New England Patriots
inside slant · Strategy and personnel · Notes, quotes
–QB Tom Brady set an NFL record against Buffalo, moving past Bernie Kosar (308), for consecutive pass attempts without an interception. Brady heads into the season finale having thrown 319 passes without an interception. Brady also extended his own record against Buffalo by notching his eighth straight game with at least two TD passes and no interceptions. He also has a chance to become just the sixth quarterback in history to throw a touchdown pass in all 16 games.
–RB Danny Woodhead had a big day against Buffalo, including a 29-yard touchdown. Woodhead finished with career-high 93 yards on just 13 carries for a 7.2-yard average. He also had three catches for 32 yards. Woodhead now has 528 yards on 95 attempts for the season for a 5.6-yard average with five rushing touchdowns.
–RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis notched his second 100-yard effort of the season against Buffalo, hitting for 104 yards on 19 carries. Green-Ellis leads new England with 928 yards on 209 carries with 12 rushing scores. He has a chance to become the Patriots first 1,000-yard rusher since Corey Dillon’s franchise-record 1,635 yards in 2004.
–TE Rob Gronkowski, a native of nearby Amherst, N.Y., had a big day with four catches for 54 yards with two touchdowns in front of friends and family in Buffalo. The rookie has nine touchdown catches on the season, tied for most by a tight end in team history and third-most from a rookie tight end in NFL history.
–TE Alge Crumpler had a 4-yard touchdown in the victory over Buffalo, his first score as a Patriot and just his fifth catch of the season.
–WR Deion Branch had a quiet day in Buffalo, catching just two passes for 25 yards.
–WR Wes Welker had just three catches for 19 yards in the win over the Bills. With a team-high 86 catches on the season Welker will need 14 receptions in the finale to eclipse 100 catches for the fourth straight season.
–ILB Jerod Mayo had one of his more active games of the season, with new England’s leading tackler notching a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a QB hit and a pair of pass defenses in the win over Buffalo. The fumble recovery was Mayo’s third of the season.
–S Patrick Chung had six solo tackles and his third interception of the season in beating the Bills.
–ILB Gary Guyton had six tackles, a strip sack and two pass defenses against Buffalo.
–DL Kyle love, an undrafted rookie out of Mississippi State, recorded his first career sack against Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Bills.
–LB Dane Fletcher, an undrafted rookie out of Montana State, recorded his first career interception late in the fourth quarter of the win at Buffalo. Earlier in the game Fletcher also recovered a fumble. Fletcher became the 10th different Patriots player to record an interception this season.
–PK Shayne Graham hit a pair of field goals, from 34 and 26 yards, against the Bills and has yet to miss a field goal since replacing the injured Stephen Gostkowski in new England.
–DL Landon Cohen made his Patriots debut and first start after signing with the team last week.
–S Jarrad Page made his first start since joining the Patriots and took advantage with his first interception of the season early in the third quarter.
REPORT CARD VS. BILLS
PASSING OFFENSE a — some games are better than others, but it’s hard to find fault when your starting quarterback plays a flawless game without committing any costly turnovers. Tom Brady continued his impressive streak of mistake-free football Sunday, completing 15 of 27 passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns. The Patriots essentially had their way with Buffalo’s defense from start to finish.
RUSHING OFFENSE A-plus — this is as good as it gets. The Patriots rushed for a whopping 217 yards as a team, averaging 5.3 yards per carry. BenJarvus Green-Ellis did most of the damage, rushing for 104 yards on just 19 carries — an average of 5.5 per carry. Danny Woodhead continued his remarkable resurgence with 93 yards on 13 carries, including a touchdown.
PASS DEFENSE a — The ball-hawking secondary continues to surge. The Patriots intercepted Ryan Fitzpatrick three times and limited him to just 251 yards on 18-of-37 passing while forcing him to fumble twice. The only reason his numbers are somewhat respectable is because the Bills were forced to throw early and often once the Patriots broke the game open.
RUSH DEFENSE B-minus — Fred Jackson had a decent game with 81 yards on 13 carries, but nothing the Bills did on the ground had any impact on the final outcome. Plus, the Patriots forced C.J. Spiller to fumble twice, which is a positive sign. The Patriots do have some concerns with their run defense, but the rest of the players have stepped up to render the opposing running game irrelevant.
SPECIAL TEAMS a — not much to talk about here. Shayne Graham hit both of his field-goal attempts and the Bills didn’t get anything going in the return game. The Patriots continue to get a great effort from punter Zoltan Mesko while Graham has filled in nicely for the injured Stephen Gostkowski.
COACHING a — Even though the players are doing the bulk of the work, the coaching staff deserves credit for having everyone prepared on a weekly basis. no team is more focused or more consistent than new England. The fact they haven’t turned the ball over in more than two months is a remarkable feat and a sign of how much they emphasis limiting mistakes in practice.
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Here is the Weekly Event Schedule for 2010. The Iola Community Center has been reserved for the following nights through the end of the year: