Day 161: Hello, New England Patriots... Oh How I've Missed You!!

I love both baseball and football, and it's hard to choose a favorite—I'm not sure I could even if someone was holding a gun to my head. Let's hope it never comes to that. So today was difficult with the Patriots AND the Red Sox on at the same time. I chose the Patriots.

There's just something about football that makes it so much more appealing. Maybe it's the season itself. With baseball, sometimes you could watch seven games in a single week—if you miss one, no big whoop. But football... football is stingy. Having only one game a week makes each one an event. So needless to say, I was happy for the return on Sunday afternoon football featuring my New England Patriots.

The Pats opened their season in Buffalo and heavily favored. I guess no one told the Bills that because they really put up a fight and made this a real nail-biter. Although the Patriots ended up winning 23-21, they trailed for much of the second half and often looked shaky. The depleted receiving core is obviously still an issue and the rookies played like, well, rookies. And all I kept hearing in my head was all those sports radio guys saying what a joke this game was going to be and how the Patriots were really just playing another preseason game. Shut UP!!

Tom Brady looked a bit wobbly in the first half despite the 17-14 lead at the half. There weren't a ton of spectacular plays and Danny Amendola re-injured his groin so that was sucky—especially since he's one of those guys who, every time he gets hit, you hold your breath waiting for him to get up. A couple fumbles by Stevan Ridley, one recovered and returned for a Bills TD, landed him on the bench for the rest of the game. I didn't think it could get worse.

I was wrong. The Bills took the second half kickoff, marched down the field and scored the go ahead touchdown. I'm pretty sure most Patriots fans were in shock right about that point. The Pats managed to score a field goal to bring the score to 21-20 Bills early in the fourth quarter and then had to go all Incredible Hulk on defense to keep the Bills and their rookie QB quiet.

And then the Comeback Kid did what he does best and has done 36 times in his career. Tom Brady needed 12 plays to go 49 yards to set up a Stephen Gostkowski 35-yard field goal with just five seconds left to secure the win. Brady finished 29 of 52 for 288 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. This is their 10th straight season opener which ties them for the NFL's third-longest streak.

Danny Amendola led the receivers with 10 catches for 104 yards—including several key and at times, acrobatic grabs in the game winning drive. Julian Edelman caught seven balls for 79 yards and two touchdowns. With Ridley on the bench in a time out, Shane Vereen got the majority of the work carrying 14 times for 104 yards. For the complete details in case you *gasp* missed the game, click HERE.

It wasn't pretty, but in the end it's still a notch in the win column... But holy crap, if all the games are this stressful, I might not make it through the season in one piece!