Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

Final Score
Patriots 28
Bills 6

Reason to Dance: The Patriots played their best all-around game of the year in Buffalo, coming away with a comfortable victory that was all but decided by the start of the second quarter. The offense was efficient and didn’t make mistakes, with my favorite stat being the 8-of-15 on 3rd down conversions. The defense was solid as well, though the unit won’t get full credit because it faced a poor offense with perhaps the worst starting QB in the league.

The only negatives were the injuries to Eugene Wilson and Richard Seymour. Wilson’s didn’t appear serious…Seymour’s could be very serious. What surprised me was that the big DE was in the locker room talking about the arm injury after the game. That’s usually a big no-no. I’m not sure if that’s a re-assuring sign or an effort to throw everyone off about the seriousness of it. Hopefully, we’ll know more soon. Then again, he’ll probably be described as day-to-day for the rest of the year.

Shining Stars: The entire class should get a star on the forehead for this performance, but there were a couple of students who really aced this exam. Cory Dillon’s stats don’t overwhelm (14-caries, 47-yards) but he ran hard and effectively on those two early TD runs to set the tone and give New England a lead the Bills weren’t capable of overcoming…Ben Watson (5-receptions, 60-yards) stepped his game up a notch with Daniel Graham sidelined. Watson’s been a bit of a disappointment to fantasy owners who expected a big breakthrough year, but there was nothing elementary about his performance on this day. (I’d give Chad Jackson a star for his first career TD, but it was his only catch of the day. Besides, he’s gotta come up with some better dance steps than that!)

On the other side of the ball, Asante Samuel had an interception and was his usual buzz-saw self…Junior Seau led the team with 9 tackles…Tedy Brushi and Mike Vrabel chipped in with 7-stops as the linebacking corps was all over the field.

Finally, let’s give props to Tom Brady for another efficient performance and for spreading the ball around to a very mediocre group of pass catchers. I know he makes it look easy and he won’t say a bad word about the receivers. But know this; there isn’t a top QB in the league that’s been able to make as much chicken salad out of this much chicken “you know what!�

Quality Quote: “Stupidity by me.�—Tom Brady, describing his touchdown pass to Doug Gabriel. What does that tell you about the guy when he’s beating himself up on the field and in the post-game over a play that resulted in seven points?

What are your impressions of the performance? Easier “W� than expected or just what you thought?