But in New England's locker room, the only thing the players were doing while getting dressed was trying to dodge the media and questions about the streak.
"Better standing up here now than last year [after a 31-0 loss]," Brady joked. "We had a lot of penalties and missed opportunities, but we settled in in the second half. They have a very good team."
Once again, when it really counted, in a game that was tied at 17 and anyone's to win for three-plus quarters, the Patriots seized the moment. In the end they played like Super Bowl champions; the Bills played like a team in disarray and likely heading for some major changes, perhaps even the unseating of Drew Bledsoe at quarterback.
The Patriots were confident if it came down to the end, they could rattle Bledsoe. While they spared him most of the game, they blitzed him into oblivion in the fourth quarter. If they were banking on Bledsoe's teammates not being able to bail him out, they were right.
"We just wanted the ball to come out fast," said Patriots free safety Rodney Harrison, who was relentless at the end. "Our front guys really did a wonderful job putting pressure on Drew. We didn't play very well in the first half, but in the second half we made some adjustments and we were able to pull out a very tough divisional win in a very tough place to play."
The game was iced with New England ahead, 24-17, late in the fourth quarter. The Bills drove to the Patriots' 17 where Bledsoe took a fourth-and-3 snap, faked a handoff to Travis Henry, and never saw Tedy Bruschi bear down on him, unabated. Bruschi knocked the ball loose and Richard Seymour picked it up and lumbered 68 yards for the clinching score. "I'm just glad I got into the end zone," Seymour said. "I'm not used to running that far, but you always like scoring touchdowns when you're a defensive player."
The Bills were running a bootleg for Bledsoe, believing it was a play the Patriots would least expect.
They were probably right, except it looked like Bledsoe was merely dropping back and starting to roll right before Henry allowed Bruschi to come clean and Bruschi knocked the ball loose.
