Schobel progress is stunted

FOXBOROUGH - Tom Brady started his postgame remarks after yesterday's 38-7 romp over Buffalo by giving credit where the Patriots quarterback believed it was due: his offensive line.

"The way they performed today was exceptional," said Brady, who completed 23 of 29 passes for 311 yards and four touchdowns, which translated into a career-high 150.9 passer rating. "It's kind of what they've been doing all year, but they were doing such a good job run blocking, we had a lot of holes there in the run game and they did a good job of pass protection.

"That allowed us to hold onto the ball a little bit longer."

Brady then paused, as if to jog his memory.

"I don't know if we had any sacks - maybe one," he said, before quickly holding himself accountable for it by adding, "but I held onto the ball. They did a great job."

The job done by Brady's Burly Bunch was so impressive that, for most of the afternoon, Aaron Schobel was rendered something of an apparition. Over that stretch, Buffalo's Pro Bowl defensive end, who entered having recorded more sacks (10 1/2 in 12 games) against Brady than any player in the NFL, was barely seen or heard from, leaving the Gillette Stadium crowd of 68,756 to wonder if Schobel had even shown up for yesterday's game between AFC East rivals.

"I give him a lot of credit," said Matt Light, who was largely responsible for Schobel being rendered a non-factor. "He's a great pass rusher. He's a relentless-style rusher that you have to take into account when you play him. He's a good player. We'll see him again."

However, it wasn't until seven minutes remained in the third quarter, with the Patriots knocking on the door on a second-and-goal from the 1, that Schobel made his presence felt when he combined with linebacker John DiGiorgio for a 3-yard sack of Brady.

With that half-sack, Schobel moved into a second-place tie with Phil Hansen on Buffalo's all-time list with 61 1/2.

"We certainly tried to put enough guys over there to try to block him," said Patriots coach Bill Belichick. "But they still got us a few times and then they moved him inside and stunted him. He's a tough guy to block. He's a really good player. He's quick. He's explosive and strong for his size [6 feet 4 inches, 243 pounds]. He's very instinctive and he has a great motor. He's a hard guy to stay with. We got him a few times, but he got us, too.

"He's a guy you have to game plan for. He's tough."

Schobel's big play did little to derail the Patriots, however. On the next play, Brady shrugged off the setback and found Jabar Gaffney with a 4-yard TD for a 24-7 lead.

"Up front, we've got a lot of experience and we're playing pretty well," Light said. "Our receivers are making plays. I think our rushing attack - we have four guys back there who are running the ball really effectively. Laurence [Maroney] had a big game today. Sammy [Morris], Kevin [Faulk], and having Heath [Evans] come out of the backfield, too, those guys are running the ball really hard."

The net effect it had on Buffalo's wounded defense - which arrived at Gillette Stadium with defensive ends Ryan Denney and Copeland Bryan, linebackers Coy Wire and Keith Ellison, and cornerback Terrence McGee listed as inactive - was that it seemed to neutralize the pass rush.

That Schobel, who sacked Brady three times last season, wasn't more of a disruptive force was a testament to the outstanding job by the Patriots' offensive line. It also spoke volumes of the work Light did in his head-to-head matchup with Schobel, who wound up making five tackles (three assists) to go along with a quarterback hurry, a pass deflection, and his half-sack.

While Light must have taken great pride in that fact, it was Brady who took pleasure in lauding his left tackle.

"Matt did a great job over there on my left side," Brady said. "At the same time, I think we're trying to scheme things up so [Schobel's] not coming off the edge all day, and you always try to keep those pass rushes accountable for those pass rushers, because they can ruin a game. That's where the best guy usually is; right over on the offense's left side.

"They did a good job with [Schobel]," Brady added. "He's a great player, a Pro Bowl player, but our offensive line is getting it done this year."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.