Admit it.

If I had told you an hour before kickoff that (a) Tom Brady would finish with 115 yards passing and a QB rating of 59.1, (b) the Bills would average 4.6 yards rushing and (c) Ryan Fitzpatrick would complete 68 percent of his passes, you would have called that guy who knows that other guy and maybe inquired about the possibility of a (fully legal, I’m sure) wager.

And who could blame you? Those four numbers plus no Vince Wilfork or Ty Warren and the (at best) lackluster effort from the Patriots since fourth-and-2 seemed a recipe for the kind of 31-10 loss that ends a season and makes one wonder if it might not be the worst idea in the world to make sure you kept those gift receipts for the Belichick hoodies you bought for the kids.

But a funny thing happened on the way to 31-10.

Let’s call it the Redemption of the Scapegoat Trio.

The first member of that group? Mr. Laurence Maroney. I don’t think there has been a Patriots player in the Belichick Era that has had more negative words written or spoken about him than Maroney. And to be fair, most have been deserved.

For every blast of brilliance there have been 10 of those “shuffle at the line of scrimmage and lose a yard” runs that have almost become his trademark. I know I absolutely gave up on him after last season.

And Maroney had done nothing in the first five weeks of the 2009 season to make you believe that he would ever figure it out. Nor did it seem that Belichick had any faith in him, as he had just 32 carries in total, for 99 yards (3.1 yards per carry) and zero touchdowns. Career backup stuff. Five teams in eight years kind of stuff.

At that point it sure seemed that Maroney was done in New England. But then Fred Taylor got hurt. And Sammy Morris got hurt. One last chance. And what has he done with it?

Well, in the nine games since he has taken over as the clear-cut lead back he has rushed for 636 yards on 157 carries (4.1 YPC) and nine touchdowns. Those numbers projected to a full season? Over 1,100 yards (1,130 to be exact) and 16 TDs.

Sure, he still drives you crazy at times (killer fumble vs. Indy, he’ll never be a pass catcher), but Maroney has played by far the best football of his career over the past two months. I think the best thing you can say about Maroney now is that you aren’t even surprised when he has a solid B+ kind of game, which is exactly what he gave the Pats in the win over the Bills.

Maroney had just 81 yards on 23 carries (3.5 YPC), but when the Pats needed a first down, he came through. And when they were in a goal-line situation there was no need for mystery: two Maroney rushes produced a TD. And didn't you want Maroney to have the ball instead of watching the Patriots butcher their second-to-last drive of the game?

(And I mean butchering — why, up 14 points at their own 11 with 4:20 left in the game, did the Pats throw the ball twice? That included a deep ball in double coverage to Sam Aiken. Strange use of the clock. Total time of the drive? Thirty-two seconds. And of course the Bills scored a TD on the next drive. No false start call on that onside kick and maybe this column is about clock management)

Admit it. Can all the people that thought that would ever happen 10 weeks ago form a line, please?

That leads us to Randy Gene Moss.

I have no idea if he tried or if he didn’t last week. I have my opinion, of course. So do Chris Gamble and Merril Hoge and Gerry Callahan and Peter King and Tom Brady. I think even a couple of the blue fellas in “Avatar” even weighed in on the issue at the premier the other night.

But the truth, of course, is that the only one who really knows is Moss. But I think we all know that for the Patriots to have any chance to make a real run at the Super Bowl this year, they need the Moss who dominated the Colts for three quarters a month ago.

And while his numbers on Sunday weren’t eye-popping by any stretch (five catches for 70 yards and a TD), he was that guy in the first half. Don’t forget, the 13-yard TD catch was set up by a 43-yard pass interference drawn on a deep ball to Moss. It was pretty clear that the plan was to get Moss involved early, and he responded with his best game since the Colts loss.

(My last two cents on all the Moss stuff from the past week? I heard plenty of callers (and a few hosts) asking for Moss to be shown the door. And if you think that Moss wasn’t trying and you can’t live with a player on your team not giving 100 percent all the time, then you should want him gone. Perfectly legitimate.

But understand that if the Pats do that in the offseason, they will not be as good a football team. They will not replace him. You will be looking at the world of 2006 again, with Reche Caldwell and Chad Jackson-types. And Wes Welker will still be really good, but will he still be this good?

Moss has played 46 games with the Patriots. He has 44 TD catches. If it were me, I’d live with the occasional knucklehead stuff. Lots of guys can try really hard all the time. How many guys can average a touchdown a game for three seasons?)

And now we complete the trio. Listen, I get that Ryan Fitzpatrick isn’t Jim Kelly, I really do. And Fred Jackson isn’t Thurman Thomas (although he was plenty good in the two games vs. the Pats this season). And T.O. (a whopping four catches combined in the two games, or two fewer than Ben Watson) just does not exist in that offense.

All points are granted. But if we are going to kill the defense when they allowed guys like Trent Edwards, Mark Sanchez and Chad Henne to look like All-Pros, then we have to give them credit when they do what they are supposed to do against the Matt Moore’s and Fitzpatrick’s of the NFL.

I’m sure Ty Warren is still a good player. You know why I’m sure about that? Because every time he’s made a play (or been near a play) the guys on TV tell me so. But I can’t seem to shake the thought that Mike Wright made more plays Sunday than Ty Warren has made in the last two seasons.

I guess I need to stop trusting guys like Dan Dierdorf. Which is a shame, because when he told us that Belichick has done the best coaching job of his career this year I really wanted to believe him.

(Though I grouped them together earlier, do not think that I feel the same about Wilfork as I do about Warren. Buffalo’s first drive of the game was proof of Wilfork’s value. If Belichick could’ve stopped the game in the middle of that drive he might’ve called Big Vince’s agent and worked out a long-term deal.)

Again, the Bills are the Bills, but the Pats defense was THE story of the game. After that first drive, Buffalo did nothing until that late TD (scored on a short field). The pass rush was the key, with six sacks, including three by Tully Banta-Cain (he now has 8.5 sacks this season). There was a nice game from Derrick Burgess (five tackles and a sack) as well. (Adalius Thomas was the only member of the Tardy Gang that failed to step up). And when was the last time an opposing quarterback looked confused vs. a Patriots defense?

We will find out soon enough if the defense is getting fat against lousy offenses or is actually figuring things out. But on this day, a day when Tom Brady and Wes Welker were virtual non-factors, the defense was the key.

And then there was Brady and Welker.

Look out Jacksonville, I'm thinking next week could be the Redemption of the Beloved Duo.