Patriots - Bills, Who Has the Razor's Edge? Key MNF Matchups

Patriots - Bills, Who Has the Razor's Edge? Key MNF Matchups

Steve Balestrieri

The Patriots play the Bills on Monday Night Football and are looking to go 10-0. Buffalo has won two in a row but is lifetime only 3-24 against Tom Brady

Continue reading...

So, the Bills.
I am sort of worried about/interested in how Brady will do in getting the ball out quickly, as he did in the first game against them this year. As I recall, we did not even try to run, as we didn't have to with the quick pass game plan we came up with. No Edelman or Lewis this time, but we do have LaFell and hopefully Martin back. Lewis and Edelman did rack up a lot of O in that game, though, as did Gronk. Gronk will be easier to defend this time around, without the other 2 running wild. I think Amendola can step up for Edelman, but who will step up for Lewis.

Also, I will be beyond aggravated if the D allows Buffalo to come back in the 4th quarter. We've got to do better putting the game away.

I watched the Christmas bowl last Thursday, and I can't remember anything specific, except I thought both teams looked bad. Hope it continues & glad the Pats have had a week & a day to cook up a game plan without Edelman.

Need the offensive line to give Brady more than two seconds. If that happens, then I expect Gronk and Lafell to have a big game. Also worried about our CB3 situation.

Yeah, just read above that Coleman is out. Oy.

I don't recall Brady being under that much pressure by the Bills, any more than by the Giants. The OC improvised after losing JE in the 1st qtr so I expect them to be well prepared to pick the Bills secondary apart. Our run D is way better than that 1st game in Buffalo. As long as we can put pressure on Tyrod we should have a fairly easy win.

kyle williams is out correct? then me might run a little more, open the seams for play action with gronk and maybe chandler.
line has to give brady more than two seconds to throw...seems like a tall task at times. the freaking giants got pressure consistently and their d-line is ****. PFF has our line ranked as the 25th best at pass blocking which is poor.
wr's also have to get open. what if danny is neutralized??? who else can get open quickly?

Gronkowski123 said:

kyle williams is out correct? then me might run a little more, open the seams for play action with gronk and maybe chandler.
line has to give brady more than two seconds to throw...seems like a tall task at times. the freaking giants got pressure consistently and their d-line is ****. PFF has our line ranked as the 25th best at pass blocking which is poor.
wr's also have to get open. what if danny is neutralized??? who else can get open quickly?

Click to expand...

White is going to have to step up to relieve some of the pressure with screen plays and coming out of the backfield.

Lets hope our run defense's alot better then the first game. Malcom Brown's improving alot

We are getting some Oline back, so that should help Brady. I think this game is a fairly easyou win. Harper is going to step up with a good game and Dobson will do enough to put us over the top.

I remember Harper in preseason. He impressed me, quick, pretty good hands. Had some great connections with Garrapolo. I think the receiver depth was just too much for him to have a chance earlier in the year. Plus DA will be clutch as always.

I wanted to get a Bills' fan's opinion about the upcoming match-up so I decided to hop onto one of their forums. Holy ****. Four threads on the front page discussing a conspiracy theory between the league and the Pats. Apparently, the refs favor the Patriots and never call holding, grounding, PI, pick plays, etc against them. Someone also threw in the idea that Kraft paid the league off via the fine that we got over PSI gate.

I'm upset with myself for reading that garbage.

I hope that their team gets crushed. 55-16.

!

Gronkowski123 said:

kyle williams is out correct? then me might run a little more, open the seams for play action with gronk and maybe chandler.
line has to give brady more than two seconds to throw...seems like a tall task at times. the freaking giants got pressure consistently and their d-line is ****. PFF has our line ranked as the 25th best at pass blocking which is poor.
wr's also have to get open. what if danny is neutralized??? who else can get open quickly?

Click to expand...

