FOXBOROUGH – If Swampscott’s Dick Jauron is to save his job as head coach of the Buffalo Bills, things couldn’t have gone any worse for him.The Bills were sitting on an 11-point lead with 5:32 to go last night and then saw it all fall apart. Now, Jauron has to explain – once again – how it all went wrong, as the New England Patriots got two late fourth-quarter touchdown passes from Tom Brady to Benjamin Watson as the Patriots overtook the Bills for an improbable 25-24 win.”We’re just really disappointed in this loss,” said Jauron, who, 41 years ago, this fall, was leading Swampscott High to unprecedented heights as a schoolboy football player.”Nobody gave us a chance (in this game),” said Jauron, when asked if there was anything positive to take from the game. “But that doesn’t mean we came here to lose ? or to play a close game. So, really, we’re just disappointed.”Jauron also said, “It tears my heart out for them (the team).”The Bills had outplayed the Patriots for three and a half quarters, and took a 24-13 lead on Trent Edwards’ 10-yard scoring pass to Fred Jackson ? but the Patriots came back downfield quickly – 11 plays in 81 yards – and Brady hit Watson “on just an incredible route,” he said, to bring the Patriots within five (24-19 as the 2-point conversion attempt failed).On the ensuing kickoff, Buffalo’s Leodis McKelvin took Stephen Gostkowski’s kickoff two yards into the end zone and attempted to take it out. He actually got it out to about the 30, but there, Brandon Meriweather hit him and Pierre Woods stripped him, and Gostkowski dove on the ball for the recovery.”He tried to make a play,” said Jauron. “If he gets going, he’s going to go a long way, I know that.”It took three plays before Brady and Watson connected again on a nice catch in the back of the end zone. Watson got both feet down in plenty of time, even though the officials reviewed the catch.”They (the Bills) were pretty tight on him,” said Brady. “That was one of the best catches I’ve ever seen. I hope there are more of them.”Again, the conversion failed, and the Patriots had to sweat out the final 55 seconds, with the Bills trying to razzle-dazzle their way into the end zone on the last play before the Patriots finally got one of them down.”Our young guys really played well tonight,” said Jauron. “I know we lost, but those kids really played well. They’ll bounce back from this. Win or lose, we’re going to keep going forward.”Jauron, who also starred for Yale in football following his career at Swampscott High, saw his team get off to a scorching start in 2008. But the Bills tailed off in the second half to finish at 7-9, and it was touch-and-go as to whether he’d keep his job.The Bills entered Monday’s game not having defeated the Patriots since an opening-day 31-0 beatdown in Buffalo in 2003. That was the Sunday following the Patriots’ decision to cut Pro Bowl safety Lawyer Milloy – a situation eerily similar to last night, when the Patriots were playing after trading All-Pro defensive end Richard Seymour to Oakland.Since that victory, the Bills have lost 12 straight to the Patriots.”That was an exciting game,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said of last night’s victory. “We got that one going. It was a great effort from the team. I’m proud of our players.”In the first half, the Patriots and Bills – dressed in throwback uniforms dating back to their first years as American Football League squads – played as if the roles were reversed yesterday, too.The Bills, using the no-huddle offense that Jauron has been trying to use with Buffalo since he was hired to coach them four years ago, ran off the field at halftime with a 14-10 lead.The Patriots looked to be in a position to draw first blood with 6:22 to go in the first quarter, but Gostkowski missed wide right – badly – on a 41-yard field goal attempt.The Bills put together a six-play, 68-yard drive on the next series, scoring on an 11-yard pass from Edwards to Shawn Nelson with 3:03 to go. But the driv
