Two Bills Drive

”’They outexecuted us today,” Williams said. ”Our players fought hard to get in this position, and we will fight hard to get in this position again.”’

‘Smith did more than a ”pretty good job” of establishing the run, collecting 111 yards on 29 carries. And whether he wanted to or not, he earned a large portion of the spotlight, with three touchdowns (one rushing) in the Patriots’ 38-7 win in Brady-Bledsoe Bowl I. Smith put New England ahead, 14-0, early in the second quarter, catching a 13-yard screen pass from Brady. Late in the third, Smith scored on a 2-yard run. He caught another screen pass in the fourth and rumbled in from 14 yards out to cap the scoring.’

‘Patriots owner Robert Kraft spent some time with Bledsoe before the game. When Belichick accepted a postgame handshake from Bledsoe, it was the first time the two had interacted since last season.’

‘The Patriots blitzed Bledsoe often, sacking him four times, took away his ability to throw long to his speedy receivers, and used a ”stand up” defensive line to keep Bledsoe guessing. Sometimes the Patriots had a single defensive lineman – Willie McGinest – in the game with linebackers and defensive backs.’

‘On the weather: ”The flags are straight down. Normally, a calm day in Buffalo at this time of the year is 15-m.p.h. winds. Especially when it was snowing sideways here on Friday.”’

‘Yesterday, the Pats had Bledsoe and the Bills for lunch.’

‘“They didn’t expect me to catch (any) screen passes, that’s why (Brady) threw me the ball,” said Smith.’

‘The Patriots cornerback again won his individual duel with Buffalo’s premier wide receiver yesterday. Covering Moulds most of the game, Law limited the Bills deep threat to five catches for 68 yards in New England’s 38-7 rout. Law also stepped in front of Moulds to intercept a Drew Bledsoe pass late in the fourth quarter, the game’s only turnover.’

‘The key to the Patriots’ success was long sustained drives, not big plays. By rushing for 111 yards on 29 carries, tailback Antowain Smith allowed Brady the luxury of using play-action fakes. That gave Brady extra time to set up, while forcing the Bills’ linebackers and secondary to stay at home.’

‘“I wasn’t exactly sure where we were coming from at times, but whatever we did worked,” said Johnson, stressing the defense’s need to come up with big plays on third down. “We got some pressure on Drew, and that’s what we need to do. We needed to get off to a fast start, and that’s what we did.”’

‘“That was basically our train of thought going in there, have the tight ends and backs make some big plays,” said the fourth-year Patriot from LSU.’

‘What it comes down to is this: Bill Belichick was right . . . and pretty much everyone else was wrong.’

‘“When you’re able to run the ball and have control of the game, you can really do what you want,” Brady said. “When you make your reads and don’t throw the ball to the other team, good things happen.”’

‘Despite a weeklong buildup that dominated two cities and brought the national media flocking from every corner of the country, the Bledsoe Bowl was, in dramatic terms, a flop.’

‘The boisterous Buffalo crowd is known as the Bills’ 12th man. But the Patriots offensive line removed the fans from the formula by being effective on first down. By giving quarterback Tom Brady a surplus of second-and-5 situations to work with, it allowed the Patriots to mount long sustained scoring drives. The Patriots’ efficiency on first down eliminated the Bills’ home-field advantage.’