didn't have to play second fiddle to Tom Brady and Co. for once.With the Patriots leaning more on Stephen Gostkowski's leg than Brady's arm against the Buffalo Bills on Monday night Color Rush Byron Cowart Jersey , McCourty stepped up and returned an interception 84 yards to secure a 25-6 victory."The last couple of games it was our offense scoring and us trying to keep the team out. This was a game where they were moving the ball and couldn't get into the end zone," McCourty said. "We had to make sure Buffalo didn't get in the end zone, and once it cracked, we had to take advantage of it."The interception proved to be the turning point in what had been a tightly contested game in which New England settled for four Gostkowski field goals, and after James White scored on a 1-yard to make it 18-6 with 9:58 left.The Bills responded with what was initially ruled a touchdown, when tight end Jason Croom appeared to make a diving, one-handed catch in the end zone. The 25-yard catch was negated when replays showed Croom never had possession.Two plays later, McCourty jumped in front of Derek Anderson's attempt to hit tight end Charles Clay over the middle."Those are bonus points. It's hard to count on those," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "It was a big play for us. They were driving in the red area and it turned it around."Buffalo lost its third straight and dropped to 2-6 for its worst start since opening the 2010 season with eight losses.The Bills offense continued its anemic ways in being held to under 7 points for the fourth time this season — once more than that's happened from 2013-17. Buffalo has scored just two touchdowns in its past five outings, a stretch in which it has been outscored by a margin of 116-37.Running back LeSean McCoy took the offense's struggles personally. Though he had a team-best 82 yards receiving, McCoy finished with just 13 yards rushing and has yet to score this season."I'm 30 years old. I've been playing since high school. This stuff has never happened to me. Yeah it's tough," he said.What hurts more is McCoy knowing how the offense has let down the defense."It's not fair to them," he said. "I didn't expect to have no season like this. I'm not really playing well at all. We're not doing much on offense."Credit the Bills' defense for not playing the role of the expected pushover against a Brady-led offense that had scored 38 or more points in each of its past four games."You come out and you hold those guys to one touchdown and still can't get a win. It's tough, man," Bills cornerback Tre'Davious White said.Stephen Hauschka accounted for the scoring by hitting field goals from 51 and 47 yards."It's clearly not good enough Youth Byron Cowart Jersey ," coach Sean McDermott said of his sputtering offense. "I thought the defense came out and played well at times. Offensively, we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit there, and just couldn't get it going enough."Anderson finished 22 of 39 for 290 yards and two interceptions.He was escorted off the field with 1:25 left when he was sacked by Kyle Van Noy. He was making his second start in place of rookie Josh Allen, who's listed as week to week with a sprained elbow on his throwing arm.Brady finished 29 of 45 for 324 yards, but was held without a touchdown pass for the first time this season."They made it tough on us," he said. "We couldn't get anything going in the red zone, not enough positive plays down there."Brady continued his string of career-long dominance over the Bills by improving to 29-3, extending the NFL record for most wins by a quarterback against one opponent.The Patriots beat Buffalo for the seventh straight time and improved to 32-5 in their last 37 meetings under coach Bill Belichick.HONORING THURMANThe highlight for Bills fans was a halftime ceremony in which the team retired Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas' No. 34.He became the third player in Bills history to receive the honor. Jim Kelly had his No. 12 retired in 2001, and Bruce Smith's No. 78 was retired in 2016.With the lights turned out at the sold-out stadium, highlights from Thomas' Hall of Fame career were shown on the video scoreboard while two spotlights projected 34s onto the field. "When I look up and see the No. 34 retired under my name, I'll be reminded that number doesn't just belong to me," Thomas said. "It belongs to the Bills fans everywhere."PRYOR VISITThe receiver- and quarterback-needy Bills had free agent Terrelle Pryor in for a visit earlier in the day. Pryor is a seventh-year player who was released by the New York Jets on Oct. 20 with an injury settlement after hurting his groin.INJURIESPatriots: Rookie RB Sony Michel (left knee) and starting LB Dont'a Hightower (knee) were inactive.Bills: Rookie starting middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds did not return in the second half after being diagnosed with a concussion.UP NEXTPatriots: Prepare for a Brady-vs.