Bedard: Total unit effort gets Patriots offense back on track in big win over Bills

FOXBOROUGH — It would be easy to shine a light on Tom Brady after the Patriots' 24-17 victory over the Bills on Saturday night that clinched the team's 11th straight AFC East title.

One week after having perhaps his worst game of the season, Brady completed a season-high 78.8 percent of his passes and posted his highest passer rating (111.0) since Week 5.

You could talk about the running game with Sony Michel and Rex Burkhead — often with Elandon Roberts leading the way — rushing for 143 yards.

The offensive line certainly deserved a shoutout for their run blocking and for how they kept Brady from being sacked. Plus, he was only hit a handful of times.



Julian Edelman continues to be a walking billboard of mental and physical toughness, and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels seemed to find new ways to mix and match and squeeze every living yard out of an offense that wound up totaling over 400 yards (414) for the first time in a win since the Giants game — before Halloween.

Really, you could take your pick of anyone on offense and give them a game ball.

And that's kind of the point.

The Patriots, as we all know, are individually deficient when it comes to game-breakers. There's no one on this team that is going to take a handoff or run by a defensive back and post a 60-yard touchdown unless there's some sort of monumental breakdown on the part of the defense.

It's a hard way to live, having to be that perfect. It's a tough way to win a Super Bowl. But Saturday night, against a tough opponent and defense, the Patriots reminded us again that if they collectively play at that level for 60 minutes, they indeed do have enough and that seventh ring is certainly possible.

"In a good offense, everyone has to be able to produce," said Brady. "And if you can get both tight ends involved, and all the receivers involved and all the backs involved, it’s hard to defend. So, we just did a good job of that today. You’ve got to make them defend everybody, and a lot of guys came up big. It was a big game for us. We needed it, and happy to come from behind in the fourth and win."

This is how it's going to have to be for this group.

The 11-play, 81-yard drive in the second quarter showed it all off.

On 3rd and 4, Edelman beat man coverage — did Buffalo not watch film and know to double him? — for 17 yards. Sanu followed with a diving 10-yard catch off the turf. The Patriots lined up in the pistol initially on 3rd and 2 before James White pushed the pile for 4 yards.

Burkhead took a handoff, flipped it to N'Keal Harry on a reverse for 18 yards — with Brady throwing a key block. Harry later broke a tackle on 2nd and 14 for 12 yards. On 4th and 1, the Patriots used a key block from Roberts and a generous spot to convert.



And with the Patriots teetering on the edge of deep field-goal range (Nick Folk looked like a keeper again) Brady and Edelman made taking a 10-3 lead much easier when they connected on a 12-yard pass down to the Buffalo 18.

17 plays, 81 yards (4.8 yards per play)

Other drives:

11 plays, 70 yards (6.4)
7 plays, 54 yards (7.7)
11 plays, 77 yards (7.0)
7 plays, 58 yards (8.3)

That's five long, sustained drives for the Patriots. For this group, that was a half season's worth in one game. None of it terribly exciting. All of it hard and grinding in nature.

Welcome to your 2019 Patriots offense.

"I think it’s obvious watching them on film and even on TV, and I’m sure you guys know that the greatest quarterback of all time, just being out there and seeing all the looks that defenses give him," said Bills safety Micah Hyde. "The adjustments that they are able to make, they make a lot of things look the same. A run looks the same as a pass and they get a big gain off of it. That’s why they are so successful. And a guy like 11 [Julian Edelman] out there, he’s hard to cover. He finds the open areas, and 12 [Tom Brady] is able to find him.”

This is what it will have to look like for a successful season for this group:

130-plus rushing yards, no matter how you can get them
Efficient game from Brady
70-plus yards from Edelman (would have had more if he didn't miss a quarter in concussion protocol)
70-plus receiving yards from someone else, tonight it was Burkhead with McDaniels using the pony package to tip coverage
120 receiving yards from the rest — nine Patriots caught passes, including seven with at least two
Limit the negative plays and penalties



"I think it’s a real credit to the offensive staff, the game plan that Josh and the coaches put together, and just the players’ execution," Bill Belichick said. "Whether it was making plays on first down, second down and some third-down conversions in there – a lot of our third-down conversions were shorter yardage, which is more success on first and second down, which that’s a good thing. So, that makes the third-down situation better, certainly for Tom. He’s got more options than when it’s third-and-3 than when it’s third-and-13. All that went into it."

No, it's not going to be easy. And it's hard to win games against more explosive offenses and quarterbacks that way. But the Patriots have their defense and special teams, and they have the right man spinning the dial to keep the defense off-balance and a triggerman not done yet, and that gives them a fighting chance.

"Josh does an outstanding job and always has," Belichick said. "He’s a very smart guy, understands defenses, he understands the things that create problems for the defense, and at the same time, he understands what we can do and what’s out of our realm and what’s in our realm. I think he makes great decisions on that, certainly, with Tom having the ability to orchestrate a lot of things on the field – you know, that’s a big plus, too."

And now the Patriots have a living, breathing offense, which makes anything possible.