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The annual series between the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots has become eerily similar to what went on between the Bills and Miami Dolphins in the 1970s, when Don Shula’s rock-solid franchise dominated Buffalo completely, posting a perfect 20-0 record against the Bills for the decade. Watching the Bills try to compete with New England since Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick have been together has been painful. The Bills haven’t won in Foxborough since 2000, and have never won in Gillette Stadium. On Sunday, when the Bills piled up almost 120 yards in penalties in the first half alone, I had flashbacks to the “roughing the official” penalty called on Pat Toomay of the Bills in a game against Miami in the old Orange Bowl in the ’70s. There were phantom holding calls on the offensive line and questionable interference calls against the Bills’ secondary. The color analyst for CBS coverage of the game, Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, was pretty critical of some of the calls. The call that caused me to flash back, however, was a pass interference penalty against a Bills’ defender for grabbing Rob Gronkowski, when on the play Brady actually threw the ball to a different receiver, on the other side of the field. I wasn’t even aware that interference could be called unless a player directly interfered with a receiver trying to catch a pass. The replay clearly showed a foul being committed by the Bill defender on Gronkowski, but, as Fouts pointed out, the call should have been a defensive holding call, which would have been a five yard violation.

In reality, the Bills were their own worst enemy, even though some calls were questionable, as they played without much discipline in the early going and fell behind 17-3. All the penalties, combined with other mistakes, like 2 dropped interceptions on the opening Patriot drive and 3 turnovers, did the Bills in. As usual, the Pats made plays that winning teams make, and the Bills did what losing teams do – they played hard to the end, fought valiantly and did just enough to find a way to lose, again. They should be commended for doing enough, especially on offense, to give themselves a chance to pull the game out in the end. It’s unfortunate, but predictable, that Ryan Fitzpatrick threw the ball directly into safety Devin McCourty’s hands to seal the 37-31 win for the Pats. The Bills just haven’t reached the point where they know how to close out those types of games, and really, Fitzpatrick has yet to show he’s the type of QB that can lead a late comeback. Until the Bills change their current image, they’ll continue to have to fight through not only their opponents but bad officiating calls too. That’s just the way it is for losing teams in the NFL.

As far as the defense goes, the final score should probably warrant another scathing analysis of the unit, which has been pathetic all year. However, I’ll give them a pass this week. For one thing, Brady and the Patriots barbecue opposing defenses on a regular basis each week. It just seems like they’re always torturing the Bills because they play them twice a year every year. Although the Pats scored 7 times in the game, the fact that it was 4 TDs and 3 field goals is at least a little progress. Also, getting 120+ yards help from the officials, and 3 turnovers from the offense, well, that made it pretty easy for Brady & Co. All in all, I actually thought the effort on defense was something the team can build on for the rest of the season. If they can keep up the same level of play, against teams other than New England, they should win some games.