With Lawyer Milloy gone, Roosevelt Colvin and Rodney Harrison know they must step up.

FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – Roosevelt Colvin got a sack and Rodney Harrison led the New England Patriots with 11 tackles, just what the team expected when it signed them in the offseason.

Neither player expected the embarrassing outcome of their debut.

“We really just laid an egg,” Harrison said of the 31-0 loss Sunday to the Buffalo Bills.

The Patriots did what seemed like an outstanding offseason job of filling defensive holes.

They signed Harrison, who played in two Pro Bowls before being cut by San Diego. They added Colvin as a free agent from Chicago after he led the Bears with 101/2 sacks each of the last two seasons.

But just five days before the opener, the team released four-time Pro Bowl safety Lawyer Milloy in a salary cap move. He signed with Buffalo and had a sack on Sunday.

His loss deprived the Patriots of their emotional leader. So Harrison, who had been eager to team with Milloy in a hard-hitting combination, must play a bigger role.

“Sometimes you’re thrust into that from your past experiences that you’ve gone through. People look up to you,” he said. “As an older player, you’re naturally a leader.”

Harrison felt he played a solid game at Buffalo. He might have to keep doing that to satisfy fans, who may expect more from him now that Milloy is gone.

“Everyone’s focusing on the new guys and you can’t focus on one or two or three guys. It’s a total team effort,” Harrison said. “It was disappointing because I felt for the talent we have in this locker room, the score really didn’t indicate what we should have done.”

Colvin said the game was no more disappointing because it was his debut with the Patriots.

“First game, last game, you always want to win,” he said. “Regardless if it was the Super Bowl or the preseason, when you step on the field, you want to go out there and represent not only yourself but the team well.”

Their next chance comes Sunday on the road against another team that didn’t make it into the end zone in its opener. Philadelphia lost to Tampa Bay 17-0 Monday night.

The Patriots won’t be facing an emotionally charged Milloy and hope any hangover from the shock of his departure is gone.

“You’ve just got to be a professional about it,” Colvin said. “It’s somebody else’s opportunity to step in and make a name for themselves, somebody else’s turn to step up and be a leader.”

AP-ES-09-09-03 1755EDT