With the Patriots leaning more on Stephen Gostkowski’s leg than Brady’s arm against the Buffalo Bills on Monday night, Devin McCourty stepped up and returned an interception 84 yards to secure a 25-6 victory for the New England Patriots.
“The last couple of games, it was our offense scoring and us trying to keep the team out. This was a game where they were moving the ball and couldn’t get into the end zone,” McCourty said. “We had to make sure Buffalo didn’t get in the end zone, and once it cracked, we had to take advantage of it.”
The interception proved to be the turning point in what had been a tightly contested game in which New England settled for four Gostkowski field goals, and after James White scored from the one-yard line to make it 18-6 with 9 minutes, 58 seconds left.
The Bills responded with what was initially ruled a touchdown, when tight end Jason Croom appeared to make a diving, one-handed catch in the end zone. The 25-yard catch was negated when replays showed Croom never had possession.
Two plays later, McCourty jumped in front of Derek Anderson’s attempt to hit tight end Charles Clay over the middle.
“Those are bonus points. It’s hard to count on those,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “It was a big play for us. They were driving in the red area and it turned it around.”
Buffalo lost their third straight game and dropped to 2-6 for their worst start since opening the 2010 season with eight losses.
The Bills offense continued their anemic ways in being held to under 7 points for the fourth time this season. Buffalo has scored just two touchdowns in their past five outings, a stretch in which they have been outscored by a margin of 116-37.
Running back LeSean McCoy took the offense’s struggles personally. Although he had a team-best 82 yards receiving, McCoy finished with just 13 yards rushing and has yet to score this season.
“I’m 30 years old. I’ve been playing since high school. This stuff has never happened to me. Yeah, it’s tough,” he said.
What hurts more is McCoy knowing how the offense has let down the defense.
“It’s not fair to them,” he said. “I didn’t expect to have no season like this. I’m not really playing well at all. We’re not doing much on offense.”
Credit the Bills’ defense for not playing the role of the expected pushover against a Brady-led offense that had scored 38 or more points in each of their past four games.
“You come out and you hold those guys to one touchdown, and still can’t get a win. It’s tough, man,” Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White said.
Stephen Hauschka accounted for the scoring by hitting field goals from 51 and 47 yards.
“It’s clearly not good enough,” coach Sean McDermott said of his sputtering offense. “I thought the defense came out and played well at times. Offensively, we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit there, and just couldn’t get it going enough.”
Anderson finished 22 of 39 for 290 yards and two interceptions.
He was escorted off the field with 1:25 left when he was sacked by Kyle Van Noy. He was making his second start in place of rookie Josh Allen, who’s listed as week-to-week with a sprained elbow on his throwing arm.
Brady finished 29 of 45 for 324 yards, but was held without a touchdown pass for the first time this season.
“They made it tough on us,” he said. “We couldn’t get anything going in the red zone, not enough positive plays down there.”
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS