the slot in Miami. On Sunday, he started off behind Jackson on the outside and behind Jonathan Jones on the inside. Yet he finished with some of the bigger plays in the game for the Patriots defense. He forced a fumble as the Bills were putting together their best offensive series of the day to give the Patriots possession deep in their own territory in the third quarter. He forced an incompletion on third-and-12 with seven minutes left in the game to give the Patriots the ball back, and he picked Allen with a toe-tapping grab with four minutes left.
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