First contact

WEEK 1
So Roger Goodell doesn't think there needs to be four preseason games. Hmmmm. Wonder what he thinks after watching the action from the opening week of the 2013 season.

There was a lot of exciting football. Close games. Upsets. Last second victories. Hard hits. Big plays. But there was also a big dose of turnovers, penalties, missed tackles, receivers running into each other (Patriots), and general sloppiness. Think how bad it would have been with only three preseason games to get ready. Not pretty.

Not pretty. That perfectly describes the Pats season-opening victory in Buffalo. The Pats have dominated the Bills during the Belichick era. But not yesterday. It took a Gosty field goal as time expired to pull out a mistake filled 23-21 victory.

The mistakes? A Ridley fumble that was returned for a touchdown. A Brady fumble. A Brady pick (that was more like a Sudfeld fumble). Too many dropped passes by rookie receivers to count. A poor punting performance by the guy who took Zoltan's job. Brady getting sacked twice and feeling the heat several more times. The secondary giving up a couple of long touchdowns and the pass rush being non-existent once again.  Bill Belichick not re-signing Wes Welker. Wait. That last mistake was a few months ago.

Not pretty. Mistakes are usually the difference between winning and losing. Were the Baltimore Ravens the best team in the NFL last year. Hell no. But when it counted, during the playoffs, they were the team that made the fewest mistakes. By far. The difference between a 10-6 playoff contender and a 6-10 also-ran is very small despite what most people think. The 10-6 team is almost always the one that doesn't beat itself. For the past decade-plus the Patriots have been that team.

Yesterday they made more mistakes in four quarters than they usually make in four games. When Ridley fumbled, the Pats were up 10-0 and driving inside the Buffalo 30 with a chance to take control of the game. One mistake later, it was 10-7 and the Bills and their victory-starved fans were back into the game.

The Pats regrouped, as only a well-coached team can, and regained the lead 17-7 and were once again in control with the ball and just more than a minute till the half. That's when Brady and Sudfeld misconnected and the Bills were set up at the Pats' 37. Two plays later and the Bills had scored again to cut the lead to 17-14. The Bills took that momentum and drove 80 yards in 11 plays to take the lead 21-17. The Pats responded with their own long drive but came up empty when Brady fumbled at the 2-yard line. How often does THAT happen?

A lot of teams would have folded at that point, but the Patriots, even with all their young players, held the Bills off the scoreboard the rest of the way and Gosty made two clutch field goals to steal away the all-important road divisional victory.

Not pretty. But 1-0.