ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - Tom Brady and the New England Patriots continued their dominance over Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills.
Brady passed for 466 yards -- the second-highest total of his career -- and three touchdowns Sunday to lead the New England Patriots in a 40-32 victory over the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
On a day when Buffalo's fans hoped to set a Guinness World Record for noise, Brady deflated the home crowd's enthusiasm.
"It was really loud, no doubt," Brady said. "I thought the good plays settled them down a little bit. ... It's a good team, great defense, tough place to play, and it was a great win. It's great to be 2-0."
The Patriots (2-0) have now beaten the Bills (1-1) in 24 of their 27 meetings when Brady was the Patriots starting quarterback.
"It's a team win," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "We prepared hard and we got something to show for it. We scored 40 points and we are 1-0 in the division."
New England is also now 10-4 against teams coached by Rex Ryan, who led the New York Jets before taking over in Buffalo during the offseason.
"It's on my shoulders," Ryan said. "Belichick out-coached me. No question about it. That's how it ended up."
"It's our players," Belichick countered. "They made the plays that won the game. They probably overcame some not-so-great coaching on our part."
Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman caught 11 passes for 97 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and tight end Rob Gronkowski caught seven passes for 113 yards and a touchdown. New England running back Dion Lewis gained 138 yards from scrimmage and scored a touchdown, and kicker Stephen Gostkowski made all four of his field goal attempts.
Gostkowski sealed the win with a 25-yard field goal after the Bills had cut the Patriots' 24-point lead down to 37-32 late in the fourth quarter.
Penalty flags flew frequently in this game. The teams combined for 25 penalties for 259 yards. Buffalo had 14 of those penalties for 140 yards.
Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor struggled for much of his second career start, but rallied Buffalo to three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. He finished with 242 yards passing and touchdowns to tight end Charles Clay and wide receivers Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins. Taylor also rushed for 43 yards and a touchdown, but was intercepted three times and sacked eight times.
"On the offensive side, we killed ourselves," Taylor said. "We have to protect the ball more, or better. And penalties, we can't have as many penalties as a team and on the offensive side."
New England appeared to put the game out of reach when it scored 13 straight points in the third quarter and built a 24-point lead.
The Patriots opened the half with a 77-yard drive that ended with Gostkowski's 21-yard field goal.
Edelman then took a short pass 22 yards for his second touchdown of the day to punctuate an 83-yard drive and put the Patriots in front 34-13 midway through the third quarter.
A 50-yard field goal from Gostkowski made it 37-13 just before the end of the third quarter.
Taylor hit Woods for a 32-yard touchdown with 11:41 remaining, but missed a 2-point conversion pass attempt to wide receiver Percy Harvin. Taylor also scored on a 5-yard run with 5:27 left in the game.
The Bills got within one score when Taylor threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Watkins with 4:16 remaining. Buffalo started the drive at the 50 when linebacker Preston Brown recovered a Brady fumble forced by defensive end Jerry Hughes.
Gostkowski made a 46-yard field goal to give the Patriots a 24-13 lead heading into halftime.
Buffalo had cut New England's lead to 21-13 late in the first half when Taylor connected with Clay on a 9-yard touchdown, but kicker Dan Carpenter missed the extra point. Buffalo started the drive on the New England 48 after the Patriots failed to convert a fourth down, and got down to the 9 when Patriots cornerback Bradley Fletcher was flagged for pass interference on a deep pass to Harvin.
New England scored three touchdowns in a span of 5:48 to take a 21-7 lead early in the second quarter.
Brady found Edelman on an 8-yard pass for the Patriots' first touchdown with a little over four minutes left in the first quarter.
New England started its next drive at the Buffalo 13 following a 27-yard punt return by Danny Amendola and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty on Buffalo's Duke Williams. Three plays later, running Lewis scored from 6 yards out on the Patriots' first running play of the game.
Brady's 2-yard touchdown pass to Gronkowski capped a 30-yard drive set up by an interception by cornerback Malcolm Butler.
Buffalo trampled the New England defense on the opening drive, gaining 58 of its 80 yards on the ground and taking a 7-0 lead on rookie running back Karlos Williams' 2-yard touchdown run.
"I thought that first drive, our team showed a lot of mental toughness and resiliency to come back from a pretty hostile atmosphere to take the lead and play from ahead," Belichick said.
On its next five drives, the Buffalo's offense totaled minus-6 yards.
NOTES: Bills S Aaron Williams was taken off the field in an ambulance after sustaining a neck injury on WR Julian Edelman's touchdown in the third quarter. ... The Patriots shuffled their interior offensive line to start the game, inserting rookie Shaq Mason at left guard and moving Josh Kline to the right side. Kline started at left guard in the opener. ... Bills DT Marcell Dareus and Patriots RB LeGarrette Blount both returned after serving one-game suspensions for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. ... Former Bills general manager Bill Polian received his Pro Football Hall of Fame ring at halftime.
