By Bruce Allen, Patriots Daily Staff

Been a bit negligent in updating things in the AFC East, but after yesterday, it’s worth taking a look at where things stand in the division. With three teams sitting at 5-3, it’s time to study up on the Tie-Breaking Procedures.

New England Patriots (5-3, 2-1 in AFC East)

The Patriots lost their second straight game yesterday, and the only positive we can take from it was that it came against an NFC opponent, which hurts a little less in the tie-breaker scenarios. The Patriots are technically still in first place in the AFC East. The Patriots, Jets and Bills have played each other once, and it all balances out. The Patriots lost to the Bills, but beat the Jets. The Jets beat the Bills but lost the Patriots. The Bills beat the Patriots but lost to the Jets. The Patriots and Jets are both 2-1 in the division, having each also beaten Miami. The Bills are just 1-1, having not yet played Miami. Since the second tie-breaker is by winning percentage within the division, the Jets and Patriots edge out the Bills. The third tie-breaker is common games, and the Patriots and Jets are each 4-1 in games played against common opponents (Dallas, San Diego, Miami, Oakland and Buffalo), so we move to the fourth tie-breaker, which is winning percentage in the conference. The Patriots are 4-2, while the Jets are 4-3. So the Patriots are in first place in the AFC East.

Next game: At Jets, Sunday night on NBC. The winner of this game will be in first place in the AFC East.

New York Jets (5-3, 2-1)

After floundering out of the gate at 2-3, the Jets have now won three straight games, including yesterday’s impressive 27-11 win in Buffalo. The Jets defense easily handled the Bills high-flying offense, and moved past the Bills in the standings. The Jets are starting to regain their swagger – not that a Rex Ryan-led team would ever love swagger – and have to be supremely confident of their chances this weekend against a Patriots team that is clearly trending down at this point.

Next game: Home against New England. Jets are playing for first place, and have to love their position.

Buffalo Bills (5-3. 1-1)

After becoming one of the early success stories of the 2011 season, the Bills hit a roadblock yesterday facing the Jets. The Bills were over-matched, both physically and skill-wise on the field yesterday. Ryan Fitzpatrick had trouble finding his receivers yesterday, and only managed 191 passing yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.

Next game: At Dallas. This will be another stiff test for the Bills, with the Cowboys able to generate pressure on Fitzpatrick. The NFC opponent also makes it impossible for the Bills to retake the divisional lead, even with a win.

Miami Dolphins (1-7, 0-2)

The Dolphins finally got a win yesterday, but did they knock themselves out of the Andrew Luck sweepstakes? It was an impressive win on the road over Kansas City for the Dolphins yesterday, as Reggie Bush had a second straight strong game (did I cut him too early from my fantasy team?).

Next game: Home against the Redskins. Could it be two in a row for Miami?

By Jeremy Gottlieb, Patriots Daily Staff

If anyone had the San Francisco 49ers at 5-1 through their first six games and firmly in control of the NFC West, I’d like to ask if you’ll join me at the Mega Millions counter or at least for a couple games of Keno.

The Niners have won four straight, are a miraculous Tony Romo overtime pass from being 6-0 and are doing it on both sides of the ball. They allow just 16 points per game, second in the league, and are letting opponents run for just under 75 yards per contest, also good for a No. 2 ranking. Offensively, even though they’re 28th in total yards per game (302.5), they’re seventh in scoring with just under 28 points a week and are running the ball at a more than solid 131.5 yard clip every Sunday.

Quarterback Alex Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in 2005, has lost and regained his starting job numerous times over the course of his time in the Bay Area but finally seems locked in. He’s completing a career-high 63 percent of his passes and has eight TD passes against just two picks and has looked sharp and confident in doing so. And the Niners still have star running back Frank Gore, who has been an absolute beast of late. Gore has 393 yards on just 50 carries in his last three games, good for just under eight yards per attempt. Obviously, having Gore healthy and running like this makes things infinitely easier for Smith.

Balance on both sides of the ball is nice, of course, but if you want to find the biggest reason for the Niners remarkable turnaround (zero winning seasons since 2002, the year of their last playoff appearance), look to the sideline and first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh. A former QB and head coach up the road at Stanford, Harbaugh has instilled a culture in San Francisco that has every one of his players right on down the line looking like they’d run through five walls for him. The Niners upper management, which has been as clueless as it gets since firing the very successful Steve Mariucci after that last playoff season, finally got it right with Harbaugh. Gone is glorified motivational speaker Mike Singletary, who never should have gotten the top job in the first place, and in his place is an actual coach. Harbaugh comes from a line of coaches in his family (his brother John is in Baltimore and has been to the playoffs each of the last three seasons) and clearly has a handle on how to get his players in the best possible position to be successful. It’s been a long time since anyone could say that about a Niners coach and keep a straight face. And, if you saw the postgame meeting between Harbaugh and Detroit coach Jim Schwartz, Harbaugh isn’t afraid to shake his opposite number’s hand a little bit hard.

The Niners are on a bye this week and upon perusing their schedule going forward, they don’t have another really tough looking game until Thanksgiving night when the Harbaugh brothers will meet up in Baltimore. The Niners could be 9-1 headed into that game, hearkening back to the most glorious of glory days in San Francisco. Who knew?

This Week’s Five Best Teams

1. Green Bay: The Packers toyed with the hapless Rams last week at Lambeau, putting up three second quarter TDs on the board to run away before halftime. It’s still relatively early but right now, there’s not too many other people in the MVP conversation besides Aaron Rodgers.

2. New England: Seeing the Pats finally win a game ugly against the Cowboys, with defense and late-game, clutch offense, brought to mind the glory days of 2003-2004. Hallelujah.

3. Baltimore: The Ravens are looking fairly vintage these days as well. In their 29-14 win over the typically fading Houston Texans, they held their guests scoreless for the final quarter and a half, kept star running back Arian Foster under 50 yards rushing and managed to get out allowing fewer than 300 total yards.

4. New Orleans: The Saints did lose last week, dropping a hotly contested affair with the resurgent Bucs, 26-20. But that was after losing head coach Sean Payton to a gruesome knee and leg injury early in the game. But Drew Brees still threw for 350+ yards and young tight end Jimmy Graham had another huge afternoon (seven catches, 124 yards), making New Orleans still look good enough to withstand a bad week on the road and still be right there in the end.

5. San Francisco: See above. Truly one of the best stories of the year thus far.

This Week’s Five Worst Teams

1. Miami: It’s really a toss-up who’s the worst of the three remaining winless teams. But I’ll cast my lot with the Dolphins, who had the ball inside the Jets 10 the first four times they were on offense Monday night, scored six points, gave up a 100-yard INT return for a TD and rolled over for the rest of the night. When they lose at home to the almost as bad Broncos and Tim Tebow this week, that should finally, mercifully be it for coach Tony Sparano.

2. Indianapolis: Now that they’re 0-6 (soon to be 0-7 with New Orleans on this week’s docket), do the Colts really think about getting the No. 1 overall pick and taking Stanford star QB Andrew Luck? And if so, where do they trade Peyton Manning?

3. St. Louis: At least people expected the Dolphins and Colts to suck. The Rams were supposed to win the NFC West. Now, they’ll be lucky to win three games. They get the Cowboys this week and everyone knows, all you need to do against Dallas is show up and there’s as good a chance as any it’ll beat itself. Don’t be afraid to take St. Louis this week.

4. Jacksonville: The Jags played the Steelers really tough, falling 17-13 on the road. And rookie QB Blaine Gabbert looked semi-competent for the first time this year. But they’re still 1-5, the have to play at Baltimore on Monday Night Football this week and Jack Del Rio is still the coach. What a lousy combo.

