Staff photo by TOM KING Patriots offensive lineman Shaq Mason talks about the great game by running back Dion Lewis after New England's 37-16 rout of the Bills Sunday ot Gillette Stadium.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Everyone knew the Buffalo Bills had no answer for Rob Gronkowski.

But it turns out they had no answer for his New England Patriot teammate, running back Dion Lewis, either.

Lewis rushed for a career best 129 yards on 12 carries, scoring two touchdowns, one rushing, and one receiving in the Patriots’ 37-16 win Sunday over the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium.

“My role was a little bit different than it usually is,” Lewis said, “and I just took advantage of it.”

“He’s a beast,” Gronkowski said of Lewis. “For his size (5-foot-8 as opposed to Gronkowski’s 6-6), I look up to him. It (his play) inspires me. If he can do that, why can’t I?”

Gronkowski didn’t do too badly himself, with five catches for 67 yards and a touchdown against his hometown team that he loves to beat after, as he said, it “passed twice on me in the draft.”

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was an efficient 21 of 28 for 224 yards and two TDs but one costly interception. Meanwhile, the New England defense kept the Bills offense out of the end zone and held Buffalo to just a field goal during the decisive second half.

The Patriots, now 12-3 and set to clinch the top seed in the AFC with one more Pittsburgh loss or a win next week here vs. the Jets, sacked Bills QB Tyrod Taylor (21-38-281-0) a whopping six times.

“We just came together and just realized we have to make those plays,” Patriots defensive lineman Trey Flowers said. “Containing the quarterback was also a big issue and an emphasis for us this week.”

But it wasn’t easy. Trailing Buffalo 16-13 late in the third quarter, the Patriots proceeded to score 17 unanswered points to lead 30-16 just over five minutes into the fourth.

They tied things up with Stephen Gostkowski’s third field goal on the day from 34 yards out with 5:08 left in third and later took advantage of a pass interference call on Buffalo safety Trae Elston in the end zone. Elston was trying to cover Gronkowski.

“I got the PI call, which was huge, just as good as a catch,” Gronkowski said. Two plays later back Mike Gillislee ran it in from one yard out, helping to give New England a 23-16 lead with 55 seconds left in the third.

Lewis then scored on a 12-yard TD reception with just under 10 minutes left, and added a 4-yard run with 3:58 to go to pad the lead to 37-16.

“The way Dion runs the ball, he’s a special runner,” Patriots offensive lineman Shaq Mason said of Lewis. “We’re blessed to have him.”

The Bills tied it at 13 on Stephen Hauschka’s 23 yard field goal at the end of the first half, and took the lead 16-13 early in the third quarter on a another Hauschka field goal, but they thought they had a halftime lead.

Down 13-10, Taylor’s 4-yard pass in the corner of the end zone to Kelvin Benjamin was reversed, surprisingly negating an apparent TD with just a few seconds left in the half. NFL senior VP of officiating Al Riverton issued a tweet that basically said Benjamin didn’t have full possession before going out of bounds.

“I’m at a loss,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I’m at a loss how a play like that could be overturned.”

Early in the second quarter, with the score 3-3, the Bills got daring, going for it on fourth-and-2 from the Patriots 6 rather than settle for the easy 6-3 lead. Taylor got flushed out of the pocket and was sacked on the run for a 6-yard loss.

But Buffalo, which can still make the playoffs at 8-7, recovered nicely, with defensive back Jordan Poyer picking off a Brady pass intended for new teammate Kenny Britt and returned it 19 yards into the end zone to help give Buffalo a 10-3 lead with 10:28 left in the first half.

But Brady responded on cue as he drove the Patriots 75 yards in nine plays, hitting Gronkowski on a 17-yard TD with 7:06 left in the half to help tie things at 10. Gostkowski’s second field goal, a 40-yarder, then gave the Patriots a 13-10 lead before the Bills tied it going into the half following the replay reversal.

But Buffalo only had three points left in it for the day.

“They moved the ball on us and got the turnover for a touchdown, but fortunately we were able to make some plays in the second half and had a couple of negative plays on defense,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “…I’m proud of the way the players responded at halftime and overall in approaching the game.

“It’s good to have 12 wins. Hopefully we can get another one next week.”

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Brady’s second quarter TD pass to Gronkowski was the 75th scoring play between the two, fifth most all time, QB to receiver…

Gostkowski’s field goal late in the first half put him over 1,600 point for his career, the 19th player in NFL history to achieve that…

The Patriots, now with eight straight years of at least 12 wins, wrap up the regular season Sunday at 1 p.m. vs. the New York Jets here at Gillette.