"We're in first place in the division and that's where we want to be," said quarterback Matt Cassel. "We've got a big ballgame coming up this week, and we've got a quick turnaround. Everybody is excited about it. It's against the Jets, and we're always excited to play the Jets. It should be a big challenge for us. We'll be up for the challenge, I'm sure."
It's best to move on to the Jets.
The Patriots won a game that was best defined by the fact that before BenJarvus Green-Ellis scored the clinching 1-yard touchdown with 1:57 left on the 19th play of a 92-yard drive to give the Patriots a 20-3 lead, tight end David Thomas tripped coming out of the huddle and landed on his backside with a thud.
Much like Thomas, the Bills, who were missing four starters, including safety Donte Whitner, fell flat in Foxborough, as the Patriots defeated them for the 10th straight time.
The details of the workman-like win were rookie running back Green-Ellis having the first 100-yard rushing performance of his career (26 carries for 105 yards); Cassel, whose only mistake was a fourth-quarter fumble, going 23 of 34 for 234 yards through the air and rushing for a 13-yard score in the first half, and the defense putting the clamps on quarterback Trent Edwards and the Buffalo offense, allowing only 168 yards of total offense, a season-best.
It all added up to an important win for the Patriots in the start of a stretch of three straight games in the division.
"It's mid-November, and it's a race for the AFC East and these are the way the games are going to be," said linebacker Tedy Bruschi, part of a defense that didn't allow a play longer than 15 yards. "They're going to go down to the fourth quarter. The Jets are tough, the Bills are tough, the Dolphins are tough. Everybody is tough, so it's going to be like this from here on out."
The Patriots took the early lead on Cassel's first-quarter scamper. But the key play of the drive happened two plays earlier when Cassel hit Wes Welker with a 21-yard completion to the Buffalo 17.
On replays it appeared that Welker, who had 10 catches for 107 yards, did not get both feet inbounds with control of the ball, and Buffalo coach Dick Jauron threw the challenge flag. However, the officials didn't see Jauron throw it.
