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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker tormented the Bills' defense from start to finish Sunday. He caught Tom Brady's first pass, his last pass and a ton more in between to tie a franchise record with 16 ...
Home Schedule Standings Stats Roster Video Live Blog Fan Forum Opinion Wes Welker's Historic Performance Goes for Naught After Patriots' Meltdown in Buffalo by Jeff Howe on Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 8:
He caught Tom Brady's first pass, his last pass and a ton more in between to tie a franchise record with 16 receptions. Welker also set a new Patriots record with 217 receiving yards and caught a pair of touchdowns to boot.
"Pretty much, [the loss] detracts everything," Welker said. "We lost the game. What should be a great fun day of breaking records and doing all those things, it's totally the opposite. I think it shows that we've got a long way to go, and we've got to step up across the board, and make plays and understand that we just can't play like this."
The Bills said this week they were going to do everything in their power to stop Welker, which clearly didn't work. Brady targeted him on 20 of his 45 pass attempts (44.4 percent), including on both of the Patriots' fourth-down conversions on their game-tying drive in the fourth quarter.
The 68,000-plus at Ralph Wilson Stadium knew where the ball was going, including the 11 clad in Bills uniforms, and it happened time and again. Welker was involved in five of the Patriots' nine longest plays from scrimmage, pacing the offense in historic fashion.
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Jeff Howe has been NESN.com?s Patriots beat reporter since 2009, and he has covered the pro sports scene in Boston since 2006. Howe grew up in Lowell and is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts. Follow Jeff on Twitter. Have a question for Jeff? Send it to his mailbag.