2015 Season - Week #11

Buffalo @ New England

                                    1         2         3         4         FINAL

BUFFALO                 10       17       3         0         30

NEW ENGLAND      0         14       0        9         23

FOXBORO – Tyler Lockett and Aaron Rodgers continued their Montana-to-Rice ways to help the Buffalo Bills (5-5, 2-3 AFC East) knock of the division-leading New England Patriots (8-2, 2-2) 30-23 Sunday.

Rodgers had a monster day with 451 yards passing and three touchdown passes with Lockett accounting for 203 of those yards with his 11 catches.

“He’s (Rodgers) a great quarterback,” Lockett said. “He trusts us all to make plays and I was fortunate enough to be in a bunch of good spots today – next week it could be someone else.”

The Tom Brady-less Patriots struggled to find their footing for most of the day. Brett Hundley, making his second start in place of Brady, missed 2 quarters with a thumb injury paving the way for third stringer Dominique Davis to enter the game and make things interesting.

With an invisible ground game putting up only 25 yards on the day, due in large part to the play of the Bills intimidating front seven, New England had to rely on their inexperienced signal callers to rally the comeback attempt that fell short.

“We lost a game,” Bill Belichick said. “We get to play another one next week.”

Buffalo travels to Arrowhead Stadium next week to face the Chiefs in an effort to move to 6-5 on the season.

Dallas @ Miami

                                    1         2         3         4         FINAL

DALLAS                   0         7         3         7         17

MIAMI                      7         14       3         7         31      

MIAMI – The team with the NFL’s best record took a major hit to their confidence Sunday as the Dallas Cowboys (8-2) were dominated by the Miami Dolphins (5-5) 31-17.

Thomas Rawls continued to support his case for the NFL Rookie-of-the-Year award with 284 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in a game that was never close.

“I’m not concerned with those awards at all to tell you the truth,” Rawls said. “Todd (Gurley) can have it – I just want to make the playoffs.”

Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick continued his run of limited productivity with a 7-for-8 day with 142 passing yards, a touchdown, and no turnovers.

“That’s what I need to be here for,” Fitzpatrick said. “Leading this offense so we can wear the other team down and let our defense go to work.”

The NFL’s best defense put on another hard-hitting effort, which gave the Dallas training staff all they could handle.
The Cowboys rushed for only 78 yards on the day, and Tony Romo, who started the day averaging 330 yards per game on the season, finished with only 245 yards passing.

“We didn’t have it today,” Romo said. “They are headhunters at times, and it’s unfortunate in this day and age that they can get away with some of those hits.”

Miami will bring their defense along with their top-ranked rushing offense to MetLife Stadium to take on the Jets next Sunday.

New York Jets @ Houston

                                    1         2         3         4         OT       FINAL

NEW YORK              3         10       8         14       0         35

HOUSTON                 7         7         14       7         3         38

HOUSTON – Cam Newton’s 468 passing yards and four touchdowns were no match for Brian Hoyer’s career day with 418 yards and five touchdowns while completing 91% of his passes as the Texans (7-3) downed the New York Jets (4-6) 38-35 in overtime.

Newton kept stride with the on-fire Hoyer throughout and was able to lead his team into the endzone with :10 seconds remaining to put the game into extra time. However, a costly David Johnson fumble in overtime sealed the victory for Houston as they were able to move into field goal range.

“David’s been huge for us all year,” Newton said. “Tonight he made a mistake, I’ll give you that. But he’s young and will bounce back.”

On the day the Texans kept a clean sheet in the turnover column while claiming three takeaways, including the overtime fumble recovery.

“We have got to take care of the ball,” Todd Bowles said. “I don’t care if we throw for 500 and rush for 300, it means nothing if we aren’t protecting the rock.”

A visibly dejected Johnson was consoled in the locker room by wide receiver Devante Parker, who led all Jets receivers with 154 yards on six catches.

“That’s my brother man,” Parker said. “We got his back for life.”
New York will look to re-group against division foe Miami next week.