This is what worries me. Part of Brady's ability to stay clean despite a patchwork O line has been his ability to get rid of the ball so fast. A big part of that through the first half of the season was Lewis and Edelman. If the Bills double Amendola and Gronk, who is going to step up? I hope LaFell can get open quickly and that Martin gets back to what he was when he first joined the team. I am not too keen on our run game. Blount to me only gets going when the opposition gets tired. White has shown nothing so far. We didn't even try to run on Buffalo the first time out this season, I think because their run D is better than their secondary, and the theory was Brady could get rid of the ball fast and take advantage of that. Now that this is not so true, what is the game plan? It will be interesting to see.

Would be surprised pats dont have as effective an offense they had before lewis and edelman went down. Its just not practical. We fans just assume X player will do the same thing. They may get their wins but it wont be as pretty while they adjust to all the player changes on offense.

PatsDeb said:

This is what worries me. Part of Brady's ability to stay clean despite a patchwork O line has been his ability to get rid of the ball so fast. A big part of that through the first half of the season was Lewis and Edelman. If the Bills double Amendola and Gronk, who is going to step up?

Click to expand...

No doubt. Now, hopefully Vollmer and Cannon are back, along with Jackson, so we could have a 100% OL (Solder is out for the season so he doesn't count anymore). It should be a big upgrade - with thanks to Stork and Flemming for their respectable work (and Flemming will likely rotate in). If Vollmer and Cannon don't play - ouch.

Hopefully Keshawn Martin is like 2006 Jabar Gaffney. A veteran that comes in under the radar and immediately "gets it". He jumped over Dropson the moment he stepped off the plane, so he was doing something right prior to the injury. I hope he can play tonight, he offers a combo of quickness and speed that the other receivers don't have. I expect a close win, and I'm loving the forecast. Football weather.

PatriotsPimp136 said:

Lets hope our run defense's alot better then the first game. Malcom Brown's improving alot

Click to expand...

Interior run D, at least, should be. Brown, Branch and Hicks are all playing at higher levels then the first game.

I'm thinking LeGarrette's gonna have a good game. Their run D sucks and Kyle Williams isn't playing tonight.

Chandler is your man over the middle, watch the hood (sorry it's a bills thing lol) run gronk deep and leave the void for chandler or LaFell under. Buffalo can't cover chandler and gronk, the hood is smarter than Rex, he just is and uses his talent better (at least as far as I've seen this year watching both teams being in NE and a bills fan). If they use lafell as a third somebody is going to be open... but it could take a little longer than it did with the slippery quick ones.

There are there major matchups I am fascinated to watch tonight

1. Nfls best run offense vs quickly improving run defense.

2. Nfls worst pass rush vs best passing offense

3. NGOs best run defense vs a battered offensive line.

This game is going to look very different from the first, and I expect a much more controlled game from both teams.

This game is the toughest one I have on our schedule the rest of the season. Sure glad it's at home.

With Edelman and Lewis out, the burden falls on others to get open before the rush beats todays version of our OL. Lafell, Gronk and Amendola are the known quantities, while Martin and Dobson are questionable. Harper makes his debut and he appears to be the kind of receiver who can run a bubble screen, for example, and still threaten downfield if the CB comes up. I am not high on any of our RBs but would love to be surprised. In the end, I expect fewer long drives and a greater need for big plays to score.

A few things I am interested in.

#1 The Bills scored 32 points on the Pats. The most they allowed all season. Bring up garbage time all you want but that is not good. I want to see the Patriots D redeem themselves with a strong showing tonight.

#2 The Bills rushed for 160 yards against the Pats last game (43 by Tyrod). The Patriots have been doing much better against the run recently so this be an area I want to see the Patriots improve on.

#3 8 sacks last game for the Pats. Though they will not get 8 again will we see the same effort?

#4 Darby vs Gronk - I do not believe Darby can stop Gronk but he has done as well against him as anyone and I am curious how much the Bills will go to the well and risk 1v1s