5. Minnesota: Finally, after six whole games and a humiliating loss to the Bears on Sunday night, the Vikings publicly admitted what pretty much everyone else has known for three years now and that’s that Donovan McNabb is completely washed up and can’t play anymore. Now, they turn to rookie Christian Ponder, who can’t be much worse that McNabb. I wonder if Adrian Peterson wishes he’d waited one more year to sign that huge contract extension?

What’s Trendy

- Michael Turner, Falcons: The Falcons have been waiting for Turner, their workhorse, to get rolling all year and in a 31-17 win over the Panthers, he finally did, piling up 139 yards on 27 carries (5.1 YPA) and two TDs. If Atlanta can get Turner going, maybe struggling QB Matt Ryan and the rest of the offense can get untracked too.

- LeSean McCoy, Eagles: Seemingly the only consistent positive throughout Philly’s nightmare start, McCoy led the way in the Eagles 20-13 win over Washington, its first since Week 1, gaining 126 yards on 28 carries. Look at his stats through his career and you’ll find when knucklehead coach Andy Reid remembers to give him the ball more than 20 times a game, the Eagles usually win. Which is one reason why when he carried it 20 times combined in Philly’s previous two games, they lost both times.

- Fred Jackson, Bills: A running back heavy dose of what’s trendy concludes with the outstanding Jackson, who rolled to 121 yards on just 16 carries, including an 80-yard TD run, against the Giants. Jackson, who’s been platooned in Buffalo for the past several years, finally got the job to himself this year and responded by being second in the NFL in rushing (601 yards), just nine yards behind league leader Darren McFadden.

What’s Not

- Rex Grossman, Redskins: I feel like I may have written in this very space just a few weeks ago that the Redskins are for real and Grossman is an important reason why. Then he completed just nine of 22 passes for 143 yards and four picks against the Eagles and was benched. Grossman has 11 turnovers in five games and I take back everything I said about his that was even slightly good.

- The Browns: Cleveland is 2-3 but after jettisoning Eric Mangini and bringing in Mike Holmgren protegé Pat Shurmer to fix the offense, the Browns probably expected to be better than 28th overall on that side of the ball. A home loss to Seattle this week and it may be time for Browns fans to throw in the towel on yet another year.

- Jason Garrett, Cowboys: Garrett can’t win. When he does well, his domineering boss Jerry Jones takes all the credit. When he looks bad, Jones can hardly wait to tell anyone who will listen just how bad that is (see about five minutes after last week’s brutal loss to the Pats). But the main point is that as long as Jones is in charge, telling the media about all his team’s injuries, strategies, game plans, attendance figures, concession sales and whatever else pops into his head, Garrett instantly has no authority. Jones is the coach of that team and the players all know it. Why do you think the Cowboys are routinely one of the least disciplined, most penalized teams in the league every year? Because why should they listen to anyone who has the title of head coach? They know it’s not real. If Jones isn’t going to sell the Cowboys anytime soon (note: he’s not), he may as well just officially name himself head coach.

And finally…

The Detroit Lions lost a game last week, the first time that’s happened all season. They’re still 5-1 and even though they’re in the same division as the seemingly unstoppable Packers, their prospects for the rest of the season look pretty good, like maybe 11-5 or better kind of good. The key for them is to not get too wrapped up in the fact that they’re not only good for the first time in years, they’re relevant for the first time in years. In 2007, Detroit was 6-2 and seemed to have gotten over the threshold of sucking that had enveloped the franchise since the late ’90s, the last time it made the postseason. Bearing that in mind, the Lions then lost seven out of their next eight games, finished the season 7-9 and out of the playoffs again and followed it up by becoming the first team in history to go 0-for-the season in ’08, ending up 0-16. The point is, the Lions haven’t done anything yet except win five games. If they want to win many more and truly break their cycle of suck, they’d better remember just that.

By Jeremy Gottlieb, Patriots Daily Staff

They’re 2-1 and in a familiar position right atop the AFC North standings. But something feels a little bit off with the Pittsburgh Steelers thus far. They followed up their embarrassing, Week 1 blowout at Baltimore admirably with a 24-0, home opening win over Seattle. But in needing to hang on just to upend the Peyton Manning-less Colts last Sunday night, there seemed a sense that some issues may still need to be addressed.

For starters, the Steelers have some serious problems up front. Three of their offensive linemen had to leave the game at Indy and as of right now, guard Doug Legursky and left tackle Jonathan Scott have not practiced yet this week. Tackle Marcus Gilbert has practiced but was the third of the trio of O-line guys to go down against the Colts and guard Chris Kemoeatu, one of the mainstays of a front that has gone to three of the last six Super Bowls, missed the Seattle game and is playing on a tender knee. And none of this has anything to do with veteran tackle Willie Colon, who tore his triceps in Week 1 and is out for the year.

The guy they protect, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, had three turnovers against the Colts and in three games has thrown four picks, lost four fumbles and been sacked nine times. And on defense, there are whispers that seem to keep getting louder (except by NFL Network dummy Warren Sapp, who’s been screaming it all along) that as a group, age is setting in and slowing them down. For a team that has relied so much on such a fearsome D, if this is true, it’s not good.

The Steelers are in a strange position. They lost the Super Bowl last year which makes them eligible to join the list of so many runners-up that have failed to reach the playoffs tin the following season. But they make the postseason seemingly every year and are routinely among the league’s top teams, making them seem a long shot to suffer that post-Super Bowl hangover (strangely, the last time Pittsburgh missed the playoffs came the year after they won Super Bowl XL). After traveling to Houston to take on the upstart Texans this week, they have three very winnable games in a row on their schedule (vs. Tennessee, vs. Jacksonville, at Arizona) before hosting the Patriots, who have had their number of late for the most part, in a Week 8, Halloween weekend showdown. They should be at least 5-2 by then, perhaps even better. These next four weeks leading up to that game against New England should tell us a great deal about what kind of season the Steelers will ultimately have.

This Week’s Five Best Teams

1. Green Bay: The Pack returned to the scene of their NFC championship from last year and took advantage of yet another sloppy, stubborn performance by the Bears (just 12 rushes after only 11 in Week 2) to move to 3-0. Tight end Jermichael Finley, predicted by ESPN moron Tom Jackson to struggle mightily with the Chicago D, caught three TD passes and may well be the most dangerous of Green Bay’s many weapons.

2. New Orleans: The Saints, a questionable call at the tail end of Week 1 from being 3-0, came back from a nine-point, fourth quarter deficit to beat Houston 40-33. Most impressive was the play of the offense, particularly Drew Brees, in that final quarter. Brees was 13-of-19 for 163 yards and two TDs in the fourth, part a 23-point barrage.

3. Detroit: The earth may well spin off its axis. The Lions are indeed 3-0 and this past week, they came back from a 20-0 halftime deficit in a place the haven’t won in 14 years (the Metrodome) to do it. Quarterback Matthew Stafford, who actually hasn’t gotten hurt yet, was 32-of-46 for 378 yards and two TDs and is looking like he finally may live up to being taken No. 1 overall in the 2009 draft.

4. Buffalo: If you don’t believe the earth is spinning off its axis because Detroit is 3-0, let me present to you the Buffalo Bills. For the second straight week, they came back from a big deficit (21-3 in Week 2, 21-0 in Week 3) to win, shredding the Patriots hideous defense for nearly 500 total yards and 34 points in just over two full quarters. It was their first win over the Pats in eight years and with the Bengals and injury depleted Eagles on deck the next two weeks, 5-0 isn’t out of the question.

5. (tie) New England/Baltimore: The Pats back into this spot mostly because even though they have the worst defense in the NFL and Tom Brady threw four picks against the Bills, they still very nearly escaped with the win. As for the Ravens, they seem to go as QB Joe Flacco does and Flacco was immense (27-of-48, 389 yards, three TDs) in a blowout win at the Rams.

