By ROBERT LEE
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- The Pats held Buffalo Pro Bowl receiver Terrell Owens to just two catches for 46 yards.

Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards only threw to him three times, but Edwards said that Owens' leadership was more important than his stats last night.

"I really feel like he's a competitor," Edwards said. "I've said that all along, and that's rubbing off on the rest of us. That's why we're competing for four quarters. Having a guy like that in the locker room, on the field with us, frustrated or not, he's still raising the level of our game so we need to feed off of that. He's obviously a big time weapon in our offense and we need to keep getting him the ball."

The Patriots eliminated the deep threat by keeping at least one safety back 15-to-20 yards off of the line of scrimmage.

"Give a lot of credit to their defense," said Edwards, who completed 15-of-25 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns. "They're a well-coached, well-oiled machine on that side of the ball. Those guys are sitting back there pretty deep and a lot of times we're going to look to the interior guys.

"We knew they were going to try to take away Lee [Evans] and Terrell. It's a chance for the interior guys to try to take advantage of those guys, getting Josh [Reed], getting Roscoe [Parrish], and getting Derek Schouman chances to do that but I need to see it on film to see where I can take my shots and when I can't."