There are games when a team will just come up against a superior athlete, and all the defense can hope to do is contain him..... Spiller....superior athlete. According to the announcers...4.29 speed...jitterbug quickness....leads the league in yards after first contact coming into the Pats game. It wasn't just a Patriots problem tackling him, its been a league wide problem all year.
Factor in the Patriots were protecting a lead the entire game which forces the defense to respect the pass more. Then consider the Bills ended the game with a 7 min. 40 sec. time of possession advantage. Expecting 3 plus sized LBs to chase this world class athlete down for 33:50 minutes is a major task. That 4th quarter screen pass to the left said it all....5 Pats lunged and whiffed just after the catch....then Spiller ran to the outside around 5 more Pats. Superior athlete vs a tired D.
Some comments about the D.....
Lots of passes thrown to Denard's guy, usually Johnson. Just goes to show you how messed up the secondary is when you are forced to insert a rookie against the oppositions #1 WR.
Safety play...in today's NFL, where teams rely on the quick pass game....how can safeties be effective? The Chandler TD.....DB (LB?)got lost in the shuffle, safety late to reinforce....boom TD. What is the safety supposed to do. By the time the safety can see a problem, the play is over. Bottom line....this team needs one lock down DB than can play man coverage thereby freeing up the safeties. Dropping 8 into zone coverage and getting burnt is a fail.
Think about what's going on in Denver. Champ Baily still locking down his guy. QBs purposely avoid passing in his direction (Revis like). When a D knows where your not going to throw it, that's a huge advantage. Then add in a freak pass rusher (Miller) whose been lighting it up of late....Denver has the ideal combo package teams dream of having on D. I easily can understand why Denver is getting so much more love than most other winning teams.
Speaking of dropping 8....and factoring in the 33:50 minutes the D was on the field......the 3 man rush was painful. Jones getting doubled and Wilfork getting no push/playing contain/too gassed to move. D line depth is a problem and I strongly believe these late game charges by many Pats opponents are a result of an over used DL.
So here's a question.....are Belichick and McDaniels communicating regarding the big picture. Take the last series with Pats having the ball near the goal line. McDaniels calls the quick snap hoping to grab the 10 point lead....showing zero consideration for the clock. As a backseat driver, I view the big picture at this point in the game as remove seconds from the clock/score TD/score FG. These strategies can go hand in hand. Yet McDaniels acted like he's been handed the keys to the car for the first time. Impetuous...kind of how he acted as defacto GM of Denver.....quick to act/taking eye off the big picture. Hopefully this was a learning opportunity.
Last screen shot....sideline images of a stressed Patricia showing a sigh of relief/ McDaniels amped after the pick. One guy feeling the burden of the world/ the other guy without a care.....nice to have Brady on your side of the LOS, right Josh....now someone show him where the game clock is
