long distance
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2015
- Messages
- 10,307
- Reaction score
- 27,270
No surprise: McCoy is OUT.
With this being definite - and most gameplans and discussions until now counting the possibility of him playing - maybe we can talk about the implications and changes to the D (maybe also O) gameplan?
No doubt this is a huge break for Pats. Not only is McCoy the best individual player they saw all year - he seemed virtually unstoppable last time around and in all other games as well while healthy - but he also makes everyone else better, especially Taylor in both passing and rushing game. Moreover McCoy himslef is a dual threat (rushing and receiveng) and a great option at screen plays. Another, maybe crucial thing - he was by far the best option in the red zone. The second best Bills rusher this season by far was Taylor but w/o McCoy he should be much easier to contain.
Gillislee is a solid RB but of a different kind, not so elusive and has yet to catch a ball. Reggie Bush will probably have to step up in that capacity but he's far from McCoy. I guess this makes a D plan much more simple - maybe something along the lines of what we saw against Cleveland's strong vertical run - since Bills receiving threats are also depleted. The two guys who surprisingly put a ton of yards on Pats last time - Clay (5/47) and Woods (7/89) - are playing (although Woods with foot injury; out @Mia) but I guess BB made a strong enough point on mistakes on them that this will improve as well. Clay, along w Hunter and Tate was very modest against Miami - with Goodwin carrying the receiving corps (4/93) - but he is also OUT.
Looking at all this it would take a minor miracle - and would be a huge upset - if the Bills manage to win despite the home crowd and Rex's D (that will also be missing a key member in Aaron Williams .. going against Bennet and Gronk). But it only takes an off day of the team like the first time around to become reality.
Looking forward to strong Pats performance .. setting the tone for the great second part of the season.
With this being definite - and most gameplans and discussions until now counting the possibility of him playing - maybe we can talk about the implications and changes to the D (maybe also O) gameplan?
No doubt this is a huge break for Pats. Not only is McCoy the best individual player they saw all year - he seemed virtually unstoppable last time around and in all other games as well while healthy - but he also makes everyone else better, especially Taylor in both passing and rushing game. Moreover McCoy himslef is a dual threat (rushing and receiveng) and a great option at screen plays. Another, maybe crucial thing - he was by far the best option in the red zone. The second best Bills rusher this season by far was Taylor but w/o McCoy he should be much easier to contain.
Gillislee is a solid RB but of a different kind, not so elusive and has yet to catch a ball. Reggie Bush will probably have to step up in that capacity but he's far from McCoy. I guess this makes a D plan much more simple - maybe something along the lines of what we saw against Cleveland's strong vertical run - since Bills receiving threats are also depleted. The two guys who surprisingly put a ton of yards on Pats last time - Clay (5/47) and Woods (7/89) - are playing (although Woods with foot injury; out @Mia) but I guess BB made a strong enough point on mistakes on them that this will improve as well. Clay, along w Hunter and Tate was very modest against Miami - with Goodwin carrying the receiving corps (4/93) - but he is also OUT.
Looking at all this it would take a minor miracle - and would be a huge upset - if the Bills manage to win despite the home crowd and Rex's D (that will also be missing a key member in Aaron Williams .. going against Bennet and Gronk). But it only takes an off day of the team like the first time around to become reality.
Looking forward to strong Pats performance .. setting the tone for the great second part of the season.
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