Finishing touch needed

FOXBOROUGH -- The Patriots didn't raise another Super Bowl banner before yesterday's season opener against Buffalo, but somebody forgot to tell that to Bills quarterback J.P. Losman, who kept referring to Bill Belichick and Co. as ``the champs."

Lucky for Losman the Pittsburgh Steelers aren't on the Bills' schedule this season. But Losman wasn't alone. Buffalo running back Willis McGahee also called New England Super Bowl champions, and defensive end Aaron Schobel and linebacker Takeo Spikes both mentioned the Patriots' three Super Bowl wins.

Maybe it was the Bills' reverence for their AFC East rivals that caused Buffalo to collapse under the weight of questionable coaching calls, untimely penalties, and a costly safety, blowing a 10-point halftime lead to lose, 19-17, yesterday at Gillette Stadium.

``They're the champs, man," said Losman. ``They turned it on. They're not going to come out in the second half and just let us win. This is why they're the champs."

The truth is the Patriots didn't play like champions of anything yesterday. New England trailed from the get-go -- literally. Twelve seconds into its season, Buffalo had a 7-0 lead.

Spikes, who was returning from a torn right Achilles' tendon that limited him to three games last season, barreled in unblocked on a blitz and blasted Tom Brady, knocking the ball free. Fellow linebacker London Fletcher-Baker scooped it up for a 5-yard touchdown.

``That was a great way to start," said Buffalo coach Dick Jauron. ``I just wish it would have ended differently."

It may have if Jauron hadn't elected to go for it on fourth and 1 from the New England 7 with his team leading, 17-7, on the first drive of the second half. With 9:30 left in the third, Jauron eschewed a chip-shot field goal and gave the ball to McGahee, but Don Davis grabbed both McGahee's leg and the momentum, stopping the former University of Miami star short of the first down.

The Patriots then embarked on a 12-play, 93-yard drive that ended with Brady finding Kevin Faulk for a 17-yard touchdown pass. On its next possession, New England tied the game on a 32-yard field goal by rookie Stephen Gostkowski with 9:33 left. ``With that down and distance, at that part of the game, you know you would love to have it 24-7," said Jauron. ``Because we didn't get it I would like to have the decision back and kick it through."

The former Swampscott High star was really regretting his decision when Losman was sacked for a safety by Patriots defensive end Ty Warren on third and 11 from his 8-yard line one minute later, giving New England a 19-17 lead.

Losman (15 for 23, 164 yards, no interceptions, 86.1 QB rating) had looked more Brady-like than the real thing up to that point, but he reverted back to the form that cost him the starting job last season.

``You would like to get rid of the ball in that situation if you can, but the game is on the line, man," said Losman. ``You're trying to make a play. I felt there was only one rusher that I could get away from, which I did, and obviously, I didn't see another guy. Looking back at it, the next time that comes up you just have to get rid of it."

Brady gave Buffalo another chance when he matched Losman's gaffe, throwing an interception to Donte Whitner on the first play following the free kick. But Buffalo couldn't capitalize thanks to a pair of penalties. First, an illegal block in the back by cornerback Nate Clements negated Whitner's runback. Then, after Losman completed a third-down pass to Peerless Price to move Buffalo to the New England 38, overzealous tight end Robert Royal was called for another illegal block, rendering that play moot.

``It's a situation where when you play these upper-echelon teams like New England, they're not going to beat themselves," said Fletcher-Baker. ``We just have to be able to go out there and make the plays when they're there to be made. We made some plays and some things happened to kind of negate it. We hurt ourselves and once we look at the film we'll know we hurt ourselves."

Learning from the film and applying it next time is the best the Bills can do, according to Fletcher-Baker. He knows that champions -- real or imagined -- don't count moral victories.

``The last time I checked we're in the business of winning football games," said the veteran linebacker. ``It doesn't matter how many moral victories we have. At the end of the year, they're going to judge you on how many games you won, how many ballgames you lost. It's not going to say you had seven or eight moral victories."