On Sunday, the New England Patriots will play on the road against the Buffalo Bills. The team has had plenty of success in western New York this century – winning 15 of 17 games – with two players in particular standing out: Quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski have been nearly unstoppable when playing the Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium/New Era Field.
Brady played at Buffalo 15 times over the course of his NFL career – and his numbers are staggering for road games. Overall, the future Hall of Famer has helped the Patriots to 13 victories while putting up impressive numbers: Brady completed 344 of 535 pass attempts for 4,232 yards. Furthermore, he threw 38 touchdowns and only 13 interceptions for a combined passer rating of 102.2.
The numbers become even more impressive when compared to what Buffalo's quarterbacks – on their home ground – did over roughly the same timespan.
Since 2001, the Bills passers completed only 60.2% of their pass attempts (16.6 of 30.6) for 195.6 yards per game compared to Brady's 64.3% (22.9 of 35.7) for 282.1 yards a contest. And while Brady threw 2.5 touchdowns on average, Buffalo's quarterbacks threw only 1.2. The only category in which the home team's passers have an edge over Brady is interceptions: New England's quarterback throws 0.9 per game, Buffalo's 0.8.
To take this comparison even further, Brady has a chance to climb the stadium record lists for touchdowns and wins on Sunday. If he throws for more than three scores, he will pass Ryan Fitzpatrick and Drew Bledsoe and move into third all time at Buffalo's home stadium behind only Jim Kelly and Joe Ferguson. He would also move into the third spot behind the two on the wins list – tied with Bledsoe – in case New England leaves Buffalo with a victory.
Gronkowski's numbers are not too shabby either. While the NFL's best tight end lacks the career longevity of his quarterback, he did play six games in Buffalo since his 2011 rookie campaign. During his trips, the Amherst-native caught a total of 35 passes for 583 yards and seven touchdowns. Gronkowski scored in all but one of his games at the Bills, gaining 100+ receiving yards four separate times.
In short: The 28-year old has also been a huge asset for the Patriots when it comes to playing in western New York. On Sunday, when the team travels there again, look for both Brady and Gronkowski to add to their already impressive numbers.