Patriots vs. Bills, Week 1: New England rallies late to prevent upset

The win left Patriots fans sweating it out. Despite the final score, Bills fans may actually have been happier with Sunday’s game than Patriots fans were.

Matt Warren of Buffalo Rumblings thought mistakes ultimately buried the Bills on Sunday.

The Patriots got a 10-point lead when Brady hooked up with Edelman for the second time, but Buffalo got another big break when Brady threw an interception on their next drive. Two plays later, E.J. Manuel threw an 18-yard touchdown to Robert Woods. The Patriots led the Bills, 17-14, at halftime.

Brady got another chance, though, when he led the team down to the red zone at the end of the game. Stephen Gostowski nailed a 35-yard field goal with five seconds to avoid the upset.

Amendola has been dealing with a groin injury throughout most of training camp and preseason, and it appears he has aggravated it. He has had a long injury history in his NFL career, missing 15 games in the past two years.

• An early 2014 mock draft

The Patriots were the beneficiary of the funniest play in sports history last year, whenMark Sanchez ran into his own offensive lineman’s butt and fumbled the ball and it was run back for a score, the rare fumble where nobody touched the guy fumbling.

Stevan Ridley clearly felt like the Pats needed to even out karmaically, by falling down, going boom, and lying on the ground while Da’Norris Searcy scooped and scored.

Patriots inactives:

Bills inactives:

Tom Brady and the Patriots could have a field day against the Bills’ defense, putting Manuel in position to win a shootout in his first career start. Healthy or not, that’s a tough proposition for anyone. As long as Manuel plays reasonably well, the Bills could lose big and still walk away feeling optimistic about the season.

On defense, defensive coordinator Mike Pettine may be the most exciting addition. Pettine has a reputation for creativity and getting the most out of his players. He may be the man to finally unleash Mario Williams. The linebacker corps is young and the secondary is potentially excellent if healthy. The Bills have the pieces they need to win, now it’s question of putting them together.

New England Patriots

Buffalo Bills

For more details on this matchup, check out Odds Shark.

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New England was a unanimous selection among the eight CBS Sports NFL analysts. Even when those eight made their pick against the 9-1/2-point spread, all eight still went with New England. John Breech predicted New England to win by two touchdowns, 31-17. NFL senior columnist Pete Prisco predicted an even wider margin of victory for New England, as he has the Patriots winning 37-17.

Other pundits agree, including those at ESPN, where Mike Golic, Ron Jaworski, Seth Wickersham and Tom Jackson all picked New England.