The OFFICIAL Patriots vs Bills PostGame Thread

[Mix]

McCourty had such an up & down game. He was beaten constantly but he also had those 2 big turnovers (Yes, the forced fumble was big because it took 2 minutes off of clock). I am intrigued to hear your guys' opinions on his performance.

I thought McCourty had a solid game, I definitely didn't see him getting beat constantly.

 

[CityOfChampions]

@GregABedard
According to @amaliebenjamin, Ryan Fitzpatrick used the word "punk" when talking about Brandon Spikes at the podium.

 

[RodThePat]

I'll believe this when he does something about it - call someone out, fire someone, cut someone, something.....anything besides his normal "we did some good, some not so good.....we still have work to do".....yada, yada, yada

LOL if you believe anything he says to the media is representative of how he really feels. He sees the exact same things we are seeing. Remember in "A Football Life" him saying, in 2009, that all the other team had to do was take away Moss deep and clamp down on Welker and we were done? That's what many people here thought at the time too, since it was pretty obvious from watching the games. He never let any of that show when he addressed the media, though. You can question the methods he's been using to try to solve the problem, but he DEFINITELY sees what's going on.

 

[DaBruinz]

What an up and down game. Shouldn't expect anything else against a Divisional Rival that has a lot of TALENT at RB(Jackson and Spiller) and it's receivers (Chandler, Johnson and Jones). Just wish that people would remember that they have talent and that talented players can make plays. Would help the chicken littles to stop from over-reacting.

The play that almost cost the Pats the game was the 1st and goal from Buffalo's 2 yard line in the 4th quarter that they tried to quick snap. Hello. It's late in the 4th quarter and your TRYING to run time off the clock. Let the Buffalo defense get set. LET time run off the clock. So what if they stop you on 1st down. It runs the time down to the 2 minute warning OR it forces Buffalo to use a time out. Either way, it puts you in the driver's seat.

I don't understand why the Pats played so much ZONE today. They had so much success with the MAN coverage against the Rams and with Gregory back, they could have move McCourty back to CB opposite Dennard and been better off for it. And I attribute much of the issues that Dennard had today with not playing in press coverage...

The Pats secondary is so new to Belichick's zone defense that they've not really had time to acclimate to it. Nor has there been much in the way of continuity back there because of the injuries.

I really hate how McDaniels rotates the RBs. So many times, it just stunts the momentum that the team builds up. Not only that, it sends a clear signal to the defense that the new RB is gonna be the one getting the ball.

The Pats didn't run enough play-action or enough screens today.

Woodhead had a great game, but them sitting him on the bench in the 4th quarter didn't make sense to me. Should have had him out there instead of Branch, IMHO.

The play-calling after the fumble recovery on the 1 yard line was a head scratcher. You've got a RB in Ridley who has been tearing it up, us him.

The defense, for all its faults, pulled another one out today with two timely turnovers. The fumble and recovery on the Pats 1 yard line and then the interception by McCourty in the endzone. The two forced fumbles give the Pats 16 on the year to go with 10 interceptions. The Pats have recovered 12 of the 16 forced fumbles.

 

[Bhelmet]

Tough game to watch - secondary still terrible and couldn't stop the run. A "W" is a "W", but will we ever feel safe with a 14-pt lead again?

 

[PatsBoy12]

I thought McCourty had a solid game, I definitely didn't see him getting beat constantly.

That's because he didn't. People latch on to a popular refrain and they stick with it no matter what actually happened during the game.

 

[DaBruinz]

Some people in this thread will also try to pin this one on the offense, so I'll just get ahead of them here and say that when you score 37 points, you should win the game. They had what? 2 drives in which they didn't score? They did their job.

Sorry, but 1st and Goal from the opponents 2 with less than 3 minutes left, you run the time off the clock. You don't try and quick snap it. Not getting the TD on that series kept Buffalo in the game and actually gave Buffalo momentum.

 

[CityOfChampions]

Sorry, but 1st and Goal from the opponents 2 with less than 3 minutes left, you run the time off the clock. You don't try and quick snap it. Not getting the TD on that series kept Buffalo in the game and actually gave Buffalo momentum.

