James White scored the first two touchdowns of his career, one running and one receiving, and the New England Patriots improved to 10-0 on Monday night with a 20-13 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
Tom Brady completed 20 of 39 passes for 277 yards, and the defending Super Bowl champions remained on course for their second perfect regular season in nine years. The Bills (5-5) ended a two-game winning streak and lost to Brady for the 25th time in 28 games.
The game was filled with mistakes, penalties, injuries and turnovers — including two fumbles on a single punt and an inadvertent whistle that led to one of many lengthy conferences among the officials.
Buffalo’s LeSean McCoy ran 20 times for 82 yards and a touchdown and caught six passes for 41 yards to surpass 100 yards from scrimmage for the fourth straight game.
In the first quarter, Brady had an unusual addition to his pre-snap signals. Lining up behind the centre, Brady started barking out play calls when he shouted “Rex Ryan!”
“We use a lot of terms,” said Brady with a smile after the game.
The Bills coach has been a longtime rival of the Patriots, following his time with the New York Jets. Brady is 10-4 in his career against teams coached by Ryan.
Both teams suffered injuries during the game. The Patriots already depleted receiving corps was further weakened when Danny Amendola left the field with a knee injury.
For the Bills, Tyrod Taylor appeared to injure collarbone in the fourth quarter. Although Taylor stayed in the game, he was clearly in pain as time ran out. Ryan said after the game that he was ready to bring in EJ Manuel for Taylor but his starter insisted he was OK to continue.
