Reigning Super Bowl champions the New England Patriots were forced to hold off a fourth-quarter fightback from the Buffalo Bills to maintain their perfect start to the new NFL season this evening, eventually running out 40-32 victors at the Ralph Wilson Stadium.
The AFC East rivals had been embroiled in a war of words during the build-up to the match, but it was the hosts who struck first on the field when Karlos Williams found his way into the endzone from two yards.
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The Patriots soon began to gain a measure of control over proceedings, however, and they were level sooner rather than later when Tom Brady picked out Julian Edelman for an eight-yard score.
Brady's passing was beginning to cause the Bills problems, but it was the ground game that provided the visitors with the lead when Dion Lewis, who Bills head coach Rex Ryan claimed to have never heard of before the match, rushed into the endzone from six yards.
New England extended their advantage early in the second when Rob Gronkowski collected Brady's two-yard pass into the endzone, but a Charles Clay score from Tyrod Taylor's throw kept the Bills just about within touching distance.
Stephen Gostkowski field goals either side of half time kept the scoreboard ticking over for Bill Belichick's men, and the match appeared to be over as a contest when Edelman picked up his second touchdown of the afternoon with just 3:24 left in the third quarter.
Another Gostkowski kick extended the gap to 24 points going into the fourth, but the Bills refused to give in and attempted to begin an unlikely comeback when Taylor escaped the pocket before looping a 32-yard pass over to Robert Woods in the endzone.
The attempted two-point conversion was unsuccessful, but Buffalo maintained their pressure and cut the deficit to 12 points when Taylor rushed in for a score of his own with more than five minutes remaining.
Once again, Percy Harvin's attempt for an extra two failed, but Taylor threw his third touchdown pass of the evening to bring his side within a score.
Those missed two-point conversions looked like they could prove costly when Gostkowski notched his fourth field goal of the match to open up an eight-point gap with little more than a minute remaining, and the Bills were unable to add another score as their comeback attempt fell just short.
Barney Corkhill