This Week’s Five Worst Teams

1. Kansas City: It took the Chiefs a full half to even make a first down against San Diego but then, they showed some life for the first time all season, pulling to within three points and having the ball late before a Matt Cassel INT doomed them. There still isn’t a worst team in the NFL than this one but give them credit for losing three of their best players for the season over the first two weeks yet still managing to be competitive.

2. Miami: After falling to 0-3 with a fall-from-ahead loss to the Browns, Dolphins defensive lineman Kendall Langford said, “We should have blown their asses out. They were not a good team.” Hey Kendall, they beat you and are 2-1. You’re 0-3. Yours is the one that’s not a good team.

3. St. Louis: Picked by many to win the gross NFC West, the Rams are now 0-3 and have been outscored 96-36 combined after getting blasted at home by the Ravens, 37-7. There have been a lot of injuries but that doesn’t excuse the defense (supposedly this team’s strength) allowing some guy named Torrey Smith to catch three TD passes totaling 133 yards in the first quarter. Also, look at the Rams schedule – they are staring down 0-7 before their first division game in Week 9 at Arizona.

4. Minnesota: 17-7, 17-0 and 20-0. All halftime leads for the Vikes through the season’s first three weeks. And all eventual losses. This past week, overmatched coach Leslie Frazier looked at his weekly big, halftime advantage and decided to then give Adrian Peterson, only the best running back in the NFL, five carries in the entire second half. Not even Frazier’s predecessor Brad Childress, pariah extraordinaire, was that misguided.

5. Indianapolis: The Colts showed some heart for the first time this season, coming back twice on the Steelers before falling late, 23-20. It’s only been three weeks, but it’s officially time to start the clock on Manning being put on injured reserve. What would possibly be the point of bringing him back in November if the team is 1-9 or something. Sorry, Colts fans – it’s Curtis Painter or bust.

What’s Trendy

- The Raiders: Oakland, which could well be 3-0 if not for a ”whoever has the ball last wins,” game at Buffalo in Week 2, started slow then roared back to smoke the Jets, 34-24. In doing so, the Raiders did something no one does against Rex Ryan coached defenses and that’s run the ball down their throat. Led by Darren McFadden’s 171 yards and two TDs, the Raiders piled it on, with 234 yards on the ground, 7.2 per rush. Could this team actually be a postseason threat? Will Al Davis disintegrate into a pile of dust before figuring out how to screw it all up? Stay tuned…

- The Bucs Defense: Josh Freeman has just two TD passes against four picks through his first three games but the Bucs are still 2-1 thanks in large part to their D. Tampa held Atlanta to 30 yards rushing, forced three turnovers and had four sacks in a tough, 16-13 division win.

- Victor Cruz, Giants: Cruz exploded in the 2010 preseason then was buried for the bulk of the regular year. But this season, thanks to injuries to the G-men’s top two targets Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham, he’s stepped it up, catching 3 balls for 110 yards and two TDs, one of which was a sick, 74-yarder that may well wind up one of the plays of they year in a 29-16 win over the host Eagles.

What’s Not

- The Falcons: In that same game against the Bucs, Atlanta’s D got to a fourth-and-1 with 1:46 left down by three points. Then, someone jumped offsides, Tampa got an automatic first down, the game was over and the Falcons were 1-2, one decent fourth quarter against the Eagles in Week 2 from being 0-3. Since getting blown out of their own dome by the Packers in the playoffs last year, the Falcons have looked lost; their QB is the most sacked in the league, their star back managed just 20 yards on 11 carries against the Bucs and their defense still can’t come up with the big play when it needs to. Early candidate for most disappointing team here.

- The Eagles: Never mind that the Eagles are still coached by Andy Reid, who screwed them for the 753rd time by not having the slightest idea how to manage the clock properly against the Giants last week. Or that Michael Vick can’t seem to play a game without getting hurt and then bitches about being unfairly treated by the officials afterward. Or that the backup QB is someone named Mike Kafka and has supplanted eternal bum Vince Young on the depth chart. Or that the defense is in disarray, having to shuffle linebackers on a weekly basis. Or that they gave up 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter against Philly. Actually yeah, mind those things. Right now the “dream team” looks more like a nightmare.

- The Chargers: Do you think Chargers fans know that regardless of how much talent their team stockpiles on both sides of the ball, they will never, ever win anything as long as Norv Turner continues to be their head coach? No one plays down to their competition quite like San Diego, which barely hung on to beat the outrageously awful Chiefs last week, and at home no less. This week’s edition of  ”Why Norv Sucks,” takes us to the later stages of the fourth quarter of that very game. The Chargers had seen a 17-0 halftime edge whittled down to 20-17 and faced a fourth-and-1 from the KC 34-yard line with 1:26 left. Instead of a pooch punt that would have forced the Chiefs to either drive the length of the field to tie or win (or at least start at their own 20, 14 crucial extra yards of field position), good ol’ Norv went for it. Naturally, the Chargers didn’t make the first down and had to sweat out the final moments. Norv’ll tell you he was aggressively trying to end the game right there. Anyone else will tell you he’s out of his mind and is conceivably the most overmatched coach in the NFL.

And finally…

It may only have been three weeks but were we a little too quick to coronate the Houston Texans? Last week, facing their first real test of the season, particularly for their new-look defense, they led 26-17 headed into the fourth quarter at New Orleans and proceeded to get outscored 23-7 over the final 15 minutes en route to a heartbreaking loss. With the money on the table, the defense, so solid through the season’s first two weeks, crumbled under the weight of the great Saints offense. And the offense, stacked with studs right down the line, settled for field goals on four out of five trips inside the New Orleans 20, not a good scenario when facing an attack as high-powered as the Saints (or a defense as suspect for that matter).

Houston has plenty of time to get well and a win this week at home against the Steelers will go a long way toward getting back some of the good will engendered by the 2-0 start. With the Colts where they are and the Jaguars looking weak and without a quarterback, the division is ripe for the Texans to finally get over the hump, exorcise a few demons and make their first ever playoff appearance. Hopefully for their sake, they have short memories. Given their dark, albeit short, history, a loss like last week’s could linger.

By Jeremy Gottlieb, Patriots Daily Staff

In the midst of a 2-0 start to the Patriots season, one persistent question remained prevalent. What happens when Tom Brady doesn’t play like some strange mutation of Joe Montana, Sammy Baugh and Johnny Unitas? We got our answer on Sunday, when the Pats fell to the Buffalo Bills, 34-31, in Orchard Park, NY. Brady, who played the first quarter and a half pretty much exactly how he played his first two games, which is to say, otherworldly, stalled out with a 21-0 lead and wound up throwing four interceptions, his most in a game since a November, 2006, matchup with the Colts, as well as the same amount as he threw in the entirety of last year. It was a head-scratching performance by the best QB in the NFL, but regardless, Brady’s mishaps gave the Pats defense an opportunity to step up and take the reins of winning a game. Brady has been picking up the D with regularity for the past three years; Sunday in Buffalo was the D’s chance to return the favor.

Instead, it rolled over and died like one gasping, wheezing, wounded dog.

The Pats proved in this one that they have the worst defense in the NFL and if you don’t believe it, I dare you to name three that are worse. After holding Buffalo to a quiet first quarter in which they averaged barely 4.5 yards per play and turned the ball over twice, the Pats and their cadre of scrubs remembered that they are just that, a cadre of scrubs. The Bills rolled up 445 more yards of offense, 369 through the air. They completed a whopping nine passes for 20 or more yards and ran 11 plays from scrimmage that netted at least 16 yards. They scored all 34 of their points in the last three quarters. And the Pats, who once again got zero pressure on an opposing quarterback (no sacks, two hits in 40 dropbacks – this is a recording), stood and watched when they weren’t flailing, chasing or running into each other. The revamped defense we heard so much about in training camp is just as bad, if not worse, than the old, not revamped defense of 2009 and 2010. Some of the names may be different but the results are not. Not to absolve Brady, the lack of a consistent running game, any pass catchers not named Welker (who had a record-setting day) or Gronkowski doing nothing or some coaching decisions that ran the gamut from questionable to hare-brained. All conspired in this loss. But the defense gets the lion’s share of the blame, if for no other reason than that it has been abominable for two-plus seasons now and is getting worse, not better. So with that, let’s get to this week’s report card, with apologies if it’s at all defensive. Hell, something has to be.

