Bills post winning record for first time since 2004
FOXBOROUGH, MASS.— Safe on the sideline, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady watched the Buffalo Bills finish with their first winning record in 10 seasons.
Then he predicted the New England Patriots would be just fine once their top players are back on the field in the playoffs.
“I’m not worried about us lacking confidence,” Brady said after playing just the first half in Buffalo’s 17-9 win Sunday. “We’ve got a lot of good players.”
Kyle Orton threw for a touchdown, Anthony Dixon ran for another and the Bills beat the going-through-the motions Patriots (12-4), who already had clinched the AFC’s No.1 seed and a first-round bye and wanted to avoid injuries.
The Bills (9-7) ended their string of losing seasons, matching their re- cord in 2004. But they had little else to play for after a loss to Oakland one week earlier eliminated them from playoff contention for the 15th straight season, the longest current NFL streak.
“We had a winning season but we didn’t go as far as we wanted to,” linebacker Nickell Robey said.
The Patriots didn’t play their top receivers, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, but the plan to protect players wasn’t entirely successful. Starting left tackle Nate Solder didn’t return after hurting his knee late in the first half.
And after the game, coach Bill Belichick met with trainers about his own health.
“I had to spend a few minutes in the training room after the game, noth- ing serious, just a couple things to look at with the trainers and the doctor,” Belichick said in a conference call after skipping his usual postgame news conference.
“It was no big deal. I don’t want to get into it.”
The loss snapped several streaks: Buffalo’s 0-12 record at Gillette Stadium, and New England’s 35 home wins against AFC teams and 16 at home against any opponent.
“We always hate losing,” Brady said. “We didn’t make enough plays to win, but, hopefully, we’ll make them in a couple of weeks.”
Buffalo safety Aaron Williams was proud of the victory against a team that didn’t try its best.
“I don’t want to hear no excuses about who didn’t play, who played,” he said. “They showed up. We showed up. We just were the better team today.”
With starting offensive linemen Dan Connolly and Sebastian Vollmer also inactive, New England failed to score a touchdown for the first time since the fifth game last season, a13-6 loss at Cincinnati. Stephen Gostkowski kicked three field goals.
Brady played all five offensive series in the first half and failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time this season. He was eight of 16 for 80 yards and was sacked once.
Orton was 16 of 23 for 176 yards and went over the 3,000-yard passing mark for the third time in his career.
“Any time you step on the field is important,” Orton said. “It’s great whenever you get a winning season and win the last game against your rival.”