The Associated Press
Jimmy Golen
FOXBOROUGH, Mass.—Tom Brady called out Rex Ryan and then he beat the Bills—again.
After shouting the name of the Buffalo coach as an audible, Brady led New England to a 20-13 victory over the Bills last night and kept the defending Super Bowl champs on course for their second perfect regular season in nine years.
Brady completed 20-of-39 passes for 277 yards, hitting James White for a 20-yard score that was the first touchdown of the running back’s career.
White added a six-yard run in the third quarter to give New England (10-0) the lead for good.
Brady even took a dig at the Buffalo coach—lining up under centre in the first quarter and shouting “Rex Ryan! Rex Ryan!”
Asked if there was a message in it, Brady struggled to suppress a smile.
“We have a lot of unusual terms,” he said.
“I think we run the gamut. So we’ve got to get creative and think of different thing,” Brady added.
“That one is pretty unique.”
Ryan was less troubled about any personal slight than losing to his longtime nemesis for the 11th time in 15 games.
“He [Brady] likes me, I know that,” the coach said.
The game was filled with mistakes, penalties, injuries, and turnovers—including two fumbles on a single punt, a rare missed field goal by New England’s Stephen Gostkowski, and an inadvertent whistle that led to one of many lengthy conferences among the officials.
“That’s one of the craziest I’ve ever seen,” said LeSean McCoy, who ran 20 times for 82 yards and a 27-yard touchdown.
He also caught six passes for 41 yards to surpass 100 yards from scrimmage for the fourth-straight game.
And the game ended on another apparent refereeing blunder, with Sammy Watkins crawling out of bounds untouched near midfield but the official inexplicably signalling for the clock to run.
New England remained unbeaten despite losing another key player.
Danny Amendola, who took over as the Patriots’ No. 1 receiver because of last week’s injury to Julian Edelman, caught nine passes for 117 yards before leaving with a knee injury of his own in the third quarter.
“We were down to two healthy receivers,” Brady noted.
“You get pretty limited in things you can do pretty quickly.”
The Patriots lead the AFC East by five games with six to play.
“At the end of the day, they find ways to win,” Ryan said of the Patriors.
“That’s what championship teams do.
“We’re not at that level but I promise you we’ll get there,” he vowed.
Tyrod Taylor was 20-for-36 for 233 yards for the Bills (5-5), who snapped a two-game winning streak and lost to Brady for the 25th time in 28 games.
With the wind-chill temperature at 21 degrees F at kick-off, both teams struggled on offence.
Stephon Gilmore picked Brady off—just the fourth interception of the year for the reigning Super Bowl MVP (another interception was negated by offsetting penalties).
The Patriots even failed to score in the fourth—the first time they were shut out in a quarter since the first one of the season.
In the third quarter, both teams fumbled on the same punt.
Leodis McKelvin fielded a punt at his own but coughed up the ball two yards later.
New England’s Jonathan Freeny then picked it and rumbled five yards before he lost the ball and it bounced out of bounds.
