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Bills improve, but still lose to Pats

By: John Kucko
Updated: September 26, 2010

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Tom Brady regained his touch against his personal pushovers.

The New England Patriots also retained theirs against Buffalo with a 38-30 victory Sunday, their 14th straight over the Bills.

Brady improved to 16-1 against the Bills, completing 21 of 27 passes for 252 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Two of those scores went to Randy Moss as Brady bounced back from a mediocre performance in a 28-14 loss to the New York Jets in which he fumbled on the Patriots' last offensive play.

"He just has this good composure and keeps everything calm and doesn't let people panic," Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez said. "When he's calm, everyone else is calm." Brady hasn't lost to the Bills since the 2003 opener, but Buffalo stayed close for most of the game only to be done in by fourth-quarter interceptions by Patrick Chung and Brandon Meriweather. "Beating them [again] wasn't easy," Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo said. "We still have a lot of work to do. Any division game is tough." New England tied Miami for the third-longest winning streak against a single opponent. The Dolphins beat the Colts in 14 straight games from 1980-1987. The Colts moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984. First-round draft pick C.J. Spiller scored his first NFL touchdowns on a 5-yard pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick and a 95-yard kickoff return, but Buffalo's last chance faded when Fitzpatrick threw an interception to Meriweather with 3 minutes left. The mobile Fitzpatrick provided a spark after starting in place of Trent Edwards, who led the Bills to the NFL's least productive offense in the first two weeks of the season. Fitzpatrick completed 20 of 28 passes for 247 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. "We felt like we had a chance and we came up short," he said. "The offense played better today, but it's all about winning." New England (2-1) took a 17-16 lead at intermission on Stephen Gostkowski's 43-yard field goal on the last play of the half. Buffalo (0-3) had its best offensive day of the season, but settled for three first-half field goals by Rian Lindell instead of touchdowns. "We get a couple of touchdowns earlier in the game when we were in the red zone and things may be different," wide receiver Lee Evans said. The Bills cut the lead to 38-30 following Fitzpatrick's 37-yard scoring pass to Steve Johnson with 4:08 left, then got the ball back on a punt. But on the next play, Fitzpatrick overthrew tight end David Nelson on the left side and Meriweather came down with the ball. "He's always trying to make a play. You've got to give him credit for that," Bills coach Chan Gailey said of Fitzpatrick. "I don't want to temper him, but I want him to be smart." BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries for the Patriots, helping make up for the loss of Kevin Faulk. Faulk suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Jets. "I'm not concerned" about a chance to become the featured back, Green-Ellis said. "I care about winning. I take as much pride in playing special teams."

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