The two songs don't have much in common; different eras, different genres.

But as veteran Adalius Thomas bumped Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" from his locker and rookie Pat Chung had Jay-Z's "Run This Town" from his, both seemed appropriate.

Thomas' choice was an homage to the Patriots' recent past: Tedy Bruschi blared that Queen song after every New England win in 2007; while Chung's choice was newer, like he and so many of his teammates are, many to the NFL and some to the Pats.

But there's one thing that never gets old around New England, and that's winning.

So while the Patriots will get few style points for their 25-24 edge-of-the-seat season-opening win against the Buffalo Bills, there are few questions about who runs this town tonight - particularly when Buffalo is involved.

"That's not exactly the way you draw them up, but we'll take the results," Bill Belichick said.

New England has now won 12 straight and 16 of the last 17 games against their AFC East rivals (is rivals the right word for something so one-sided?), but there is no denying that the Bills had the Pats on the ropes in this one: after a couple of down years, Aaron Schobel will return to Tom Brady's nightmares, and Trent Edwards may have played the game of his career.

Yet when it came down to crunch time, when the Bills could have iced their first win in Foxboro since Nov. 5, 2000, it slipped away from them.

Literally.

After New England scored with just over two minutes left in the game but failed to convert a two-point try, it was down 24-19. Cornerback/kick returner Leodis McKelvin fielded Stephen Gostkowski's kickoff about three yards into the end zone, and hesitated for a second before deciding, almost inexplicably, to make a run for it rather than just take a knee and let Edwards and the offense kill off the clock.

But McKelvin ran it out. And he was doing pretty well, too, until he got to about the 30-yard line. That's when the hits started coming all at once, and the combination of Brandon Meriweather and Pierre Woods forced McKelvin to fumble. Gostkowski dove into the pile and recovered the ball, and Tom Brady was given just under two minutes to take his team 31 yards to paydirt with the game on the line.

"I can't say more about that guy," a smiling Woods said of Gostkowski. "He was all awkwardly bent up, like a pretzel, and he wouldn't let the guy from Buffalo get (the ball)."

The special-teams effort is summed up in one line from Jay-Z's song: "Victory's within the mile, almost there, don't give up now."

The Patriots players on kickoff coverage were surprised to see McKelvin bring the ball out of the end zone, though Bills head coach Dick Jauron said he had no problem with the second-year player doing what he did.

"He's a dynamic runner and he was trying to win a football game, ice a football game, and we've seen him do it. He almost did it there," Jauron said. "It's just one of those things that happens, but I don't have any problems with Leodis."

Jauron may not have taken issue with McKelvin's actions, but at least one teammate was unhappy with the result: safety Donte Whitner stood in the Bills' locker room, stark naked, crying after the loss.

Given a short field, Brady made short work of making up the deficit: he first looked to Moss for a six-yard gain, then to Wes Welker for nine more. Then it was to Benjamin Watson, the beleaguered tight end who little more than a week ago seemed like he might not be long for the Pats. Brady threw a laser into traffic, and Watson reached back over his shoulder to pull in the touchdown.

It was the second score of the night for Watson, who finished with six catches for 77 yards.

New England was not able to pull off the two-point conversion, which would have put it up by a field goal, but the defense held up its end of the bargain for the final 50 seconds. Edwards (15-for-25, 212 yards, 2 touchdowns, 4 sacks) had a 19-yard completion over the middle to Terrell Owens - who was largely held in check on the night - but then was sacked by Derrick Burgess, had an incomplete pass to Lee Evans, and was sacked again, by Tully Banta-Cain, for a 10-yard loss.

Buffalo lateraled the ball around as time ticked off the clock, but there would be no miracle finish.

"That was as close as it gets," said Brady after a game in which he was 39-for-53 for 378 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. "There were a lot of situational plays that we needed at the end that we made and had we not made them, we probably would not have won. But we put ourselves in that position."

Though New England was down 11 points with 5:32 to play, Brady said he never felt his team would not be able to come back.

"Not for me. Not at all. We had three timeouts with 5:34 left or whatever it was, and I was thinking if we can get down the field before the two-minute warning, it's going to put a lot of pressure on them," Brady said. "There were some great plays the receivers made. We threw it so much tonight, the O-line protected great. But we made just enough plays in the end."

Another one bites the dust.