OFFENSE: C

Quarterbacks: C

Brady looked so unstoppable from the Pats first possession through their third TD at the 6:02 mark of the second quarter, it seemed beyond impossible to imagine what was to follow. The Pats took the opening kickoff and went 80 yards in nine plays with Brady alternating between completing perfect passes to Welker and Rob Gronkowski, the last of which was a 14-yard TD pass on which he timed his throw to Welker on an option route about as well as it could have been timed. Less than three minutes later, on the heels of a Kyle Arrington interception, Brady threaded his second TD needle on a brilliant play fake to Gronk from the 1. Yet despite the 14-point cushion, a pattern was emerging and it would come back to haunt Brady and the offense. Without Aaron Hernandez, out with a knee injury, the Pats went mostly to a three-wide attack. But it seemed like every throw was going in the direction of either Welker or Gronk. Brady did try to spread it around a little bit; Danny Woodhead and Julian Edelman had a handful of balls thrown their way, as did Deion Branch and Chad Ochocinco (more on them later). But with Welker and Gronkowski clearly being the weapons of choice for Brady in the passing game, the Bills defense picked itself up off the mat and began to key on them both. This seemed to unnerve Brady, who would go on to throw all four of his picks from the 1:56 mark of the second quarter on. The first, which was a wide throw tipped by Woodhead inside the Bills 10, led to a Buffalo field goal and sent the two teams into halftime at 21-10 as opposed to 28-7. The second, on the Pats first play from scrimmage in the second half (and on the heels of the defense actually holding the Bills to a three-and-out), was an in route throw to Ochocinco undercut by the defender (whether or not Ochocinco warrants the blame for running a soft pattern is open to interpretation). The third, Brady’s worst of the day by far, was a forced attempt at the same seam route throw to Gronk that had worked so well up to that point. The Bills sent a double team but Brady’s throw was flat and picked off by Buffalo’s George Wilson, who got underneath Gronk. A loftier, higher pass, like the one Brady hit to Gronk on the tight end’s second TD, would have negated the turnover. And the fourth was just bad luck; a low throw that doinked off a lineman’s helmet and run back for a score (oh, and it also came on the first play after the Bills had tied the game at 24, giving them their first lead). Brady wound up 30-of-45 for 387 yards and four TDs, stellar numbers to be sure. And his leading of the game-tying drive in the fourth quarter was vintage Brady. But the four picks killed the offense and as we now know, more clearly than ever, when Brady is less than perfect, the Pats are screwed.

Running Backs: C

First, credit to rookie Stevan Ridley, who saw his first extended playing time of the season and responded with 44 yards on seven carries (6.3 yards per attempt). Ridley was decisive, quick and showed a string burst at the line of scrimmage when he hit the hole. He should most definitely be in line for more snaps in the coming weeks. After that, it was a whole lot of nothing. The Law Firm of BenJarvus Green-Ellis never got going, running for 10 yards on his first five carries before finding the bench well into the second half. When he did resurface, he got two tries from his favorite place, the goal line, but was stuffed on each of them. He finished with 16 yards on nine attempts and those numbers along with the inability to get into the end zone on consecutive tries from the 1 combined with Ridley’s performance may spell fewer snap for BJGE going forward. And Danny Woodhead, also in limited time (24 of 75 offensive snaps), had a rather mundane game (six rushes for 21 yards, three catches for 20 yards), his biggest moment coming on the pass he tipped that turned into Brady’s first INT. The workload was split mostly evenly (BJGE played 28 snaps) between the two primary backs with Ridley seeing spot duty. Still, even though the Pats finished with 108 yards on 26 attempts (4.2 YPA), none of it was all that distinguished.

Wide Receivers: B

No more words may be typed before we single out Wes Welker, the best player on the Patriots not named Brady. Welker had the game of his life on Sunday, catching an astonishing 16 passes for a franchise record 217 yards and two TDs. He was a first down machine, moving the chains all day and making catch after catch after catch, well after it became clear he was the only guy to whom Brady was throwing the ball. His two TDs were each exceptional, the first one that option route on which he went inside, cut hard back to the numbers and left his man in the dust and the second, a beautiful piece of improvisation on which he found his way back to Brady after running a short curl to tie the game on fourth down late in the final quarter. It’s a real shame that the Pats let this game get away; Welker should have been the top story at every media outlet after his outstanding performance. He was that good and his incredible value to this team has rarely been higher. Sadly, he was a one-man show on Sunday. Branch played all but six snaps yet only had three passes thrown his way and caught none of them. After Branch’s first two games of the season and particularly with the Pats unable to use two tight ends at any point, this development was one of the more confusing aspects of the afternoon. And then there’s Ochocinco. Chad played twice as many snaps as he did in either of his first two games but wasn’t any better. He caught two passes for 28 yards, dropped a wide open deep ball down the far sideline that was a sure TD in the fourth quarter (one of the more horrific drops seen in these parts in a long time, by the way; Brady couldn’t have placed the ball any better if he’d walked up to Ochocinco and handed it to him) and was as responsible for one of Brady’s INT as the QB thanks to his lazy route running. We may well have another Joey Galloway on our hands with this guy and while he’s unlikely to be shown the door before the halfway point of the season like Galloway was, he may well have a hard time finding his way into Brady’s circle of trust after his first three games here.

Tight Ends: B

This section should actually be headed Tight End, as Gronk was the only one active thanks to A-Herb’s injury and the jettisoning of his brother Dan (a.k.a. Gronk 2). Gronk set a couple of career highs himself, catching seven passes for 109 yards and two scores while continuing to show remarkable athleticism, agility and quickness in doing so (his second TD, a 26-yarder on a seam route, was a phenomenal catch). Gronk played every snap of the game but one and while he did have another false start penalty, he was excellent and dependable as always. Still, getting A-Herb back will help him and the offense immensely.

Offensive Line: B

Brady had time to throw all day. He wasn’t sacked once and even though Matt Light got beat by Shawne Merriman on one occasion (the first time Merriman has gotten around anyone in four years), the protection was first-rate once again. The Pats have shown no ill effects of being without Dan Koppen and for the most part, Sebastian Vollmer, in this regard. But there were some key penalties that could not have been more poorly timed. Nate Solder played well at right tackle but had a hands to the face infraction that wiped out a 35-yard pass to Gronk. Logan Mankins was called for holding on what would have been an important first down run by BJGE late in third quarter, then got nabbed for a huge false start at the Bills 2-yard line on the Pats tying drive in the fourth quarter, a penalty that was precipitated by Dan Connolly not being aware of the play clock. The Pats would score two plays later, absolving Mankins and Connolly somewhat, but those penalties could have been deadly. And the lack of push from this group on both of those no-gains by BJGE from the Bills 1 wasn’t pretty. The O-line has had far worse days. But it’s had far better ones too.

