ORCHARD PARK, New York (Ticker) -- Tom Brady sure didn't recognize this defense for the Buffalo Bills. Lawyer Milloy is now a part of it.
Defensive tackle Sam Adams returned an interception 37 yards for a touchdown and linebacker Takeo Spikes enjoyed his first two-interception game as the Bills rolled to a stunning 31-0 rout of the New England Patriots in a season-opening battle of AFC East rivals.
Brady was 4-0 with a 101.2 passer rating, completing 65 percent of his passes for 792 yards and six touchdowns with one interception, in his career against the Bills.
But Buffalo overhauled its defense in the offseason, signing Adams, Spikes and linebacker Jeff Posey as free agents. This past week, the Bills also pounced on Milloy, a four-time Pro Bowl safety after he was waived by the Patriots for salary cap purposes.
The changes obviously made an immediate impact. Brady was intercepted four times and threw for just 123 yards. The four interceptions tied a career-high set on October 28, 2001 at Denver.
On one of those interceptions, Milloy tipped an underthrown pass in the end zone that was intended for David Patten and Bills cornerback Nate Clements picked off the deflection in the second quarter.
Despite having just three days to learn the playbook, Milloy had five tackles and a sack.
"It feels good," Milloy said. "But it feels good in a positive way, not in a personal vendetta way. I could be sitting up here and throwing out names and sticking it to them, but they know."
"All I know is that as soon as he (Milloy) came here he was in all the team meetings," said Bills coach Gregg Williams. "He's exactly the kind of guy we were looking for."
The Patriots were stunned when coach Bill Belichick cut Milloy on Tuesday for salary cap purposes. Brady went so far as to call it "as cutthroat as cutthroat gets."
And he and most of the Patriots played on Sunday like they were still shellshocked.
"It was an obvious distraction," said Patriots cornerback Ty Law, who played with Milloy in New England's secondary for seven years. "But no excuses, we didn't play well. Even if Lawyer Milloy was here, we wouldn't have done enough to win."
It was Buffalo's first shutout since a 26-0 victory over Philadelphia on September 26, 1999. The Patriots were last shut out in a 6-0 loss to the New York Jets on November 28, 1993.
This one was especially surprising since the Patriots had won five straight against the Bills and outscored them, 65-24 in sweeping the series last year.
Last year's sweep was especially painful for Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who was traded by the Patriots to Buffalo in April 2002 after losing his starting job to Brady. That made this one especially sweet for Bledsoe, who was 17-of-28 for 231 yards and a touchdown with an interception.
In the fourth quarter, Bledsoe and Milloy had an enjoyable chat on the sidelines.
"We were talking about what you probably think we were talking about," Bledsoe said. "We were both pretty happy with the win."
Bledsoe engineered scoring drives of 80 yards and 90 yards on his first two possessions, consuming 14 1/2 minutes.
Bledsoe hit running back Travis Henry with an 18-yard pass and connected with Bobby Shaw on a 24-yard play before Henry scored on a one-yard run on the game-opening drive.
"From the first play on, it was Buffalo, Buffalo, Buffalo," Brady said.
Bledsoe hit Eric Moulds with a 40-yard pass and connected with running back Sammy Morris on a 24-yard play on the second drive, which lasted 9:28. Bledsoe capped it with a seven-yard TD to tight end Dave Moore 1:38 into the second quarter.
Adams then made the defensive play of the game when he rolled across the line and intercepted a short pass by Brady. With three blockers by his side, Adams rumbled into the end zone for his second career touchdown, giving the Bills a 21-0 lead.
"Everybody did their job on that play and I was fortunate to have the ball thrown right at me," said Adams, who signed with Buffalo after being released by Oakland for salary cap purposes. "I'm glad I caught it and I had enough blockers to take me into the end zone."
It was the first touchdown by a Bills defensive lineman since Pat Toomay scored in a September 21, 1975 game against the New York Jets.
Meanwhile, the Patriots managed just 51 yards in the first half and six first downs.
"We didn't play well," Belichick said. "We got beat in every phase of the game. We got outcoached. We didn't do anything well."
Spikes, who signed a five-year, $32 million contract with Buffalo after spending his first five years in Cincinnati, intercepted Brady twice in the fourth quarter, setting up a nine-yard touchdown run by Henry and a 44-yard field goal by Rian Lindell to complete the rout.
"I think our defense is capable of being as good as anybody's," Spikes said. "We showed what we're capable of today."
