You heard the rumblings, you heard the doubts, you saw the hints of decline, but the New England Patriots have bounced back in a resounding way.

After putting the breaks to a streaking Cincinnati Bengals team last week, the Patriots kept on their resurgent path and owned the Buffalo Bills on the road this weekend to take their rightful place atop the AFC East.

The Bills were feeling good about themselves heading into this week’s game and couldn’t have asked for better circumstances entering this game. They were coming off of an emotional win over the Detroit Lions that was hard fought to the end and were tied with the Pats atop the AFC East with an opportunity to take sole possession of the division lead with a win at home.

Well, looks can be deceiving. What looked to be shaping up as another hard fought match-up was nothing more than comfort food for the soul to the Patriots and they ate the Bills up.

“You have to give credit to the whole offense,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said after the victory in Buffalo. “I thought we did a decent job of giving [Brady] time. The receivers made some good plays, Tom made some good reads and made some good throws, but it took everybody out there working together today. It’s not a one-man band.”

The Bills should’ve seen it coming, Brady has just owned them throughout his career. While football is the ultimate team game, there’s something to be said about a team’s most elite player having supreme confidence against a particular opponent and for Brady, that team is the Bills.

Despite the quality of Buffalo’s secondary and pass rush this year plus the hindrance of a struggling running game for the Pats, Brady carving up the Bills’ secondary for over 360 yards in the air and four touchdowns is exceptional and commendable. This outing should quiet down the “he’s washed up” rumblings for a bit.

Brady’s career record against the Bills is something to marvel at; in the 24 career games Brady has suited up against Buffalo, he has walked off the field a loser only twice in his career. That’s delivering results and one of the reasons why the Patriots have had such a strong hold on the AFC East for over a decade.

Buffalo’s head coach Doug Marrone was asked after game if the disparity between the Bills and Patriots is simply the fact that the Pats have Brady and they don’t. Marrone gave the politically correct answer.

“Don’t get me wrong: He’s an outstanding football player. Is there anyone else in this league that has someone like him? I don’t know. Probably not like him, but there might be three or four other guys in that same class of player. My personal opinion is that I think it comes down to things like execution and turnovers,” Marrone said. “You have to play a very good football game to beat them. They did, today, a very good job of not doing anything to beat themselves and made plays. We did things to beat ourselves. We took away three points with the penalties down there at the end. We were able to overcome some penalties too.”

He should face the truth though, because that is the biggest reason for the disparity between the two franchises. The reason the Patriots have taken the Bills’ lunch money 22 times out of the last 24 is because New England has Brady and the Bills still have relative nobodys under center.

Factor in the Miami Dolphins’ late-game struggles and the New York Jets’ offensive ineptitude, and it doesn’t appear the hierarchy of the AFC East is going to change anytime soon. The Patriots still reign supreme.