5 takeaways from the Patriots’ AFC East-clinching win over the Bills

The New England Patriots won the AFC East crown in Saturday’s soul-crushing 24-17 win over the Buffalo Bills.

The AFC East throne is sticking around in Foxborough for at least another year after the New England Patriots handed the Buffalo Bills a crushing 24-17 loss on Saturday night. It was a much-needed confidence building performance for a Patriots team desperately searching for an identity ahead of the playoffs.

They might have finally found it against the Bills. Here are five takeaways from the Patriots’ AFC East division-clinching win.

Brady starting to look comfortable

So much has been made about Brady’s continued frustrations with the offense and lack of receiving weapons. However, that has seemingly died down in the waning weeks of the season. Perhaps it’s simply a case of a 42-year-old quarterback facing reality. Rob Gronkowski isn’t coming out of retirement, and the Patriots aren’t bringing back Antonio Brown.

The hopes of repeating as a Super Bowl champion rides solely on the success of the pieces in front of Brady. There aren’t many of them, but there isn’t a quarterback in NFL history that has done more with less than the future Hall of Famer.

He looked especially sharp on Saturday against the No. 3-ranked defense in football, finishing 26-of-33 passing for 271 yards and one touchdown. There have been far too many unfair takes on his supposed rapid decline.

If the offensive line can block up front and the team can continue to run the ball effectively, Brady is more than capable of forging the path towards another Super Bowl run.

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