DEFENSE: F

Defensive Line: F

Ryan Fitzpatrick Has Time For a Cup of Tea Before He Passes The Ball

If memory serves, the cornerstone of the Pats revamping their defense revolved around importing Albert Haynesworth, Shaun Ellis, Andre Carter and Mark Anderson, all defensive linemen, to improve a woeful pass rush in an attempt to take some pressure off a young, inexperienced secondary. The Pats have always been a 3-4 alignment defense in the Bill Belichick era but with all these new, big name pass rushers joining Vince Wilfork up front, the scheme changed, with the team now operating out of a 4-3 base. And guess what? It hasn’t made one iota of a difference. Haynesworth has barely played and made little to no impact when he has. Ellis has been so invisible, I forgot he was even active until I saw him standing over a pileup in the fourth quarter on Sunday. Carter has made a couple of plays but his biggest moment thus far was a phantom roughing the passer penalty against San Diego last week. Only Anderson, in very spotted duty, has done anything remotely impactful, none of which came on Sunday, when he played but two snaps after halftime. About the only thing you might be able to give this group any credit for against the Bills was holding Fred Jackson, the league’s leading rusher, under 100 yards for the first time this season (but try to forget the fact that he still managed to pick up over six yards per carry). The idea of getting stronger, faster and better on the defensive line was a good one. If none of the players brought in to carry it out are actually any good, though, then it doesn’t matter in the slightest.

Linebackers: F

One time, that’s one time in the entire game did a Patriots linebacker make a play that mattered. In the second quarter, Gary Guyton made a nice read of a delayed screen pass and followed up Anderson’s run at Buffalo QB Ryan Fitzpatrick by holding up Jackson and stopping him for a short gain. It was Guyton’s only tackle of the game. And that’s about it. Jerod Mayo had his second totally invisible game out of three this season and it’s starting to get very tiresome listening to/reading about him being an impact player. Brandon Spikes looks like a bust; he wiped out his own man on a third quarter Fitzpatrick TD pass to tight end Scott Chandler, a play on which Chandler stood alone in the end zone with no Patriot with 20 yards of him. Spikes played a lot more in nickel packages than he normally does and pretty much validated why he usually heads to the sideline in such situations, as he can’t cover or stay with a paper bag. Rob Ninkovich, one of the better members of this group, did nothing but get called for roughing the passer. And Jermaine Cunningham, yet another recent second-round draft choice who has not been able to make any kind of impact, was once again relegated to goal line duty and couldn’t be more buried unless he was on the scout team. He showed promise as a rookie but looks like he’s regressed as much as anyone on the team. This is a sorry lot the Patriots are stuck with. None of them are playmakers, most of them are so limited, they can’t play on every down and all of them are disappointments to say the least, especially on Sunday.

Defensive Backs: F

The cherry on top of the shit sundae, the Patriots secondary did the unthinkable by reaching new lows in Buffalo. Again, the Bills ran nine pass plays that went for 20 yards or more, starting with a 33-yard bomb to Steve Johnson on their first play of the game. They would successfully do this pretty much every time they tried it as the fall of Devin McCourty and incompetence of Leigh Bodden continued. Left to play man-to-man all day, neither McCourty or Bodden got any jam or pressure on any receivers off the line of scrimmage and each was beaten by multiple steps on multiple occasions. Bodden, who was very good in 2009 before missing last season with an injury, even got beat by almost two full yards on a play on which he was called for holding, that’s how bad he was. McCourty has gone from being an All-Pro type to virtually helpless; he hasn’t been able to stay with anybody one-on-one through three games and is clearly not the same player he was last year. It’s amazing how far each of these two has fallen. Behind them, with Patrick Chung and Ras-I Dowling out, both Josh Barrett and Sergio Brown played every down and each looked pathetic. Brown missed several tackles and was called for the costliest penalty of the day, a pass interference in the end zone that negated an INT on the worst throw Fitzpatrick made in the game. And Barrett made Brandon Meriweather look like an Hall-of-Famer, failing to help over the top in a timely fashion all day, missing tackles (including missing Jackson on a 38-yard catch and run right before the Bills kicked the winning field goal so badly, he fell down without even touching him) and just looking lost. It was so hideous, Belichick actually praised McCourty for chasing down Jackson on that very play to keep him out of the end zone (even though had Jackson scored, the Pats would have gotten the ball back). Only Kyle Arrington, who had two first half picks, escapes scorn here, although in the second half , he was out there for most of the carnage with all the rest of the stiffs. The Patriots have now allowed Chad Henne and Ryan Fitzpatrick to throw for 415 and 369 yards, respectively. They are allowing 26.3 points and 487 yards per game. 370 of those are through the air. And there’s nothing else to say.

Special Teams: B

Not a bad day here. Stephen Gostkowski made his only field goal attempt and boomed several kickoffs through the end zone. Our man Zoltan was no worse for the wear from the knee injury he suffered against the Chargers and had a great game with two boomers and one perfectly placed poocher inside the Bills 10. Julian Edelman had a decent day in the return game and the kick coverage units, led by the recently re-signed Ross Ventrone, were solid.

Coaching: D

Never mind the strange timeout called by Belichick after the replay review of Jackson’s long play leading up to the winning field goal. Instead, focus on the timeout he was forced to use on third-and-goal from the 1 on the Pats game-tying drive with the play clock running out. Or the fact that coming out of that timeout, the play clock nearly ran out again and Mankins got called for that false start. Or the fact that even though McCourty and Bodden were getting burned by multiple yards all day, the Pats stayed in man coverage on the outside throughout. Or the fact that on 31 of 40 Buffalo pass attempts, the Pats, desperate for any semblance of a pass rush for going on three years now, rushed four men or less. Or the fact that with a 21-0 lead, there was little or no attempt to use the clock to their advantage, with the offense continuing to run a track meet (though in Belichick’s defense on this one, he may have known that even a three-TD lead wasn’t enough and thus felt the need to keep scoring). Look at all of these aspects of the loss. Then look at the bigger picture, which is that despite devoting one high draft pick after another to the defensive side of the ball going all the way back to 2007, the Pats still can’t stop anyone, have zero playmakers and can’t get off the field when they need to. Belichick really has his work cut out for him. He’s known as a defensive genius and rightly so. But that reputation fades a little bit more every week that this sorry unit goes out there to get carved up by journeymen like Fitzpatrick and Henne. He and his staff had better figure something out soon or yet another year will end in bitter disappointment.

By Jeremy Gottlieb, Patriots Daily Staff

It’s sort of hard to believe, but the Washington Redskins are off to a great start and in the midst of it, the consensus first pick in any all-time, most overrated coach fantasy draft Mike Shanahan deserves most of the credit.

The ‘Skins are 2-0 and have come from behind in both wins. In Week 1, Washington took the Giants best shot early, got a defensive TD (a huge development given how bad its defense was last year) and wound up running away from their division rivals in winning 28-14. Then last week against the Cardinals, the Redskins trailed 21-13 in the fourth quarter only to get nine points in the last 5:17 win and take it 22-21, getting 172 rushing yards from Tim Hightower and Roy Helu in the process.

But the key to Washington’s success thus far lies in Shanahan’s call just before the season began to give the starting quarterback job to none other than Rex Grossman. Grossman, who for some reason has been a laughingstock in NFL circles for most of his career despite leading the Bears to Super Bowl XLI, has been a revelation in his first regular starting gig since the Bears tossed him overboard not even a year removed from that Super Bowl berth. In the two wins, Grossman has completed 60 percent of his passes at almost eight yards per attempt and thrown four TD passes, including an 18-yarder to Santana Moss to cut Arizona’s lead to two late in last week’s game.

Shanahan hasn’t made too many good choices since John Elway retired after the 1998 season. But giving the Washington job to Grossman, who is remembered more for a handful of lousy games in Chicago than that Super Bowl run, was absolutely the right move. Apparently, he has cleared the locker room of the stench brought in by Donovan McNabb and Albert Haynesworth last season and the Redskins are buying into his system (of course, that same system has produced one playoff win and just three postseason appearances in the past 12 years, but we’re trying to be nice here). With the Giants an injury-riddled mess and the Cowboys saddled with a faulty foundation thanks to owner Jerry Jones, don’t be surprised if the Redskins wind up having the best shot at giving the Eagles a run for their money in the NFC East.

