Week 7: Bills Lose Third Straight 28-6
Three turnovers effectively helps end Bills season.
by Steve Saslow
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at
Week 7
Patriots  28
Bills   6
Gameday Grades

Let's start with two pieces of good news, The Bills can't lose next week because of the bye and they can't lose to the Patriots again this year since they have already lost to them twice. The rest is bad news, the Bills lost their third straight game and realistically lost their slim hopes of battling for a playoff spot with a 28-6 loss to New England.

The defense made some plays in the game but just weren't consistent enough. They good have played like the '85 Bears but it still wouldn't have been enough to win on this day. The offense was pathetic as J.P. Losman continued his fast regression by fumbling three times, losing it twice, and throwing an interception to thwart any potential touchdown drives in this game. The Bills lone offense was a 56 yard shovel pass to Willis McGahee and two Rian Lindell field goals from 40 and 46 yards.

The Patriots would drive 71 yards in 14 plays to their first score, an 8 yard run by Corey Dillon. He would score again on the Patriots second drive to give them a 14-3 lead. The shovel pass to McGahee sandwiched between the two touchdowns setup Lindell's first field goal.

The game was over at that point, the defense would stiffen for a while before giving up two touchdown drives in the second half, a 35 yard touchdown pass to rookie Chad Jackson and 5 yard pass to Doug Gabriel. A 25 yard pass to Peerless Price setup Lindell's second field goal but another Losman fumble turned back any chance of a comeback in this one.

It was another ugly loss and Dick Jauron and company need to go back to the chalkboard over the bye week and tear this thing down and start over. They need to start looking at the future because this year is certainly over. The team is now 2-5 and any realistic shot at the playoffs is gone before Halloween, this doesn't surprise most people but there was false hope after the 2-2 start. Speaking of Halloween, this game was so bad I actually stepped away from it for chunks of the 2nd half to see my daughter in a neighborhood parade. Sadly, I knew I could do that without missing anything because of the ineptitude of the Bills offense.

Here are our exclusive gameballs and goats from the Bills game against the Patriots:



Gameballs
  • Aaron Schobel - He had five tackles, two sacks, two hits, and a forced fumble.
  • Willis McGahee - He ran hard just not enough. He had 120 yards running and receiving.
  • Rian Lindell - It's sad when the punter and kicker are the lone bright spots of the offense. Lindell continues to be the only consistent performer on the unit, as he was 2 for 2 in the loss.


    • Goats
  • J.P. Losman - He is making more mistakes as the season progresses. Three turnovers again is unacceptable. The time is fast approaching that they may need to look at other options.
  • Takeo Spikes - I know he's hurt but he isn't doing anything out there. He had five uneventful tackles.
  • Dick Jauron - Didn't have the club ready as there were a few bad penalties and the Bills had no answer for the scripted plays of New England.
  • Lee Evans - Was taken out of the game, he only caught one pass in this game.
    •

    Player Of The Week
  • Aaron Schobel - He is the only one on the team who likes to play New England.


    • Positional Breakdown and Grades
    NFL.com Gamebook
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