Patriots stay perfect with win against Bills
Published 10:10 am Tuesday, November 24, 2015
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady called out Rex Ryan and then he beat the Bills – again.
After shouting the name of the Buffalo coach as an audible, Brady led New England to a 20-13 victory over the Bills on Monday night and kept the defending Super Bowl champions on course for their second perfect regular season in nine years.
Brady completed 20 of 39 passes for 277 yards, hitting James White for a 20-yard score that was the first touchdown of the running back’s career. White added a 6-yard run in the third quarter to give New England (10-0) the lead for good.
Brady even took a dig at the Buffalo coach, lining up under center in the first quarter and shouting “Rex Ryan! Rex Ryan!” Asked if there was a message in it, Brady struggled to suppress a smile.
“We have a lot of unusual terms,” Brady said. “I think we run the gamut. So we’ve got to get creative and think of different things. That one is pretty unique.”
Ryan was less troubled about any personal slight than losing to his longtime nemesis for the 11th time in 15 games.
“He likes me, I know that,” the coach said.
The game was filled with mistakes, penalties, injuries and turnovers – including two fumbles on a single punt, a rare missed field goal by New England’s Stephen Gostkowski and an inadvertent whistle that led to one of many lengthy conferences among the officials.
“That’s one of the craziest I’ve ever seen,” said LeSean McCoy, who ran 20 times for 82 yards and a 27-yard touchdown and caught six passes for 41 yards to surpass 100 yards from scrimmage for the fourth straight game.
And the game ended on another apparent refereeing blunder, with Sammy Watkins crawling out of bounds untouched near midfield but the official inexplicably signaling for the clock to run.