Fast start against the Bills?

[cstjohn17]

In the grand scheme of things it won't mean anything but it would be somewhat meaningful if the Patriots can jump out to a fast start against Buffalo and quickly snap their neck. Call it a killer instinct if you will.

The past few games have developed a lot of mental toughness and will help in the long run but against the better AFC teams the Patriots are basically a push. Getting behind by 10-14 point in the playoffs in a recipe for disapointment.

Aside from wrapping up home field advantage I will be very interested to see how they open the game. The Patriots should ditate intensity and squish the life out of the Bills.

 

[RodThePat]

In the grand scheme of things it won't mean anything but it would be somewhat meaningful if the Patriots can jump out to a fast start against Buffalo and quickly snap their neck. Call it a killer instinct if you will.

The past few games have developed a lot of mental toughness and will help in the long run but against the better AFC teams the Patriots are basically a push. Getting behind by 10-14 point in the playoffs in a recipe for disapointment.

Aside from wrapping up home field advantage I will be very interested to see how they open the game. The Patriots should ditate intensity and squish the life out of the Bills.

That's what I'm looking for too. Get up two scores quickly and cruise from there. I want to see Hoyer taking the majority of the snaps in the second half.

 

[Tunescribe]

In the grand scheme of things it won't mean anything but it would be somewhat meaningful if the Patriots can jump out to a fast start against Buffalo and quickly snap their neck. Call it a killer instinct if you will.

The past few games have developed a lot of mental toughness and will help in the long run but against the better AFC teams the Patriots are basically a push. Getting behind by 10-14 point in the playoffs in a recipe for disapointment.

Aside from wrapping up home field advantage I will be very interested to see how they open the game. The Patriots should ditate intensity and squish the life out of the Bills.

Agreed. Unfortunately, I don't see the Bills laying down like we'd hope, but at least they don't hit the big play offensively like Miami. That should help. Just keep Spiller somewhat contained and we should be OK if our offense is in sync unlike yesterday.

 

[mgteich]

I suspect that a lot of the injured will be rested for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure how much we even want to win this one.

 

[jmt57]

Since the Pats lost to the Giants:

Pats vs opponent: start / middle / end

Wk 16 vs Mia: 0-17 / 27-0 / 0-7
Wk 15 at Den: 7-16 / 27-0 / 7-7
Wk 14 at Was: 14-17 / 20-10 / 0-0
Wk 13 vs Ind: 3-3 / 28-0 / 0-21
Wk 12 at Phi: 0-10 / 38-3 / 0-7
Wk 11 vs KC: 0-3 / 27-0 / 7-0
Wk 10 at NYJ: 6-9 / 17-0 / 14-7

Total: 30-75 / 184-13 / 28-49


Are slow starts something to be concerned about? Absolutely; you don't want to get in a habit of digging yourself in a hole.

Conversely, that 184-13 stat may have had something to do with why I was simply shaking my head but not getting particularly upset while a sports bar full of Pats fans around me were going ballistic at halftime on Saturday, and nobody could understand when I was telling them 'relax, there's plenty of time left in this game'.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The Bills have actually been pretty competitive recently other than the SD game, and these were all against playoff contending teams. It could be another shootout, I don't expect the offense to struggle much at all though. Just hope our D makes stops when it matters.

 

[PatsGirl2011]

Yeah, I don't think the Bills will lay down either. I'm sure they will have other plans. It would interesting to see how the Pats play this. They already have the bye, but I wonder how much Bill is invested in HFA throughout considering the scenarios that may work in their favor with the 2 seed..

 

[TB146]

Wk 16 vs Mia: 0-17 / 27-0 / 0-7
Wk 15 at Den: 7-16 / 27-0 / 7-7
Wk 14 at Was: 14-17 / 20-10 / 0-0
Wk 13 vs Ind: 3-3 / 28-0 / 0-21
Wk 12 at Phi: 0-10 / 38-3 / 0-7
Wk 11 vs KC: 0-3 / 27-0 / 7-0
Wk 10 at NYJ: 6-9 / 17-0 / 14-7

Total: 30-75 / 184-13 / 28-49

Very interesting numbers. And I agree... because of the recent trend of getting behind and coming back, I was frustrated by the 0-17 first half, but not too worried. Obviously, against a better team it will not be as easy to come back, but I like that they are proving to themselves that they can come from behind. It seems like in recent years (esp. recent playoff loses) they had gotten behind, gotten discouraged, and just about given up. Now if they get behind by a score or two in a playoff game I believe that they can come back with confidence. Of course, it would be better if they never got behind in the first place....

I hope to see them go up big against the Bills early, then start pulling starters.

 

[RayClay]

Since the Pats lost to the Giants:

Pats vs opponent: start / middle / end

Wk 16 vs Mia: 0-17 / 27-0 / 0-7
Wk 15 at Den: 7-16 / 27-0 / 7-7
Wk 14 at Was: 14-17 / 20-10 / 0-0
Wk 13 vs Ind: 3-3 / 28-0 / 0-21
Wk 12 at Phi: 0-10 / 38-3 / 0-7
Wk 11 vs KC: 0-3 / 27-0 / 7-0
Wk 10 at NYJ: 6-9 / 17-0 / 14-7

Total: 30-75 / 184-13 / 28-49


Are slow starts something to be concerned about? Absolutely; you don't want to get in a habit of digging yourself in a hole.