If Ridley didn't get a penalty after that then that bad play call probably wouldn't have mattered. We'd prob score there. Patriots have taken way too many dumb penalties this season.

 

[DaBruinz]

I cannot wait for Hernandez to come back. Branch and Edelman are so bad. And Welker is right where he left off the last super bowl....dropping everything. So many drops today my gawd!

On the bright side, LOLphins got blown out and we're in full control of the division.

Nothing like exaggerating to make yourself look intelligent.

Edelman is just fine as a 3rd WR. Since you missed it, Branch had a very good day, though I have felt he's been done for awhile.

Welker had 2 drops on 11 targets. Of those 11, 6 were catches and 3 weren't catchable. Do yourself a favor and use facts instead of making things up..

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Observation that has concerned me for awhile this season. Winning the turnover battle no longer guarantees the Pats a victory, even at home against a weak opponent.

 

[skspikex2]

McCourty is solid today, Gregory though......

 

[RodThePat]

Sorry, but 1st and Goal from the opponents 2 with less than 3 minutes left, you run the time off the clock. You don't try and quick snap it. Not getting the TD on that series kept Buffalo in the game and actually gave Buffalo momentum.

I agree, the playcall was horrendous. The game should've never come down to the fact that "oh we let them keep 40 seconds on the clock by quicksnapping it" though. If the defense has a bad performance, and the offense has the ball for more than 25 minutes, we win this one going away. But no, they were horrendous and almost cost the team the game. When the most you can complain about the offense is that they kicked a field goal instead of a touchdown after a 60-yard drive, you can probably see in which side of the ball the fault really lies.

 

[Hart Lee Chung]

Good teams win ugly games.

 

[Deus Irae]

If Ridley didn't get a penalty after that then that bad play call probably wouldn't have mattered. We'd prob score there. Patriots have taken way too many dumb penalties this season.

The quick snap was a really stupid call, and it almost cost the team the game.

 

[CityOfChampions]

Nothing like exaggerating to make yourself look intelligent.

Edelman is just fine as a 3rd WR. Since you missed it, Branch had a very good day, though I have felt he's been done for awhile.

Welker had 2 drops on 11 targets. Of those 11, 6 were catches and 3 weren't catchable. Do yourself a favor and use facts instead of making things up..

Edelman did absolutely nothing, Branch had an okay day, and 2 of Welkers drops were HUGE and catchable.

 

[Uncle Rico]

Observation that has concerned me for awhile this season. Winning the turnover battle no longer guarantees the Pats a victory, even at home against a weak opponent.

Seemed pretty important today.

 

[fnordcircle]

There were two plays that stood out where Dennard and someone else missed a tackle that had Gregory taken the right angle he would have been there to clean up.

Honestly Gregory is the Monty Biesel of this secondary. High motor and always in the wrong spot.

 

[DaBruinz]

Another observation: Gregory really sucks. Hopefully Chung will come back soon and he'll play a little better than Gregory did today. Him and Arrington got ran over, Dennard got beat a bit today as well. I think Dennard will be okay once Talib's in. Just keep Arrington and Gregory off the field, and we'll be okay.

Gregory sucks so bad that he's the one that first hit Jackson so McCourty could strip the ball on the 1 yard line. Gregory got juked out of his shorts by Spiller on one play. I can't fault the guy for that.

 

[DaBruinz]

Again, I feel like Gregory really brought D-MAC down today. Did Wilson play today?? I would've rather had him in than Gregory.

If you don't know that Wilson played today, then how can you say that Gregory brought D-Mac down?

Yes, Wilson played. I saw him out there for numerous plays.. He wear's the number 27 so you can look for him from now on..

 

[DaBruinz]

I thought after London that Gronk was all the way back, but now I wonder. Seemed to disappear as a target. ANd ...did Shiancoe play at all?

Shiancoe played early in the game on the Multi-TE sets. He wore #80 from what I saw. Only was in there for blocking...