Pats 20, Bills 10: It's all about ball control

The Pats are coming off the disappointing loss to the Colts as they head into a huge stretch of three straight division games. First up, Buffalo. Highlighted by a nineteen-play drive to put the game away in the fourth quarter, a big start to this stretch of games by the Pats. A somewhat misleading 20-10 score, a solid, grind it out, ball control game equaled the sixth win of the Pats season.

The biggest crowd I've seen at Murphy's Pub, including Stef! WooHoo!, this season was treated to a lot of good things from the Pats today. A flashy game? No. But the days of two play drives that cover eighty yards, not going to happen this year. When you control the ball though, good things usually happen. Running game, really liked. BenJarvus Green-Ellis is really coming in to his own as a running back. Find hole - run through hole. Are you watching, Laurence Maroney? I hope you're able to recover from the shoulder injury but pay attention to what Ellis is doing, it's good for your career.

Wes Welker? What else can you say. First guy in NFL history with six or more catches in the first nine games of the season. Is he even better than last year? Yup. Matt Cassel is turning into a solid NFL starting quarterback right in front of our eyes. The early touchdown run was pure instinct, yeah I see the middle of the field so I'm running an unscheduled QB draw for the touchdown. I'm not going to hold his fumble against him, a great all around game.

Defense? Yeah! The best effort of the season in my opinion. Marshawn Lynch? Didn't do very much, D kept him in check all game long. I've ripped on Deltha O'Neal all season, not today. Came up with a pick, covered very well when the outcome was still in doubt, and I thought Buffalo's James Hardy pushed off on the garbage time touchdown. And even that was after an eighty yard plus kickoff return where Gostkowski saved a touchdown by slowing the returner down just enough so Jonathan Wilhite could catch him.

Great to see the Pats pressure pay off with a couple of sacks too. Ty Warren in particular was a beast on the D Line. Seymour had one of his better games of the season as well. The only concern, Jabar Gaffney had a bit of Maroneyitis, a.k.a as not lowering his shoulders for the extra yards. Solid, 6-3, first place tie, and not to go ESPN on you, but Thursday night is a huge game vs the Jets. Win that and the Pats will be a game up on the Jets with the tie-breaker, and at least one game over Buffalo, with the tie-breaker. After the Jets comes a trip to Miami, but first things first.

Finally, I can't say this enough, but if you're a Pats fan in the area, get out to Murphy's Pub. The mojo was definitely back today. And are we starting to see Belichick work his magic again with a patchwork secondary? Let's find out. Go Pats!

Week Nine - Even the best have crappy days sometimes

Let's be up front about this: As great has Bill Belichick has been as the Patriots' head coach, last night was not one of his moments of glory by any means. There were quite a few puzzling decisions that were just as puzzling right after they were made as they were post-mortem. Even if the Colts' spare DB didn't get off the field in time, was five yards really worth throwing a challenge flag? 1st and 10 isn't much different from 1st and 5 or whatever it would have been. Calling the time out just in time to nullify a successful QB sneak by Cassel? Maybe it's karma coming around from past time outs helping the Pats, but it sure looked like the hurry up and run the sneak would have worked before the ball was even snapped.

The worst decision, however, was chasing the points by going for two when the Pats went up 12-7 in the third quarter. Sorry, but that was way too early to chase the points, even if you think you needed them because Peyton Manning can and will rip apart your depleted secondary. Still, that didn't make sense to me. I like our coach, but he screwed up a lot last night against a weakened and certainly beatable Colts team that has now been let back into the playoff picture.

There were a lot of positive things too. Cassel gets better each week I've seen, I admit I missed the Rams game since I was watching friends run in the Marine Corps Marathon. He was solid throughout, I won't blame him for the pick, it was 4th and 16 due to a bad penalty by David Thomas. He tried to make a near miracle play, it just didn't work. The run defense was excellent. I found myself wanting to jump out of my chair every time the Colts set up for a run. Yeah! They can't do much! Benjarvus Green-Ellis and Kevin Faulk did a good job running the ball. And if they're going to lose, at least it was a fast moving game, ~ 2 hr 40 min, so I could go to bed at a normal hour.

Going forward, two huge games vs the Bills and Jets. Win both, the Pats are probably AFC East Champs again. Cassel's turning into a pretty good QB, but Moss needs to get the ball more often. Trent Edwards and Broadway Brett Favre won't be able to take advantage of the Pats' secondary like Manning did either. I'm optimistic now that the frustration of last night has worn off.