-Aaron Rodgers showdown, hosting the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.Bills: Host the Chicago Bears on Sunday. NEW YORK (AP) — In a story Jan. 30 about Super Bowl ads, The Associated Press erroneously named one of the astronaut twins. The two are Mark and Scott Kelly, not Mark and Steve.A corrected version of the story is below:Super Bowl ads offer simple escapism with star powerStar power from Sarah Michelle Gellar to Steve Carrell abounds in this year’s Super Bowl ads.By MAE ANDERSONAP Technology WriterNEW YORK (AP) — Sarah Michelle Gellar makes a horror movie parody for Olay. Jeff Bridges and Sarah Jessica Parker tout Stella Artois. Steve Carrell hawks Pepsi.Star power abounds in this year’s Super Bowl ads.Advertisers are hoping to provide some welcome distraction and entertainment as economic fears persist and the nation’s political climate remains sharply divided. As much as this year’s Super Bowl will be a battle on the field between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams Womens Byron Cowart Jersey , it will be a battle between advertisers over who gets the buzz — and who gets forgotten.Celebrities are a relatively safe bet to garner good will from Super Bowl viewers who aren’t looking to be lectured at. There has been a retreat from more overtly political ads that were seen during the 2017 Super Bowl from such companies as 84 Lumber and Airbnb.“The big theme is a return to light-hearted humor,” University of Virginia professor Kim Whitler said. “There’s an acknowledgement the Super Bowl is about entertainment.”The Super Bowl remains advertising’s biggest mass-market showcase – and one of the last remaining ones in an age of personalized ads targeted to individual interests based on data collected by Facebook, Google and other tech mammoths. Digital ads are expected to make up nearly 60 percent of ad spending by 2020, according to eMarketer, up from about 50 percent in 2018.Yet a 30-second Super Bowl ad can cost more than $5 million. More than 100 million people in the U.S. are expected to tune in to Sunday’s game on CBS. SimpliSafe’s creative director, Wade Devers, said the home-security company is advertising during the Super Bowl for the first time because the game has “a unique audience” primed to be interested in watching the ads.Advertisers are doing what they can to stand out — Bridges, for instance, revives his “The Dude” character from “The Big Lebowski” — while shying away from controversy.“It’s such a big investment. Advertisers really want to generate as much return as they can,” Northwestern University marketing professor Tim Calkins said. “I think we’ll see a lot of humor and product-focused advertising. A lot of advertisers are nervous about taking on big themes.”So don’t expect any mention of the government shutdown or the debate over building a wall at the Mexican border, for example.But safe can also mean dull.“It will be a lackluster year,” said Kelly O’Keefe, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth’s Brandcenter. “I hope to see a few standouts, but the ads could be more mediocre than they have in a few years.”TRIED AND TRUEA few old favorites are returning. Anheuser-Busch is trotting out its famed Clydesdales. They pull a dalmatian dog through a field populated with windmills to the tune of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” to promote the idea that Budweiser is brewed with energy from wind power.As for celebrities, always a staple in Super Bowl ads Authentic Byron Cowart Jersey , Jason Bateman appears as an affable elevator operator to showcase Hyundai’s Shopper Assurance program. M&M’s enlisted actress Christina Applegate, and Avocados From Mexico’s ad will feature Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth. Colgate Total’s ad features Luke Wilson as a close talker.STRONG WOMENOlay will play off horror movies and the phrase “Killer Skin,” with an ad starring Gellar. Toyota is highlighting the perseverance of Antoinette “Toni” Harris, a female football player at a California community college. And Bumble selected Serena Williams to be its spokeswoman in the dating app’s first ever Super Bowl ad.TECH RIBBINGMichelob Ultra has robots beating humans at sports like running and spinning. But then one robot looks longingly in a bar where people are enjoying a post-workout beer. “It’s only worth it, if you can enjoy it,” an on-screen message reads.In an ad for Pringles, a smart speaker laments not being able to taste the snack.Amazon pokes fun at itself as celebrities from Harrison Ford to astronaut twins Mark and Scott Kelly test products that didn’t quite work out, including an electric toothbrush and a dog collar with Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant.MUSIC MANIAThe Super Bowl reportedly had trouble finding artists to sing during the Super Bowl — singer Travis Scott agreed to perform only after the NFL agreed to donate $500,000 to charity. But there has been no hesitation with musicians jumping into Super Bowl ads.First time-Super Bowl advertiser Expensify created a catchy music video with rapper 2 Chainz and actor Adam Scott. The 30-second ad also features the song.Pepsi has long enlisted musicians to help sell its drinks and snacks. For its Doritos brand, Chance the Rapper is teaming up with the Backstreet Boys to promote a new flavor. Michael Bublé will star in an ad for Pepsi’s Bubly sparkling water brand. And an ad for Pepsi itself has Carrell with rapper Lil Jon and pop singer Cardi B.Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, has Ludacris.SURPRISESAlthough many companies released their ads online early, Villanova marketing professor Charles Taylor says some are holding back “for the potential to make a bigger splash.”