This Week’s Five Best Teams

1. Green Bay: The Pack overcame a quick start by Cam Newton and the Panthers, erasing a 13-0 deficit to win 30-23 and move to 2-0. Aaron Rodgers stayed smoking hot with 308 more yards and two more scores and the defense (led by Charles Woodson’s two picks, two passes defensed, fumble recovery and five tackles), despite allowing another 400-yard day by Newton, again made enough plays to win. Green Bay moves into the division this week with an NFC Championship rematch against the Bears, and lost safety Nick Collins for the year to a neck injury. But the defending champs are still the team to beat.

2. New England: Wouldn’t it be great if the Pats could figure out how to play an entire game without having to send the defense onto the field? Their offense is so good right now, it makes up for the seemingly endless shortcomings of the D, but that’s not going to be the case every week. Still, even more props to the best QB there is, Tom Brady, for putting up 423 more yards and three more scores in a 35-21 wi over San Diego last week. Brady is now on pace to throw for over 7,500 yards this season. He’ll probably do it.

3. New Orleans: Drew Brees put up his second straight stellar game (26-of-37, 270 yards, three TDS, 118.1 passer rating) in beating the Bears for the first time in four tries. The Saints D, stomped on in Week 1 against the Packers, also stepped up with six sacks and a turnover while holding Chicago to just 246 total yards.

4. New York Jets: Week 1′s slog against the Cowboys was long since forgotten when the Jaguars hit the Meadowlands to meet the Jets and left without their dignity or a legit starting quarterback after a 32-3 loss. The Jets D held Jacksonville to 91 yards passing at only 3.6 yards per attempt, picked off four passes and had a safety, overcoming yet another mediocre day by quarterback Mark Sanchez.

5. (tie) Detroit/Houston: Two of the league’s most dysfunctional and/or disappointing teams crack the Top 5 for the first time ever by virtue of a couple impressive 2-0 starts. The Lions posted their most lopsided win in franchise history with their 48-3 pasting of Kansas City while the Texans shook off Arian Foster’s third hamstring tweak since training camp began and beat the Dolphins in Miami. Keep an eye on Houston running back Ben Tate, Foster’s rookie replacement, who has put up over 100 yards and a TD in each of his team’s first two games.

This Week’s Five Worst Teams

1. Kansas City: Where to start with the Chiefs? They’ve been outscored 89-10 in their first two games. Super back Jamaal Charles blew out his knee on the second play of their game against the Lions and joined fellow stars Eric Berry and Tony Moeaki on injured reserve. Matt Cassel suddenly can’t play; his 15-of-22, 133 yard, three INT performance against Detroit was only slightly better than his performance in Week 1. And now, apparently coach Todd Haley, who seems to be the most hated man in the NFL, is not getting along with GM Scott Pioli. It’s going to be a long year in KC.

2. Seattle: The Steelers got well on the lowly Seahawks, who had 164 total yards in their 24-0 loss in Pittsburgh. Seattle ran the ball just 13 times for 31 yards in the game, a bad sign when your quarterback is Tarvaris Jackson, who the Petesy Carroll chose over Matt Hasselbeck to lead his team straight into last place.

3. Indianapolis: The Colts actually led 9-7 in the first half last week. Then they got outscored 20-10 in ultimately losing to Cleveland in their home opener. It was Indy’s first loss to the Browns since 1994 and they didn’t score a touchdown until there were just 24 seconds left in the game while failing to even make a first down from the start of the third quarter until that final drive. It’s kind of cool seeing the Colts of all teams flail about like this, no?

4. Miami: The Dolphins, now losers of 11 out of 12 at home following last week’s 23-13 defeat to the Texans, got a 12-of-30, 170-yard game out of quarterback Chad Henne while newly acquired, “feature back” Reggie Bush rolled up a whopping 18 yards on just six carries and caught one whole pass for three yards. After the game, coach Tony Sparano confessed that he, “has no answers.” Sparano will not last the entire season and you can mark it, dude.

5. Minnesota: After pissing away a 17-7 halftime lead in their Week 1 loss, the Vikings pissed away a 17-0 halftime lead in their Week 2 loss, a brutal 24-20 defeat at the hands of the Bucs. Coach Leslie Frazier is now 3-5 as a head coach and proved his incompetence by having star receiver Percy Harvin sit for more than half his team’s offensive snaps despite catching seven passes for 76 yards.

What’s Trendy

- Josh Freeman, Bucs: Now through 26 NFL games, Freeman can boast a fourth quarter comeback in eight of them after last week’s win over Minnesota. Tampa was outgained 284-62 in the first half of that game, but Freeman finished up going 15-of-20 for 191 yards and a TD after halftime.

- Andy Dalton, Bengals: Cincinnati may not need Carson Palmer back now that it has Dalton, a rookie out of TCU. In his second career start, Dalton was 27-of-41 for 332 yards and two TDs with a 107 passer rating in close loss at Denver. What they do need, yet again, is the number of a good lawyer after receiver Jerome Simpson was detained and suspected of housing a pot distribution ring when 8.5 pounds of weed found to be delivered to his home.

- The Titans: After nearly pulling out a road win over Jacksonville in Week 1, Tennessee overpowered the Ravens 26-13 behind Hasselbeck’s best game in ages (30-of-42, 358 yards, one TD). The real story for the Titans, though, is receiver Kenny Britt, who had nine catches for 135 yards and a score against Baltimore, and has 14 catches for 271 yards and three scores through his first two games.

What’s Not

- Dunta Robinson, Falcons: Last season, Robinson became a poster boy for the league’s new safety rules for receivers after launching himself head first and spearing Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson, causing one of the more scary looking injuries of the year. Robinson was fined $50,000 for that hit, so he followed it up in his next game against the Eagles, this past Sunday night, by doing virtually the same thing to another Philly receiver, Jeremy Maclin. After the game, Robinson, knucklehead that he is, complained about being called for a penalty  on the play, saying he though the hit was legal, even though he clearly led with the crown of his helmet and had his arms at his side the whole time, just like when he hit Jackson. We don’t really curse that much here at Patriots Daily, but in this case, who cares? Dunta Robinson is an asshole.

- Mike Martz, Bears: In their 30-13 loss to New Orleans, the Bears called 52 pass plays against 11 run plays. Quarterback Jay Cutler was sacked six times and hit or knocked down 16 more. Martz, notorious for years for calling such lopsided games as offensive coordinator and head coach of the Rams as well as OC of San Francisco, Detroit and now Chicago, at least took responsibility, saying, “If you’re looking for blame, blame me. I did a poor job of coaching and we just didn’t play very well.” Someone should remind Martz that Bears have a lousy offensive line but do have an All-Pro running back in Matt Forte. Otherwise Cutler may not last another month let alone the season.

- Philip Rivers, Chargers: Rivers isn’t here for his overall acumen; he’s an excellent quarterback and he put up big numbers in last week’s loss to the Pats. He’s here because of his record against New England, now 1-5, the win coming against Cassel in 2008, not Brady. And while we’re here, the Boston Herald’s assertion last Sunday that with Peyton Manning down, Rivers is the new big-name QB rival of Brady, was so stupid, so ill-informed and so poorly conceived that it was borderline irresponsible. When Rivers actually wins a game against the Pats when Brady plays or loses without being behind multiple boneheaded, horribly timed turnovers, or oh I don’t know, wins more than two playoff games in six years, perhaps we can revive the topic.

And finally…

The Patriots are in Buffalo to play the Bills this week and it’s not going to be the walkover you might expect. Bill Belichick owns a 20-2 record in his Pats coaching career against Buffalo and the only games I can remember even being close were the 31-0 thrashing in Week 1 of 2003 (aka the Lawyer Milloy game) and Week 1 two years ago when the Pats scored twice in the last two minutes to eke out a one-point win on Monday Night Football. But this Bills team is different. Or at least it looks different through the season’s first two weeks.

