Taken aback-up at QB
Brissett banged up, offers little in loss
FOXBORO — The theory the Patriots could trot out any quarterback and survive went out the window yesterday.
Making just his second NFL start, Jacoby Brissett struggled against an aggressive Bills defense. Brissett completed 17-of-27 passes for 205 yards as the Patriots fell 16-0, their first home shutout loss since a 6-0 final to the Jets in November 1993.
“They did a good job. They came out and played hard,” said Brissett, who converted just 1-of-12 thirddown opportunities. “We kind of beat ourselves with penalties and I didn’t play well. We just got to learn from this one and get better next game.”
Brissett, who suffered a thumb injury 10 days earlier in the win over the Texans, said he did not find out until just before the game that he would be starting — Jimmy Garoppolo and his injured shoulder were declared inactive hours before kickoff. The news, however, did not come as a shock to one of the Bills.
“We had some inside knowledge that (Brissett) would be playing,” said linebacker Preston Brown. “Knowing he was going to play, we knew we were going to get a lot of passes to our left side, easy one-sided reads, so we tried to limit that and pack that side.”
It was obvious from the start that this was not going to be the Patriots’ day. On the first offensive play from scrimmage, Brissett connected with Julian Edelman, who sprinted 90 yards down to the Buffalo 1 . . . only to have that negated by Chris Hogan holding and offensive pass interference penalties.
The Pats went three-andout on that possession and didn’t pick up their initial first down until Martellus Bennett hauled in a 10-yard completion with 14:16 left in the opening half. Bennett was the only bright spot for the Patriots, catching five passes for 109 yards.
“You know he makes plays when the ball is in his hand,” Brissett said. “The offensive line did a good job giving me time to find him. He’s a big target that can move well and catch the ball.”
The problem was big plays were few and far in between. The one time the Pats put together a good drive, Brissett gave it away. Facing a third-and-11 from the Bills’ 18 with his team down 13-0 late in the second quarter, Brissett scrambled up the middle before he ran into linebacker Zach Brown and fumbled the ball. Buffalo’s Preston Brown recovered on the 9.
“I just fumbled it, no excuse for it,” said Brissett, who declared that his thumb was not an issue. “Especially in that situation in the red zone. We’ve already got points, so I have to protect the ball better.”
Things got no better in the second half as Brissett could not generate much offense. He completed 14of-24 passes for 130 yards, but was sacked twice and took some vicious shots. If nothing else, he earned the respect of his teammates as he makes way for Tom Brady’s return from the suspended list.
“(Brissett) is a tough kid, he came out there and had a gutsy performance,” said Edelman. “I gained a lot of respect for that young man and how poised he was to overcome obstacles that he had to do.”