Conversely, that 184-13 stat may have had something to do with why I was simply shaking my head but not getting particularly upset while a sports bar full of Pats fans around me were going ballistic at halftime on Saturday, and nobody could understand when I was telling them 'relax, there's plenty of time left in this game'.

I do not at all think that slow starts are a concern. It mostly means every team in football is studying our offense and forcing us to adjust to whatever oveplay they think is going to throw us off.

If you look at last year, with a fairly good chance our secondary at least was better, if we couldn't go up by a couple scores, our defense was relatively soft and our offense was befuddled by one game plan adjustment by the Jets.

I'm worried as hell about our secondary, but being able to adjust offensively, and playing hard nosed defense with good pressure when behind will take us a long way.

Being a front runner is a liability, see the 2001 rams, most of the colts teams etc.

Again, the secondary scares me, but it's awful unlikely most playoff games will have one team going up and coasting, while the other folds. Playoff games are fights. This team has a lot of fight in it.

The difference between this year and last year is we're a target. We haven't had our passing system rolling since the championship years, with the Moss Brady being a whole different thing, then Brady hurt, Brady hobbled and the new offense last year with the rook TEs. Teams have had a look at the awesomeness and 500 yard games and they game plan and copy anyone with any success.

Teams that fight and adjust and get better as the game goes on are more likely to be championship teams. Even our Giants SB team wasn't prepared for an alternative to what the giants pulled because there was no need to find an alternative during the season.

We're actually better offensively than last year with Welker at full speed and Gronk, Hernandez rolling. WR is about a wash and we have more options art RB. We're just not going to face a balanced defense because teams know if they don't mess up our rhythm right away and score points, they might as well go home, so they are scheming and taking chances to throw Brady off balance.

We're better, except the secondary IMO. Our D Line and linebackers were just faking it half the season last year. Much stronger now IMO.

 

[RayClay]

By the way, the above does not apply to our defense. We should be better in the first half because there is absolutely no mystery to what teams will try to do against us. They will throw and they will throw long.

So much for strategy and adjustments, we need to protect against the medium and long ball much better period, regardless of which quarter it is.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Maybe the Pats can pick him off twice in the first two drives and go up 21-0, that should put the Bills away*

*tongue in cheek.

 

[PatsDeb]

Since the Pats lost to the Giants:

Pats vs opponent: start / middle / end

Wk 16 vs Mia: 0-17 / 27-0 / 0-7
Wk 15 at Den: 7-16 / 27-0 / 7-7
Wk 14 at Was: 14-17 / 20-10 / 0-0
Wk 13 vs Ind: 3-3 / 28-0 / 0-21
Wk 12 at Phi: 0-10 / 38-3 / 0-7
Wk 11 vs KC: 0-3 / 27-0 / 7-0
Wk 10 at NYJ: 6-9 / 17-0 / 14-7

Total: 30-75 / 184-13 / 28-49


Are slow starts something to be concerned about? Absolutely; you don't want to get in a habit of digging yourself in a hole.

Conversely, that 184-13 stat may have had something to do with why I was simply shaking my head but not getting particularly upset while a sports bar full of Pats fans around me were going ballistic at halftime on Saturday, and nobody could understand when I was telling them 'relax, there's plenty of time left in this game'.

The slow start is something to be concerned about, but once I found out Light was a no-go about an hour before the game, and then Mankins was supposed to play Light's spot, but HE got hurt on the first series, then it was understandable why they got off to a slow start on O against Miami. The D's pattern seems to be, give up points early, buckle down in the middle of the game, give up some more when the other team gets desperate and is heaving it down field. Despite the scoreboard, I too felt calm and that the 17 pt. hole wasn't too hard to surmount if we could just get something going.

I also thought play calling hurt them in the first half (coaches didn't adjust fast enough to makeshift line and lots of pressure). At one point they had third and one, and they were lined up with Brady in the shotgun with Woodhead next to Brady, and as the ball was snapped I was muttering to myself, "you aren't seriously going to throw it here.." Yup, incompletion into the dirt (a lot of those too early on, particularly to Welker - is Brady's tennis elbow acting up?). Punt. If they had just run it there they probably would have gotten the first down and maybe the first half would have looked different.

I don't expect Buffalo to lie down. They beat us once and I am sure it would be a feather in their limited cap to take the Pats from No. 1 seed to No. 2. We need to score early, get the D to hang onto the lead and move convincingly into our No. 1 seed and a nice, well deserved bye week, and let the chips fall where they may. Hope we can do it!

Go Pats!!

 

[Wax Frog]

Since the Pats lost to the Giants:

Ooh, a better chart than mine :singing:

 

[fnordcircle]

I expect a repeat of what happened the last time we dropped an early game to the Bills and then played them the last game of the season.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

I expect a repeat of what happened the last time we dropped an early game to the Bills and then played them the last game of the season.

Let's hope this season ends the same way that one did......