Buffalo is 2-0 and has scored 79 points combined in those two wins. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Harvard alum, has completed more than 63 percent of his passes and seven TDs against just one pick. Running back Fred Jackson has 229 yards and is averaging 6.5 yards per attempt. And in last week’s roller coaster, 38-35 win over Oakland, the Bills, who scored a TD on every second half possession (a first for any team since 2007), they came back from a 21-3 halftime deficit to post the victory. Given the issues the Pats have had on defense not just this season but over the past three, this explosion of points and yards by Buffalo could well prove deadly.

It’s only been two weeks, but Buffalo is atop the AFC East standings along with the Pats and Jets. Not to take anything away from the Bills but their opponents up to this point (the Chiefs and Raiders) don’t scare too many people. A win this week would force the NFL to start taking them seriously for the first time in years. Right now, the line on this game has the Pats as nine-point favorites. Take the Bills and the points.

The 2-0 Patriots travel to the 2-0 Bills up in Orchard Park, New York for a division game that features two prolific offenses. This is going to be one of the better Bills teams the Patriots have seen in years. And we homers here at Patriots Daily have a surprising prediction for this usually one-sided matchup. The Bills are good. The Patriots are good. In the end, the Patriots are probably better and should have a better season. But this Sunday, it just may well be the timing is perfect for the Bills pulling off a win against division bully New England for the first time since 2003.

One-Sided Rivalry: Last week the Patriots honored their former Quarterback Drew Bledsoe as he was elected to the team Hall of Fame. Its amazing to think Bledsoe has been retired now from the NFL for 5 seasons. And he is 8 seasons removed from beating the Patriots 31-0 as the starting Bills quarterback in a game that opened the 2003 NFL season. Its really is crazy to consider that the last QB for the Bills to beat the Patriots was last week standing on the field retired in a red blazer and has been out of the league for half a decade. But its true. Since that time, the Patriots have gone 15-0 against their division rivals to the north. Of those 15 wins, eleven have been by double digits or more. Nearly half, seven games, have been by three touchdowns or more. Only twice have the Bills even cracked twenty points in any of the 15 games. The aggregate points for the last 15 matchups favors the Patriots 435 to 163, which means the average game has been 29 to 10.8. That is as dominant a stretch you’ll ever see in the NFL by one team over another, particularly a division rival.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, #14, Quarterback: The Harvard grad has played so well most of last year and early this year (Throwing 7 Touchdowns to only 1 Interception) the Bills are in serious talks with him about a high paying contract extension.. Fitzpatrick is a wicked smahhhhht, as we say here in Boston allegedly, quarterback with a very strong arm and his accuracy has improved. He seems to work well in Head Coach Chan Gailey’s offense. Gailey himself is an excellent offensive mind and that has no doubt helped Fitzpatrick improve greatly. One thing Fitzpatrick can do is scramble a bit and can even throw on the run, so that is something the Patriots will have to look out for. The Patriots have usually contained Fitzpatrick pretty well. He had a big game early last year, but in the rematch in Buffalo, the Bills’ offense was held to 3 points and Fitzpatrick committed some of his worst turnovers of the year. We’ll see if the Pats had figured something out or it was just a bad game Sunday.

Fred Jackson, #22, Running Back: Jackson bounced around for years playing in the United Indoor Football League and NFL Europe before finally establishing himself with the Bills a few years back. He’s become one of the more respected players on the Bills. The Patriots players and coaches in particular have always been complimentary of Jackson, who obviously gives a good, tough, physical effort when he is in the game. This year Jackson merely leads the NFL in rushing thru two weeks, putting up 100 yard games both outings. He as much as anything makes the Bills offense, and Fitzpatrick, better by creating a difficult to defend balance. The Patriots seem more committed to a pressure attack and less about stopping the run when they really want to. That could be the formula the Bills need to try to score with the Patriots and beat them for the first time since 2003.

Injuries: The Patriots are coping with a lot of injuries, but the Bills have some of their own. Wide receiver and kick returner Roscoe Parrish was placed on injured reserve this week and will miss the rest of the year. He was one of the few Bills whose played well at times in recent years versus the Patriots. They’ve also lost for the season other guys that figured in their plans such as wide receiver Marcus Easley and linebacker Reggie Torbor. Another important player Stevie Johnson, their best receiver, is questionable and did not practice on Wednesday with a groin injury. He insisted he’d play, however. Cornerback Terrence McGee and linebacker Kirk Morrison also sat out practice on Wednesday. Both teams could have their depth tested as they’ve been dealing with a run of injuries recently.

Bills Fans: Bills fans haven’t had much to cheer about in recent years in this series, or in general for that matter. I suppose they’re lucky they even still have a team, though it remains to be seen how long that will be true. Nevertheless, they seem enthusiastic, even confident, about their 2-0 Bills chances. Lets take a look at the popular Bills message board “Two Bills Drive”

DrDareustein says: “If we sack Brady and they call a weak Roughing the Passer call, then I hope on the next play Merriman/Dareus purposely knock him out of the game and take another 15 yards.

If we’re going to get penalized for hitting him, make it count. Take him out.”

Sage football minds like The Big Cat question how good Tom Brady really is:

“I’m with you Clippers. Brady walks around the field like he owns the place, but he’s the classic little guy chirping while the big, scary army stands behind him.

I’ve said it once, I’ve said 1,000 times since, without that line in front of him, he’s a worthless, ineffective garbage quarterback.”

Intriguing insights, TBC. So, should the Bills reconsider that “take him out” thing then?

There are a few Bills fans, however, who seems a bit shell-shocked and lacking in confidence after fifteen straight beatings at the hands of the Patriots:

Clippers of NFL says the way for Buffalo to win is simple:

“pay them under the table to throw the game”

Prediction: It has to end sometime. It just does. Fifteen games of one team winning against another is like a millennium in the NFL. And this year, the Bills have a good offense, good schemes, good coaches and are playing at home. With the Patriots missing big weapon Aaron Hernandez and banged up in the secondary, this is the weekend the Bills end eight years of frustration. Bills 30 Patriots 27

By Jeremy Gottlieb, Patriots Daily Staff

The dawn of a new season is the time every team is on the same level. For at least one week, each NFL squad is the same, 0-0, with a 16-game slate ahead and different challenges to overcome.

Every team that is, except the Dallas Cowboys, who should have an organization-wide screening of the movie “Groundhog Day” to open training camp each year.

Why? Because no matter who they bring in, who they get rid of or what goes on with every other team, the Cowboys still have Jerry Jones in the big chair and Tony Romo under center.

For three quarters in their season opener at the Jets, the Cowboys looked awesome. They led 24-10 with 12 minutes left in the game and Romo, making his first start since Week 8 of last year, looked as good as he ever has. He was 17-of-23 for 296 yards and three TDs and Dallas looked poised to vanquish their hosts. Even Cris Collinsworth, the NBC analyst calling the game, said that the difference in the game up to that point was the smart, heady, mistake-free play of Romo.

But the game wasn’t yet over and as the pressure mounted, Romo did what he seems to always do in big spots – he crapped out. First, with the Cowboys lead cut to 24-17 but the ball on the Jets 2, Romo tried to dive through traffic toward the goal line with the ball free to be swatted from his outstretched arm. Guess what? It was, and the Jets recovered. All the Cowboys needed was a field goal and they likely ice the game. But that type of conventional thinking doesn’t fly with Tony Romo, particularly in big moments.

Not too much later, the Cowboys were victimized by a punt block returned for a TD with just over a minute left (how and why they allowed this to happen where and when it did is a whole other “What the hell is it with the Cowboys???” column altogether). Romo’s response was to throw the first pass of a potential game-winning drive into double coverage, his intended receiver less open than at least four Jets defenders. Naturally, the pass was picked off and the Jets won the game three plays later on last second field goal.

