Pats Hold Off Bills, Move To 10-0

The New England Patriots advanced to 10-0 after beating the Buffalo Bills 20-13 at Gillette Stadium, Monday night.

Here are some final thoughts on the night's action:

The Refs STINK- It is absolutely mind-boggling how badly the NFL referees officiated this game. Let's start with the inadvertent whistle on New England's opening drive of the second half. With the team moving the ball down the field and looking to go up by two scores to start the second half, Tom Brady scrambled towards the sideline. As Brady was about three yards from the sideline, he hit receiver Danny Amendola, who broke free in coverage, for what looked to be a potentially huge gain, if not a touchdown for New England. Of course, one of the refs blew an inadvertent whistle causing play to stop. By league rule, when an inadvertent whistle is blown and the ball is still in the air, the pass is not supposed to count. The officials, after huddling together however, awarded the catch to the Pats and added a 15-yard penalty on the Bills' sideline. The whole thing was an absolute disaster. That wasn't the only flub by the officiating crew either. At one point, later in the half, one of the referres, who was behind the line of scrimmage called a face mask penalty on a tackle that was made 10 yards in front of him. The players' backs were also to the official. The penalty was waved off, but the fact that the flag was even thrown was berserk. The refs also had to confer several times on calls that didn't seem that difficult to make. Maybe next off season, instead of pouring millions of dollars into the PSI levels of footballs, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should put that type of money into training his officials.

Brady Takes A Beating- The Patriots quarterback took an absolute beating, throughout the course of the game, as the Buffalo defense pinned their ears back and attacked the injury-riddled, revolving door offensive line of New England. Brady took a number of hits and was pressured all night long, which combined with a lack of healthy receivers, caused the Patriot quarterback a lot of issues. He finished the game with 277 passing yards, one touchdown and an interception on an ill-advised deep ball that was deflected. All in all, it was an impressive show of mental and physical strength for the future hall or famer.

More Injuries- The Patriots suffered more injuries to the receiver position, during the game. In the first half, little-used Aaron Dobson made a tremendous catch, then immediately came up lame with an apparent ankle injury. He did not return to the game. Later in the action, the team's new top receiving option,  Amendola, who made nine catches for 117 yards, left the game with a knee injury in the fourth quarter. Fingers crossed that it's nothing serious as Amendola was having a tremendous game and has assumed a much larger role in this offense, with the loss of Julian Edelman last week.

White Looks Good In Limited Role- Backup running back James White only had four touches on the night, but he made the most of them as he totaled 46 yards of offense and got into the end zone twice. White caught a touchdown pass from Brady at the end of the second quarter, where he broke a tackle, and rumbled into the end zone in the third quarter after a 30-plus yard catch from Amendola. Maybe he'll get more touches next week, especially if Amendola and Dobson aren't healthy.

Pats Defense Is Dominant- It's time to start talking more about the special plazy of the New England defense. Yes, the Bills offense isn't the scariest in the league but the Patriots defense did a heck of a job of neutralizing it even further. Cornerback Malcolm Butler single-handedly shut down Buffalo's top receiver Sammy Watkins, save for a couple of late catches and one defensive pass interference. While they only notched two sacks of Buffalo quarterback Tyrod Taylor, the Pats defensive line caused havoc all night long and got really solid efforts from ends Rob Nincovich, who had a sack and a half, and Jabaal Sheard in particular. the team's number two cornerback Logan Ryan also had a great game in coverage, as receivers covered by him made little impact all night long. He also led the team in tackles on the night, with six.

All in all, it was a gutsy win in a sloppy game for the Patriots. The Pats are now 10-0 and with a win next week they could wrap up the AFC East. The Bills' defense gave the Patriots their best shot, the refs blew one too many calls and though the Pats lost two more receivers, and already were limited from the start, they found a way to win the ball game when they needed to. Next week they get another solid defense, as they head into Denver to take on the Broncos on Sunday Night Football. Hopefully the team gets good news on both Amendola and Dobson and they are ready to bounce back in a tough environment.