FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts — The New England Patriots took the field on Sunday hoping to get through 60 minutes without any major injuries.
They lost 17-9 to the Buffalo Bills and may have suffered only a couple of minor injuries as they get ready for their playoff run.
“We’re looking forward,” quarterback Tom Brady said after playing the first half of the loss that left the Patriots with a final regular season record of 12-4 — 10-2 after a dismal 2-2 start.
“We always hate losing, absolutely. We didn’t make enough plays to win, but hopefully we’ll make them in a couple of weeks.”
Having wrapped up home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs when the Denver Broncos lost last Monday night, the Patriots now have a bye week to rest their injured players and get ready for a home divisional playoff game either Jan. 10 or 11. They will play the lowest remaining seed as they seek their first Super Bowl title since 2004.
Left offensive tackle Nate Solder left the game in the first half with a knee injury and didn’t return. Wide receiver Brandon LaFell, who suffered a foot injury in the second half after making four catches to run his season total to 74, returned to the game.
Coach Bill Belichick didn’t meet with the media after the game, the club announcing he was with the trainers but that it wasn’t a serious matter. He held a conference call later, apologizing for being late and saying, “I had to spend a few minutes in the training room after the game. Nothing serious, just a couple … just a little thing to look at with the trainers and the doctor.”
He added, “It’s not a big deal, I don’t want to get into it … I’ll be all right.”
Cornerback Darrelle Revis, who played the first half, wasn’t thrilled with the team’s performance.
“It wasn’t good,” he said. “In all three phases, it wasn’t good. Buffalo had a lot of energy coming out at the start of the game and we just didn’t play to our standards.”
The Bills, taking advantage of the Patriots resting players, won at Gillette Stadium for the first time since 2000 and capped their first winning season since 2004.
Buffalo finished its 15th straight season out of the playoffs with a 9-7 record.
Kyle Orton threw a touchdown pass and Boobie Dixon ran for a touchdown to lead Buffalo, which was eliminated with a loss at Oakland last week.
“Obviously we had goals we set that we fell just a little bit short of,” said defensive tackle Kyle Williams. “Any time an organization has not had a winning team in quite a long time, to come out with a winning record, I guess is a little bittersweet.
“It is definitely something to build on.”
Added Orton: “Any time you step on a field it’s important.”
Stephen Gostkowski kicked field goals of 24, 44 and 35 yards for New England.
The asterisk quality loss also ended the Pats’ 35-game home winning streak against the AFC, their 16th straight overall home regular-season run and a 17-gamer against the AFC East.
Orton, clearing the 3,000-yard passing mark for the third time in his career, was 16 of 23 for 176 yards.
Brady was 8 of 16 for 80 yards, finishing the season 373 of 584 for 4,109 yards, 33 touchdowns and nine interceptions. It was the only game this season that Brady went without a touchdown pass.
Rookie Jimmy Garoppolo was 10 of 17 for 90 yards and showed some nifty escape moves despite three sacks.
The Bills came in leading the NFL in sacks with 50 and had four.
NOTES: TE Rob Gronkowski, who said earlier in the week he intended to play the entire meaningless final game, and WR/PR Julian Edelman were among the Patriots’ inactives. Edelman, who missed his second straight game with a concussion, finished with a team-high 92 catches for 972 yards and four touchdowns, while Gronkowski had 82 catches for 1,124 yards and 12 TDs. … Buffalo’s inactives included two starters, CB Stephen Gilmore and DT Marcell Dareus, who were both listed through the week as questionable with injuries. … The Patriots reportedly signed director of player personnel Nick Caserio to a contract extension through 2020. “Nick does a great job for us,” said coach Bill Belichick. “He probably does more than any other person in his position in the league.” … Pete Frates, the former Boston College baseball player who inspired the Ice Bucket Challenge, celebrated his birthday at Gillette Stadium, with the crowd serenading him with Happy Birthday at the first half two-minute warning.