Patriots Look Like Champions Again

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. —  So much for the great debate.

The New England Patriots should have kept Drew Bledsoe over Tom Brady? Yeah, right. They were fools for trading Bledsoe to division rival Buffalo? Whatever. They’re Super Bowl poseurs circling the drain? Save your breath.

“We don’t really care what the rest of the country thinks of us,” Patriot receiver Troy Brown said after a 38-7 trouncing of the Bills Sunday. “If anyone wants to jump off the ship, jump off.”

To this point, the Patriots had been walking the plank. They followed a 3-0 start by losing four in a row, and a loss Sunday could have destroyed them. Maybe that’s why the overriding feeling in the locker room was not gloating but relief. Finally, they can exhale, especially because only two of their final eight opponents have winning records.

For the Patriots (4-4) it was a two-game swing. Had they lost to Buffalo (5-4), they would have been in third place in the AFC East by at least two games -- first-place Miami (5-2) plays at Green Bay tonight.

“You have two options,” Brady said. “You can stay there and let the team stomp on you, or you can try and fight your way out of it. Today, we fought our way out of it.”

Actually, they thought their way out of it. Pure and simple, they outsmarted the Bills with a novel defensive strategy, and, on offense, with more screens than a five-level Cineplex.

Time after time, Bledsoe took the snap and immediately zinged a pass behind the line of scrimmage to a receiver or running back, then let that player make a move and tear upfield. High-percentage passes, and lots of them. The Patriots built a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter on a 10-for-10 passing performance by Brady, and nine of those completions were either screens or dump-offs.

Three of Brady’s four touchdown passes came on screens to running backs -- two to Antowain Smith, one to Kevin Faulk. The other touchdown, which came on the opening drive, was a five-yard play to tight end Christian Fauria

“They didn’t really feature their receivers in the first half at all,” Buffalo safety Pierson Prioleau said. “Nobody says they have to throw to the receivers. You throw the ball where you can, to the open man.”

Bledsoe spent all afternoon trying to find the open man, but he only had a moment before he was surrounded by Patriot defenders. He was sacked four times and hurried many more. And the Patriots showed him no mercy, even though he spent his first eight seasons as the heart and soul of their offense.

“If it was my brother at quarterback I would have tried to knock him out,” linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. “That’s the way I looked at it.”

When he had time, Bledsoe was hitting his targets. He completed his first seven passes, and it was midway through the second quarter when his first errant throw hit the turf. But the Bills were unable to establish an offensive rhythm, and kicker Mike Hollis sprayed his field-goal attempts everywhere -- short on a 50-yarder, wide right on a 25-yarder, wide left on a 45-yarder.

Hollis was so unreliable, the Bills chose to punt from the New England 32 on the opening drive of the second half rather than have him try a kick from 49 yards. That was the beginning of the end for Buffalo, which was facing a 17-7 deficit, and never again reached the end zone.

The Patriots found a creative way to put extra pressure on Bledsoe. They often waited until a nanosecond before the ball was snapped to fall into formation. At times, they had as few as one lineman with his hand on the ground and as many as six linebackers. Often, it appeared chaotic, with players milling about with their backs to the line of scrimmage.

“It was a calculated situation,” said Romeo Crennel, New England’s defensive coordinator.

“There was some risk, but we felt the reward was worth it.”

New England Coach Bill Belichick has a hand in the defense too, and he has a 6-4 record when scheming against teams quarterbacked by Bledsoe. It’s no secret that Belichick and Bledsoe don’t have a warm relationship. Bledsoe feels Belichick ushered him out. Belichick speaks respectfully of Bledsoe but felt he had no choice but to let him go.

After the game, Bledsoe called out to Belichick, jogged over and shook his hand. There wasn’t a drip of bad blood to be found.

“You shake hands and live to fight another day,” Bledsoe said. “We -- all of us on both sides of the ball -- go out there and do everything we can to win. After the game, if it doesn’t work out your way, you shake hands and congratulate the other guy. That’s what you do.”

Belichick, who referred to Bledsoe as “a class act,” said the so-called feud is as much a media creation as anything.

“I know everyone wants to hype the game,” he said. “But the important part for us is we beat Buffalo in Buffalo.”

End of debate.