Two Bills Drive

‘To be sure, Faulk was not spectacular, but with the Bills rolling up 35 offensive plays to the Pats’ measly eight (two four-and-out series) as the gap reached 21-0 some 4:46 into the second quarter, concentration was hardly on him.’

‘But the problem began with Belichick. It’s a coach’s responsibility to put his players in a position to win games. His decision to waive Lawyer Milloy five days earlier deprived the team of its defensive captain and quarterback at the worst possible time and created an all too predictable predicament.’

‘“He gave us the reasons `why’ behind some of the things they do to us. We didn’t change our game plan or anything, but he definitely gave us some insight.”’

‘How bad was it? At one point, a defensive tackle named Sam Adams returned an interception 37 yards for a touchdown. That a man who bears the name of a Boston patriot helped bring down the Patriots is bad enough; that he’s 6-foot-4 and 335 pounds, and plays defense, simply epitomized what type of day it was for New England. The result marked the first time the Patriots were shut out since 1993 and is the worst season-opening loss in franchise history, dating back to 1960.’

‘If that can happen to Milloy, what does that mean for me? That thought might start to explain why the Patriots didn’t show up for their head coach yesterday, why they committed an uncharacteristic 12 penalties, why they often looked confused, why they seemed to lose their composure at times.’

‘The 31-0 loss featured defensive disarray, offensive predictability, bad quarterbacking, zero pass rush, an inability to stop the run or run themselves, not to mention stupid penalties.’

‘”It felt good,” Milloy said when asked how it felt when he came out of the Bills’ tunnel, the last player introduced. “I was in an atmosphere where they make the player feel like he is needed, and not the other way around. That was what I left behind.”‘

‘”Don’t think that just because I ran a good ways [on the touchdown] that I had to come out,” Adams said. “I didn’t take any oxygen, either.”‘

‘”It was important for us to come out, have a good first drive, convert the two big third downs and put points on the board. It was very important for us to set the tone offensively. Then, for our defense to come out and play like they did was tremendous.”‘

‘”I told him when he got here,” Bledsoe said, “that, if I could have picked any player around the league to put on our defense, there wouldn’t have been many guys ahead of him.”‘

‘The people who think Milloy made the difference yesterday are the same people who think Belichick gets into Bledsoe’s head. They should think again.’

‘Brady’s quarterback rating against the Bills was 20.4, thanks to his 14-for-29, 123-yard, no-touchdown (obviously) and four-interception humiliation in the Patriots’ 31-0 humbling.’

‘By the time the Patriots got their first first down, they trailed 21-0. Need we say more?’

‘Milloy threw up a hand in front of Patten’s face (he could have been called for face-guarding, but wasn’t).’

‘”I don’t have too much to say,” Belichick said. “They outplayed us in every phase of the game. They beat us every way they could. We just didn’t play well, coach well or do anything well. They deserved to beat us. And they deserved to beat us by the score they did.”‘