Patriots vs. Bills Recap

Maroney has been the best player on offense as of late.

Similar to the win against Carolina last week the Patriots left themselves vulnerable to be beaten by a worse team. While the play calling was different than most games because of the Bills' horrible run defense, the Patriots left the door open to being beaten by a weak Buffalo Bills squad.

Tom Brady took numerous shots down the field in an attempt to stretch the defense, but the offensive game calling was fairly conservative; too conservative at times. The truth is a win is a win but against better teams the Patriots aren't going to be able to pull out these W's with lackluster play. Brady missed deep a lot and one has to wonder if his ribs or finger are an issue.

The Bills had a atrocious 11 penalties for 124 yards (2 of which were pass interference in the end zone) which helped the Patriots. They held the Bills to 2/12 on 3rd down, and 1/3 in the red zone. If this team wants to make moves in the playoffs they need to begin to play 60 minutes of solid football (the Bills first drive was a 14 play drive that took 9:24 off the clock). Playoffs are around the corner and the Pats have to finish the season strong and gain momentum going into the playoffs.

Player of the game: For all the heat he's taken at times this season and in his career Laurence Maroney has been a bright spot this season. He's simply been most effective in the important part of the field; the red zone. Laurence has 9 touchdowns in his last 9 games. Keep it up #39.

Other top performers included DL Mike Wright (who filled in all over the line for Wilfork and Warren) had a sack and helped stop the run and Tully Banta-Cain with his three sacks. Bill Belichick also deserves high praises for employing a defensive set 18 times that included one or no down lineman that confused the Bills' passing game.

Statistic to note: Employing a heavy run offense against the Bills the Patriots had an uncharacteristic run to pass ratio of 30:23. Tom Brady had a total of 5 completions in the first half which was his lowest total since 2006.

Quote of the game: Brady on Randy Moss, "My father always said tall trees experience high winds. He has been at the top for a long time and when it doesn't go right it is just part of the profession and Randy is mature enough to handle that. He is a fighter and he came out today and made some great catches for us."

Playoff Situation: The Patriots got help as the Jets and Dolphins both lost to increase their lead in the AFC East to two games with two to go. The Bengals also lost, so if the season ended today the Pats would be the third seed in the AFC.

The Patriots two remaining games are against Jacksonville and at Houston. Both games will be huge in determining the Patriots' playoff success.