Rex: Tyrod Taylor should be able to play

For a moment, Rex Ryan allowed himself that familiar beaming glint, the enjoyment of the spotlight apparent. The defensive line kept getting to Brady, but only finished with one sack. New England held the Bills to 319 yards of offense.

Everything the Bills did on defense seemed to work to a tee.

The Patriots took over at the Buffalo 30 and took a 20-10 lead on Gostkowski’s 35-yard field goal. Rex Ryan threw everything he had at Bill Belichick, but the Patriots figured it out eventually. Not having enough timeouts was one problem. Taylor however, began flexing his right arm once again.

In pursuit of an undefeated season that would further define an already impressive legacy, the New England Patriots hosted the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football.

The play in question occurred early in the third quarter of the Patriots’ 20-13 win over the Bills. Unfortunately, one bad drive at the end of the first half and a missed tackle from Duke Williams in the second half led to the Patriots’ two decisive touchdown drives.

The Patriots survived a late comeback attempt by the Bills and are now 10-0 on the season.

Amendola made it off the field on his own and never left the sideline. Amendola appeared to have a virtual clear run to the end zone with just one defender between him and a touchdown. “I think we can play better”, Brady said. Since play stopped because of the whistle, the ball was downed at the spot where Amendola caught it.

“We knew we were a better football team, ” Ryan said, referring to his group that lost a 40-32 decision to New England in a Week 2 game that was not as close as the final score indicated. “He’s smart. He gets rid of the ball when he needs to”.

But a whistle blew and, after a long meeting, the play was blown dead after 14 yards – and Ryan got a sideline penalty for 15 more yards. Blandino went on explain that the crew looked at where the ball was when the whistle was blown and decided it was in Amendola’s hands.

LeSean McCoy ran 20 times for 82 yards for the Bills (5-5), who lost to Brady for the 25th time in 28 games.

Cornerback Nickell Robey said the inadvertent whistle was something “that takes place in like Little League games”.

But the tide turned the Patriots’ way soon after. With 5:55 remaining in the third quarter the Pats took a 17-10 lead.

Jerry Hughes was a one-man wrecking ball and perhaps the best player of the night for Buffalo. We can’t give up big plays on defense.

The Patriots improved to 10-0 this season as Brady completed 20 of 39 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown at Gillette Stadium. Taylor was 20 of 36 for 233 yards and a 75.3 rating.

The Patriots pride themselves in having a lot of versatile, mismatch-creating options, but at the moment, those are limited.

The Patriots may not be able to cover up all their injury problems next week at Denver. Manning is dealing with a torn plantar fascia.

It helps to have Brady at quarterback.

Since the whistle came before the catch, it should have been a do-over. Give the Patriots a fighting chance, at least.