Heading into this game I was thinking that there was no way in God’s green earth that the Buffalo Bills belonged on the same field as the Patriots. There was no conceivable way that the Bills could win. New England was just too good, right? Right?

Well coming on the heels of the hugely emotional win over the San Diego Chargers last Sunday evening and facing a team that was winless and whom the Pats had won 9 of the last 10 games, this game fit the classic definition of a trap game.

Defense started out strong, got the ball and the team heads right down the field for a game opening touch…wait, we have to settle for a field goal. No problem. Besides Buffalo is now using their 2nd String QB.

Warning! Warning! – Impending Substitute QB fiasco!

How many times have we seen the starting QB get knocked out only to have the back up come in and play heads and shoulders above what the starter had been doing. For this to be the case the back-up QB should be someone that we the fans of the other team, in the case the Patriots, have never ever heard of. A QB whom has most preferably never played a down in a regular game and most certainly never started a game in the NFL. And once in the game the substitute QB almost always ends up winning the game for the team playing the Patriots. Mostly this is accomplished because the back up QB is the antithesis of the starting QB. If the starter is scrambler, the back up is a pocket passer. If the starter has a canon for an arm, the back-up has a weaker arm and will dink and dunk all kinds of throws underneath and will certainly eat us alive with screens. The starter never throws screens.

Well not this time. Because, we are going to show him. Right after we figure out how he was able to hit almost every pass on that drive and move the Bills the length of the field for a touchdown and push then into the lead. Aaargh! It is happening. The substitute QB is working his magic. We are actually losing 7-3 to a team that we should be wiping the field with.

And so it went for much of the first half, the Buffalo Bills players maybe playing a bit above their collective heads (almost but not quite stepping out of the back of the end zone while under a heavy rush) and our team making mistake after mistake to kill drives (Brady fumbling the ball away on 1st down inches from the Bills end-zone). Yet with about 5:08 in the first half I began to feel that the Bills were starting to let the Patriots slip off the hook. They had the Pats set up for the fall but failed to put them away. And at this moment, when New England went up 10-7, I began to see daylight. Of course the Bill did not score again the rest of the game while the Patriots went on to score a total of 35 unanswered points. Trap escaped. Which loads up the next trap for this team . . .

Cincinnati
Everyone is talking about how horrid the Bengals defense is. Fans are salivating at the thought of THIS Patriots offense facing THAT defense. Can we score 100 points?
Well, as I asked last week. Are they who they thought they were? Is it not possible that the Bengals fell into the trap that was the Cleveland Browns. Yes, the Bengals may have been struggling. But with the whole league talking about the team from Foxoboro’s greatness, you have to know that everyone we play is going to try to bring their A game. I will say this if OUR defense can find some way to hold Cincinnati to under 20 points we win this game. Personally I think the Patriots defense might just be getting a bit of chip on their shoulder and want to make a statement in this game. National TV audience and all that. But then again it is Monday Night. And we do not have the best record ever 13 wins and 21 losses. Well, lets continue the repairing of this. New England is 6-3 since the beginning of the 2000 season.

This just in, NFL dot com is showing that the Patriots have the No1 Offense, No.1 Defense, No. 3 scoring defense and are the only team in the NFL to be holding their opponent to less that 4 yards per play. Awesome. Lets keep it up.

Cha-ching
Thirty eight points? The exact same score in 3 straight games? And so many? This team is racking up points like a cash register under the weight of a Paris Hilton/ Nicole Ritchie shopping spree. Now I know it is not going to last for all 16 games (we do all understand this right?) but at the rate that they are going the team would score an unheard of 608 points. Oh and by the way, with the offense moving the ball eating the clock and taking pressure off defense and putting that pressure on the other teams offense, it has allowed New England’s defense to really shine. Again, through the first 3 games, they are allowing less than 12 points a game. You want to imagine the scariest team of all time. Consider a team that might set the NFL record for most points scored in a season AND the record for fewest points allowed in the same season. Would it even be possible for that team to lose a single game during the season? Again, only 3 games. Our real tests are still to come. But, what if…..

Challenge the Challenge
Somehow, some where this team needs to get a system that provides them with clearer images when considering whether or not to challenge the calls on the field. Maybe they need some Visio HD TVs. The big ones. Something on the scale of Frank’s 2000 inch TV. Yeah, that way the team would have an actual chance of getting one of these right. Because in this game the Patriots had no prayer. Have they lost the art of video analysis because to Videogate? Horrors!

