Pair of Fours a Winning Hand for the Patriots : AFC: They intercept four of Kelly’s passes and sack him four times in 16-13 victory.

The New England Patriots had Jim Kelly’s number again, and it was four.

The Patriots intercepted four of Kelly’s passes and sacked him four times Sunday in a 16-13 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

“I felt great for our defense,” Patriot Coach Dick MacPherson said. “We needed the win, but we seem to make it hard either way. We’re always making it interesting, win or lose.”

The Bills (10-2) could have clinched a playoff berth but had their five-game winning streak ended instead.

The victory ended a frustrating four-game losing streak for New England (4-8), during which the outcome of all the games were decided in the final minute.

“We did not come in here complacent,” Buffalo Coach Marv Levy said. “We knew they would play well.”

The Bills learned that on Nov. 3 when the Patriots gave Buffalo a scare before losing, 22-17, at Orchard Park, N.Y. The outcome wasn’t settled until Darryl Talley intercepted Hugh Millen’s pass at the Bills’ 30-yard line with 46 seconds left.

This time, Millen hooked up with Irving Fryar on a 50-yard touchdown pass play that cut the Bills’ lead to 10-9 at halftime. Millen’s 34-yard hookup with Fryar set up Millen’s two-yard run for the winning touchdown with 11:40 left.

“I felt that although we were having difficulties early, we had enough confidence to get into rhythm and start making the plays,” said Millen, who completed 20 of 39 passes for 263 yards and survived six sacks and two interceptions.

Kelly completed 26 of 44 passes for 204 yards, and the four sacks were his high for a season in which he was sacked 10 times in the first 11 games. His longest completion covered 14 yards.

New England held the Bills to two of their four lowest point totals in a season in which they are averaging 29.6.

“They played a tough zone defense,” said James Lofton, whose only catch gained 12 yards and ended in a Patriot fumble recovery.

The Bills made five consecutive catches on Kelly passes to move from their 20 to the New England 35 with 1:07 remaining. But Kelly was sacked by Brent Williams on third down, and tight coverage and a strong rush forced him to underthrow Lofton on fourth down with 43 seconds left.

Two blocked kicks led to Buffalo’s 10-0 lead in the second quarter.

Charlie Baumann’s 51-yard field goal attempt on the Patriots’ first series was blocked by J.D. Williams. That set up Scott Norwood’s 23-yard field goal with 7:51 left in the first quarter.

After Steve Tasker blocked Shawn McCarthy’s punt and Buffalo took over at the New England 31, Kelly threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Thurman Thomas.