So Romo lost another high-stakes, winnable game due to the fact that he’s a knucklehead. What else is new? Not Cowboys owner/GM/coach/media relations head/broadcaster/concessionaire/valet/head cheerleader Jerry Jones shooting his mouth off in the aftermath. First, Jones discussed defensive back Orlando Scandrick’s leg injury with anyone who would listen, a trademark of his (we now know not only the exact nature of the injury and how long Scandrick will be out, but his entire family medical history including dental records). Then, he complained about receiver Dez Bryant being shaken up on a punt return, thereby completely undermining his head coach Jason Garrett and Garrett’s staff. If anyone who has ever even read an article about the Cowboys in the past 20 years is surprised by Jones’s behavior, you need to work on your reading comprehension skills.

The point is simple. Every team starts each season with a clean slate except for the Cowboys. Because, as has been noted in this space before, as long as Jones owns the team and subsequently conducts himself as he does, and as long as Romo is the quarterback and can’t learn to get out of his own way, Dallas will never win a thing. Same ol’, same ol’.

This Week’s Five Best Teams

1. Green Bay: It took the defending champs exactly one quarter to look just as good as they did on their run to the title last winter. Aaron Rodgers threw three TD passes in the that opening frame, the first quarterback in league history to do that in the season opener, and went on to finish 27-of-35 for 312 yards in a 42-34, opening night win over the high-powered Saints.

2. Baltimore: The Ravens talk. A lot. And when they were woofing away leading up to their opener against Pittsburgh (particularly about how the Steelers have been mostly lucky in beating them six out of the past eight times), it felt pretty stale. Then, they went out and demolished their division rivals, 35-7, forcing seven turnovers on defense and rolling up 385 total yards (170 on the ground) against the vaunted Steeler D.

3. New England: The Pats offensive juggernaut lifted off on Monday night in Miami with 622 total yards (517 for Tom Brady) and 38 points. If Bill Belichick can somehow figure out how to get his defense even in the same galaxy as the offense, there may be no stopping this team.

4. Chicago: It seems like everyone keeps saying the Bears aren’t that good but they just keep winning. They surprisingly hosted the NFC Championship last season then, maybe even more surprisingly, blew out supposed Super Bowl contender Atlanta on Sunday, storming out to a 30-6 lead after three quarters. The great Brian Urlacher led the Bears still excellent defense, full out diving to pick off a pass and scooping up a Julius Peppers forced fumble and running it back for a TD.

5. Philadelphia: The Eagles withstood an early Rams TD then blew the doors off, overwhelming host St. Louis in a 31-13 victory. Philly piled up 236 yards rushing on 32 carries (7.2 yards per attempt) including 122 on just 15 rushes for LeSean McCoy, and training camp holdout DeSean Jackson continued his case for a new deal with six catches for 102 yards and a score.

This Week’s Five Worst Teams

1. Kansas City: Easily the worst loss of the week. The Chiefs were rolled, 41-7, by the Bills and at home no less. Their quarterback Matt Cassel completed 22-of-36 passes but for only 119 yards, good for an abominable 3.3 yards per attempt, and the rest of the offense wasn’t much better with only 213 total yards and 13 first downs. On defense, KC made Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick look like Peyton Manning (17-of-25, 208 yards, four TDs) and lost star safety Eric Berry for the year with a torn ACL. Hideous.

2. Indianapolis: Speaking of Manning, has a player ever won an MVP award without playing a single game? The Colts waited until halftime to even get off the bus last week in Houston, falling behind 34-0 (their biggest halftime deficit in team history) en route to a 34-7 loss to the Texans. I’ve read a few items that suggest that the Colts “culture” will carry them to a respectable mark by the end of the year. If 4-12 is a respectable mark, those who think that way will be vindicated.

3. Seattle: Petesy Carroll watched his old Pac-10 nemesis Jim Harbaugh kick his ass in Harbaugh’s NFL coaching debut, a 33-17 loss to the 49ers. The Seahawks managed to allow 33 points despite giving up just 209 yards and then yesterday, Petesy said it might be a couple steps back for his team before it takes any big steps forward. Surely, Seattle fans rejoiced at that statement.

4. St. Louis: The Rams were one of the darlings of the pre-season thanks to a stronger than expected campaign last year in which they missed the playoffs by just one game and got a solid rookie season from QB Sam Bradford. Then the real games started, Bradford and five other Rams starters left with injuries and St. Louis got beat up by the Eagles. This team is still intriguing and in the weak NFC West, they could well go further than they did last year. But last Sunday, the Rams looked like they still had a long way to go.

5. Cleveland: More of the same for the Browns. A flurry of mistakes (11 penalties, two turnovers, guys pointing at each other on defense while unimpeded, fourth quarter TDs were scored right around them) cost Cleveland its home opener with the Browns blowing a fourth quarter lead to their in-state rivals the Bengals.

What’s Trendy

- Cam Newton, Panthers: Carolina lost its opener, 28-21 to Arizona, but the No. 1 overall pick was out of this world, 24-of-37 for 422 yards and two TDs (eight for 178 and both scores to Steve Smith). In doing so, he became the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for that many yards in his career debut.

- The Lions: Quarterback Matthew Stafford passed for 305 yards and three scores in Detroit’s 27-20 road win over Tampa Bay, but perhaps more importantly, he didn’t get hurt. Stafford hasn’t been able to stay on the field over the course of his first two years, missing 13 games last season after six in his rookie year. If he can stay healthy, expect the Lions to break their string of 10 straight losing seasons.

- Scott Chandler, Bills: Coming into Buffalo’s huge, 41-7 win at Kansas City, tight end Chandler had been released by four different teams and had one career reception. He then had five catches for 63 yards and two TDs. Definitely one of the coolest stories of Week 1.

What’s Not

- Donovan McNabb, Vikings: After Percy Harvin returned the opening kickoff against San Diego 103 yards for a TD, McNabb actually had to play the next time Minnesota got the ball. And when he did, he looked like all the talk of his being washed up has been completely justified. In his first game with the Vikings, McNabb stunk up the room, completing 7-of-15 passes for a whopping 39 yards in a 24-17 loss. Even BrettFavre is better than that. Yuck.

- Chris Johnson, Titans: Johnson played his first game since holding out for a massive new deal for nearly all of training camp and responded with 24 yards on nine carries, the third worst game of his career. He’ll be fine; he’s too good not to be. But man did he look ugly on Sunday

- The Steelers: The key word surrounding Pittsburgh after Sunday’s rout at the hands of Baltimore is old. Last year en route to the Super Bowl, the Steelers allowed just two opposing teams to run for 100 yards. They’ve now done it once in one game this season. The Ravens totaled 170 (107 for Ray Rice), the most yards on the ground given up by the Steelers in three years. There’s a long, long way to go. But look at the records of pretty much every Super Bowl runner-up over the last several years. Not good at all.

And finally…

Injuries were a huge story in Week 1. It’s already been noted here what happened to the Rams against Philly, with their starting QB, running back, slot receiver, right tackle and No. 1 corner leaving the game. The Giants came into their Week 1 loss to the Redskins without their two starting defensive ends, a defensive tackle, two starting linebackers and three corners. The Bengals lost their starting QB, rookie Andy Dalton, in their win over Cleveland. Saints stud receiver Marques Colston is out 4-6 weeks with a broken collarbone. Panthers middle linebacker/defensive captain Jon Beason will miss the season with a torn Achilles. Pats center Dan Koppen broke his fibula and will miss two months. The Chargers lost their kicker Nate Kaeding for the year on the opening kickoff of their season. Berry is lost for the season for the Chiefs and of course, there’s Peyton Manning, who will not (or at least should not) play this year. And there were still more.

They’re always a huge part of the game but it still felt like there were a lot more injuries in Week 1, especially of the serious variety. It stands to reason that the lockout and the subsequent absence of team-sanctioned/supervised minicamps, workouts and training sessions may lead to more injuries than usual this season. We shall see.