Well, they did their part.

Now, after a smothering 13-0 win over the Bills in winds with hurricane-force gusts at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, all the Patriots can do is sit back and wait.

New England's regular season is over, and the Pats finished with an 11-5 record. Now they need a Jets win over Miami to give them the AFC East title or, failing that, a Jaguars upset in Baltimore to give them a wild-card playoff spot.

If the Dolphins and Ravens both win, New England's season is over. The Patriots would be only the second team in NFL history to fail to make the playoffs after winning 11 games.

Today's game was a throwback to old-time football, as both teams -- wary of the strong winds -- stayed away from the pass until well into the second half. The Patriots put together a 9-play, 48-yard drive as they played with the wind in the first quarter and Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 33-yard field goal to give New England a 3-0 lead.

Both teams would miss subsequent field-goal attempts in the first half -- Gostkowski into the wind, Buffalo's Rian Lindell with the wind at his back -- and the second quarter ended in bizarre fashion. The Bills, playing with the wind advantage and with one time out left, had reached the red zone and were poised to either tie the game or take the lead. A three-yard run by Fred Jackson moved the ball to the 9-yard line with 19 seconds left. But a shoving match broke out among members of the two teams, the Bills never signaled for time, and the clock ran out without Buffalo running another play.

Even though they were driving into the wind, the Patriots were able to increase their lead to 10-0 in the third quarter. Mike Vrabel recovered a Trent Edwards fumble that was forced by Jarvis Green on the Buffalo 43, and the Pats, converting a 4th-and-2 and a 4th-and-5 along the way, made it 10-0 on a two-yard touchdown run by LaMont Jordan. They increased their lead to 13-0 early in the fourth quarter as Gostkowski capped a 15-play, 80-yard drive with a 23-yard field goal.

The Patriots will travel back to New England immediately after the game and were hopeful they'd be able to watch the Jets-Bills game on the plane.

The last time the Pats failed to make the playoffs was 2002, when they finished in a three-way tie with Miami and the Jets for the AFC East title with a 9-7 record but lost out on the tiebreakers. They could have qualified if the Jets had lost in a 4:15 p.m. game -- the Pats had beaten the Dolphins at Gillette in a 1 p.m. game -- but Green Bay, quarterbacked by Brett Favre, was routed by New York, giving the Jets the division championship and sending New England to the sidelines.

This time around, the Pats still need a Favre-led team to win. But now they're rooting for the Jets to win, not lose.