1997

New England 31
Bills 10

Attendance: 65,783

Maybe, this will quiet the New England critics--for at least a week, anyway. The Patriots, under pressure from their fans and coach Pete Carroll, ended a three-game losing streak with a 31-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

New England has the NFL's sixth-rated offense, but it was an 86-yard kickoff return by Derrick Cullors and a deflected pass that turned into a touchdown for linebacker Chris Slade that did the most damage. "We try not to listen to what people say on the outside. It was bad enough for us," Cullors said. "We don't like losing. After three losses in a row, we were trying to find out what it took to get us back to winning."

The Patriots appeared to be crumbling coming into the game, and Carroll challenged several players to pick up their games during the week. After beating Buffalo, they find themselves in a three-way tie with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins in the AFC East.

Buffalo has been the cure-all for New England this season. "It was an excellent opportunity to get back on track in our division," Carroll said. "We're real happy with this win. We're back moving. We ain't dead yet."

Patriots running back Curtis Martin gained 93 yards on 26 carries and had a 1-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter that closed the scoring. Drew Bledsoe completed 15 of 22 passes for 200 yards, including a 6-yard TD pass to Ben Coates. "We control our own destiny," Bledsoe said. "We know what we have to do. If we play well, we can win. We know that, and everybody in the league knows that."

New England kicker Adam Vinatieri made a 42-yard field goal to extend his streak to 25 without a miss but missed two attempts in the second quarter. He had not missed a kick since October 27, 1996.

The Patriots had a 24-3 lead by the time Buffalo running back Antowain Smith jumped over from the 1 with 48 seconds left in the third period. It was the Bills' first TD in seven quarters. "There are not many things I can say that are bursting with encouragement," Bills coach Marv Levy said. "One thing we are not going to do is quit. There is a lot of season left."

The key play for New England came with 34 seconds left in the first quarter when Cullors turned a slip on the turf into a touchdown to give the Patriots a 7-3 lead. After Buffalo took a 3-0 lead on Steve Christie's 23-yard field goal, Cullors grabbed the ensuing kickoff and nearly fell before finding a hole through the middle and outracing Christie to the end zone. He became the third player this season to run back a kickoff for a TD against Buffalo. He also had a 48-yard return to start the second half. "Someone had to make a big play, whether it was me or someone else," Cullors said.

Buffalo quarterback Alex Van Pelt completed three of 12 passes for 38 yards and had three interceptions before he was benched to start the second half. Todd Collins finished 12-for-21 for 89 yards.

New England began pulling away when Jimmy Hitchcock intercepted Van Pelt to set up Vinatieri's 42-yard field goal early in the second quarter. Coates then put the Patriots ahead 17-3 with his 40th career touchdown catch. Slade made it 24-3 with 6:05 left in the third quarter when he batted a Collins' pass into the air and caught the ball at the 1-yard line and walked into the end zone. "We always knew we could play. It was a matter of going out there and doing it," Slade said. "This game is going to get us to the point where we were four or five weeks ago."

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