On basically almost back to back plays in the 2nd quarter, with the game still in doubt Belichick called for a challenge of the calls made by the officials. And on both of those plays the call was the same. “The call on the field stands.” In both cases at first glance on the screen it appeared that the replay would indicate that the Patriots had a valid case for a mis-call by the refs. Do we need to have a system where someone can challenge our using a challenge on a play that should not

Collapse the Pocket
The pocket was growing ever smaller for the Bills QB Trent Edwards. You could see the reason for this as defensive ends Ty Warren and Jarvis Green would drive up field and then seem to back off with the linebackers blitzing deeper on the outside. Then with the deep pressure on both sides (Colvin & Vrable) pushing Edwards forward, the two ends began to draw together and pinch. Eventually the trap began to pay off with 2 sacks but continued pressure that held the replacement Edwards to only 97 yards passing in the game. Trent Edwards took over at QB fro Buffalo when J.P. Losman was knocked out of the game in the 1st quarter after nose tackle Vince Wilfork fell against Losman’s knee and then 2 plays later when CB Ellis Hobbs sacked Losman.

Comical
Ok, seriously, is there any way that these numbers are even close to being correct?
88 pass attempts with 70 completions for a 79.5 % rate of completion. And add in 10 TD passes and 1 interception. Thus far it seems pretty clear that the answer to the question “What could Brady do with a GOOD receiving group?” seems to be “Whatever he darn well wants to do.” In the 3 games this season number 12 has moved the ball at will, completing pass after pass to the point where it has, at times, felt like he can never miss. Or that on every play there is at least 1 player wide open. (note: this is because there IS a player wide open on each play) It is almost as if Brady is getting so much time and his route runners are getting so open that he is just playing with the defenses, trying to pick and choose whom to throw to. “Lets see? I haven’t thrown to Gaffney in a while” he seems to say and bang, Jabbar catches one for a first down. On one throw in the third quarter, deep in their own end of the field on 3rd down, Brady threw the ball as if he was almost disinterested in the pocket that was closing around him. Result, he completed a pass to Welker that resulted in the Moving of the Chains (Plug for Brady’s book).And the team is moving and moving and moving and scoring. And each week they are laughing all the way to the win column. Please, don’t let the laughter die.

Crackerjack Chris Hanson
Please, please, let’s allow the punter who won the job in pre-season, Danny Baugher, to sign a letter saying he will never, ever, ever again do anything stupid, pretty please with a cherry on top.

This because the punter we now have, Chris “They found me in a box of Crackerjacks” Hanson is just note getting it done. At this point this is clearly the weak link of the team.

Covering Kickoffs
Well, Mel you are covering well. Mel Mitchell was putting in some serious special teams play and warranting his inclusion on the team, fulfilling that special place that this team has for special teams gurus. Mitchell must be taking that Comcast power boost stuff because he tackled one returner at the 13 when the ball dropped in at the Bills 1.

Cickoffs
Hey, sue me. I couldn’t find a C word, to correspond with the kickoffs. Ghost seemed to be doing better, and despite the shorter kickoffs from the second half of last week, Stephen’s kicks continued to come down in or behind the goal line (5 of 7 landed in EZ). He also has been getting some pretty good hang time (not usually associated with KOs) which is must be part of the reason that the coverage team has been able to hold the return teams to less than stellar field position. Before we get too cocky, we don’t have to kick to Devin Hester this season, right? Ok, cool. Now lets move on.

Crunched
In the second quarter Bills LB Paul Posluszny broke his forearm while trying to tackle Laurence Maroney and was hit by fellow team mate Kiwaukee Thomas. It was part of a day that saw the Bills starting QB, Poslszny and another player go down with injuries that caused the players to leave the game and not return. It makes you wonder if they will any players still healthy enough to get on the field by week 8. This all coupled with the losses from the first 2 weeks, you have to feel for the team and its fans.

Corrections
In the first two weeks of the season, our lead running back Laurence Maroney had been having trouble getting the kinds od yards that the other backs were producing. And many, including myself, sited the issue that #39 seemed to be trying to cut one or more times before he got to the hole and was not hitting the point of attack with authority or the speed that makes him such a special and dangerous back. I and others were calling for Maroney to just get to the hole and then after the line of scrimmage, make his cut. So what happened this week? It would appear that coach Ivan Fears must have been able to correct the issues and that had been holding back Maroney as he averaged over 5 yards a carry and got his first century game of the season, gaining 103 yards on the ground. And when he is actually making yards up the middle it allows other options for the offense. Apart from forcing the defense to decide if it makes sense to pull men out of coverage to defend the run up between the tackles, it also opens the outside on the ground. Maroney is in effect helping himself. Because everyone is trying to stop his 5-10 yard gains up the middle, the defense was jamming the middle. And at that moment the team called for counter plays and quick pitches that got Maroney to the outside where there tackles and pulling guards were sealing the linebackers on the inside. Maroney was tearing it up on the outside. Way to go Maroney!!

For the first time this year, it seemed that all the back, Maroney Morris and Faulk were getting it going on the ground, even as the game wore on and we wanted to kill the . . .

Clock
Once again, the team found itself deep in its own territory in the 4th quarter when they wanted to eat up time. Once again the team went on long drawn out clock killing drives.
In the 3rd they had an 80 yard 9 play drive that lasted 5:03.
With 28 seconds left in that quarter and running into the 4th quarter they had a 98 yard 10 play drive that lasted 5:06.
Bravo.

Ciao until next week.
And we bring you the letter D

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