Patriots-Bills reaction, Beatdown in the Bronx for Red Sox

Unlike the past two weeks there isn’t much of a negative story line with the Patriots following their 52-28 win over the Bills on Sunday. The defense generated a pass rush and limited the third-best running attack in the league to only 98 yards rushing. They also forced four interceptions, including two by Devin McCourty who was the major topic of discussion last week. Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski each went over 100 yards receiving and Tom Brady did what he had to do to lead his team to a come from behind win.

This week Peyton Manning and the Broncos come to town, which will be interesting to see how the Patriots secondary reacts to facing one of the better quarterbacks in the league, something they have struggled with of late.

Practice makes perfect for Patriots punt unit– Shalise Manza Young looks at Zoltan Mesko and the punting unit, who were outstanding Sunday.

Easy win, but no easy conclusions– Tony Massarotti says not much can be learned about the Patriots from their huge win. He wants to see them go against tougher opponents.

Game ball goes to ‘D’– Jeff Howe looks at the Patriots defense, which was very impressive, forcing six turnovers.

Patriots report card– Karen Guregian hands out her grades for Week 4.

Patriots in a rush to put up big numbers on the ground– Christopher Price looks at the Patriots running game and how they met the challenge of their coach, Bill Belichick.

Same Peyton, new place– Mike Reiss looks at Peyton Manning making his return to Foxboro.

For more Patriots coverage, visit Patriotslinks.com.

The Red Sox thankfully have just two game remaining in the regular season after their 10-2 loss at the hands of the Yankees Monday night. A nine-run second inning is what doomed the Red Sox. In his last start of the year Clay Buchholz allowed eight runs, on six hits, including three home runs in just 1 2/3 innings. The Orioles couldn’t have been happy with the Red Sox lineup against CC Sabathia, which included Mauro Gomez batting clean up. Following the game Rob Bradford learned Dustin Pedroia broke a finger in Sunday’s game against the Orioles and will miss the final two games. The Red Sox confirmed the report shortly thereafter.

Buchholz, Sox stink– Scott Lauber looks at Buchholz’s worst outing of the season.

Not the ending Buchholz or Red Sox wanted – Sean McAdam also looks at Buchholz’s start, which will be his last of 2012.

Thumbs-up on Bailey for next year– John Tomase says Andrew Bailey is ready to go and is ready to be the teams’ closer next season.

David Ortiz insists this offseason won’t resemble his last one– Rob Bradford looks at Ortiz’s situation for next season and what the offseason has in store for the Red Sox slugger. Ortiz says there is mutual interest in the team bringing him back and him wanting to come back.

Sox need Big Papi more than ever– Gordon Edes says the Red Sox must re-sign Ortiz to get some ‘pop’ back in the Sox lineup.