Obviously, today's Patriots news is all about yesterday's convincing victory over the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York. You won't find any better coverage of the game – from articles, analysis, and videos – than right here on the team's official website.
However, there are some interesting viewpoints to share from other media outlets.
We'll start in western New York, where a Buffalo News columnist described the Bills' loss as the “same old Bills, dumb and defeated by the Patriots.”
"The Bills were playing without star running back LeSean McCoy and three of their top four wide receivers. But injuries aside," writes the critic, "the distressing thing was that the Bills played the same dumb, boneheaded football they had played against the Pats here a year ago. They didn't lose their cool this time, but they made just about every mistake imaginable in one 60-minute football game."
Ouch! And that's just the beginning of the scribe's diatribe.
It seems Bills boss Rex Ryan has already conceded the AFC East to New England. ESPN focuses on Ryan's post-game comments as evidence thereof.
"I think it's unrealistic to think you're going to win your division when you just got beat by ... how many games are they up now? Three?" Ryan said. "That team is three games up on us and at the halfway point they've lost one game. And No. 12 is back. So yeah, I don't see that happening. I hope I'm wrong."
Some Bills players weren’t so gracious in defeat, as The Boston Globe recounts.
"Penalties gave them everything," CB Stephon Gilmore lamented later. "Just gave them everything, really."
Another fun ESPN account examines if Rob Gronkowski is the best tight end in NFL history. There's even an interactive fan poll to help answer the question.
Meanwhile, on Boston radio airwaves this morning, QB Tom Brady had kind words for free agent WR Chris Hogan, one of five Patriots who scored touchdowns against Buffalo yesterday. Brady compared Hogan’s contributions to those of former WR Wes Welker. And that's not all, as the* Boston Herald* recounts.
"He's definitely deceptively fast," Brady said of Hogan. "He's got a very smooth stride and he's got really a long gait so he can cover a lot of ground once he gets going. And then he's very efficient. I think the mark of a great player down the field is when the ball is in the air, they can track the ball looking backwards basically, or up in the air for the ball, and still continue to not lose speed as they're running down the field."
Another *Herald *column declares that the Patriots are in nearly perfect position heading into their mid-season bye week.
"You can also add in the fact," the writer points out, "the Patriots are the best team in the AFC, period. With Denver, Oakland and Kansas City all having two losses, the Pats are in decent shape for securing the top seed given only two of their remaining eight opponents currently have winning records (Seattle, Denver)."
Elsewhere, it's been an unusually season so far for one of the best kickers in the NFL. However, *The Providence Journal *catches up with Stephen Gostkowski after his perfect kicking performance versus Buffalo.
"Buffalo's a tough place to kick," said the native of the area, "so to come out here with a clean game, you feel a little bit better about yourself – to be able to do it in tough conditions. I'm just happy we won and I played well."
