Thoughts on Today's game

[DaBruinz]

I taped the game and watched it after getting home from lunch with the future in-laws. What I noticed was the following:

1) This officiating crew clearly felt sorry for the Bills. They called ONLY what they absolutely had to against the Bills and even then they missed the 2 time outs in a row. The amount of holding the Bills did today was worse than the Colts EVER did. It led directly to at least 2 scores, one of which was Spiller's scamper into the endzone. The officials, besides blowing the 2 timeouts in a row, missed the illegal formation of a wedge (3 defenders in a row) on Spiller's kick off return, 2 clips and 3 blocks in the back. ALL on that return.

2) I understand why Meriweather had lost his starting job for free-lancing. He did it today as well. Granted, he got the interception, but the Bills were able to continue 2 drives specifically because Meriweather took himself out of position.

3) Hernandez and Gronkowski both look like they are going to have great careers. The PI calls on them were utter BS. PI is supposed to be involving players who have an attempt at receiving the pass. In both cases, the pass was on the opposite side of the field from where the "infraction" supposedly occurred.

4) This was the first game in years that the O-line was able to run block consistently for the entire game. And the RBs had a field day with it.

5) BJGE and Woodhead both had great days out of the backfield. Woodhead looks like he could be a steal.

6) It was great to see Randy in the scrum trying to recover the fumble. A selfish player wouldn't have done that.

7) The blocking on the kick-offs regressed and it caused Tate to look pedestrian.

8) Count me as very surprised that TBC did not start the game at ROLB.

9) I think the best way to beat the "Wildcat" is to Run Blitz.

10) The Pats seriously need Sanders to step up in regards to calling coverages. And the rest of the secondary needs to follow what is called. Too many times the DBs seemed to be out of position. The DBs showed us that they are still wet behind the ears and still have a lot of growing to do. Including Meriweather. Yes, he had that pick, but that was only 1 of 2 good plays he had all day.. The rest of the day he wasn't doing so well.

11) Ron Brace looks to be taking to the LDE position quite well. I see a very solid player right now and his future could be great.

 

[Kontradiction]

Why were you surprised that TBC didn't start at ROLB? He's always been somewhat of a liability against the run and was absolutely invisible in the pass rush. The fact that he didn't started didn't really surprise or shock me at all. Though, with what we have there now, it might be best if he starts going forward. Didn't notice the Bills holding as much as you did, but I'll take your word for it.

 

[buffalo34]

I was at the game. I was in Section 108, Row 35, Seat 8. If you saw a guy with a Jim Kelly jersey that was too big for him wearing tan shorts and flip flops, that was me.

Anyhow, I originally thought 41-7 Patriots, with Buffalo's TD coming when down 21-0 or 28-0. Very shocked to see them keep the game in reach all day.

Very impressed with Fitzpatrick today. I think the two interceptions were more of horrible throws by him than great plays by New England's secondary. Watching Fitzpatrick play was a breath of fresh air compared to Trent Deadwards. He was throwing the ball downfield, trusting his receivers to make plays, and so on. If you remember that 3rd and 18 play where he hit Roscoe for a first down, Edwards would've NEVER tried that. He would've scrambled for 4 yards or throw a dumpoff to CJ Spiller for 2 yards.

And notice how when Fitzpatrick started, Evans, Parrish, and Steve Johnson all started catching balls and making plays. Isn't that a bit suspicious?

Pitiful performance by the defense. I miss Aaron Schobel. Brady had all day to throw and had minimal to no pressure to deal with. If we had even an average pass rush, our secondary would be a lot better. Not to mention, Schobel was always our best player during a Patriots game.

I'm somehow happy even though we lost the game. I think it's because of the life of our offense today, and it was a breath of fresh air watching a team move the ball downfield. Cleared out a lot in my head.

 

[Kontradiction]

I take it you're speaking from experience.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

AS to #2............ You missed, and 1 for a touchdown. Meriweather's freelancing def. allowed for Spiller to get in there unmolested on his passing catch.

I agree somewhat with buffalo34, we surely had some issues on D (and will continue to), but lets give credit where it's due, Buffalo played some inspired ball today as conpaired to the rest of the year so far. The team had no confience in Dreadwards and clearly stepped up with Fitz in there. We can always count on beating the Bills , but we can (almost) always count on them making a game of it. They generally play us well.

 

[buffalo34]

Yeah, maybe one day we'll get over the hump. If Buffalo ended up winning this game that would've done bad things to New England's season. New England's defense should be worried next week with Miami on deck. Henne played a very good game against one of the best defenses in the NFL.

On a footnote, Buffalo always seems to play the Patriots better at Foxboro than they do at the Ralph (another weird thing is that between New England and Buffalo, the first H2H matchup between these two has been at Foxboro going back to 2005). When the two play at the Ralph, it's always an ugly game with both teams playing very sloppy.

When you're a Bills fans and many outsiders potray you as the worst team in the NFL, I guess any positive you can take helps...

 

[Kontradiction]

Yeah, maybe one day we'll get over the hump. If Buffalo ended up winning this game that would've done bad things to New England's season. New England's defense should be worried next week with Miami on deck. Henne played a very good game against one of the best defenses in the NFL.

On a footnote, Buffalo always seems to play the Patriots better at Foxboro than they do at the Ralph (another weird thing is that between New England and Buffalo, the first H2H matchup between these two has been at Foxboro going back to 2005). When the two play at the Ralph, it's always an ugly game with both teams playing very sloppy.

When you're a Bills fans and many outsiders potray you as the worst team in the NFL, I guess any positive you can take helps...

Most Pats fans who are honest with themselves are nervous about the defense.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

Yeah, maybe one day we'll get over the hump. If Buffalo ended up winning this game that would've done bad things to New England's season. New England's defense should be worried next week with Miami on deck. Henne played a very good game against one of the best defenses in the NFL.

On a footnote, Buffalo always seems to play the Patriots better at Foxboro than they do at the Ralph (another weird thing is that between New England and Buffalo, the first H2H matchup between these two has been at Foxboro going back to 2005). When the two play at the Ralph, it's always an ugly game with both teams playing very sloppy.

When you're a Bills fans and many outsiders potray you as the worst team in the NFL, I guess any positive you can take helps...

Buffalo, is not close to the worst in the league. They aren't great, but THEY ARE CLEARLY BETTER right now with Fitz in there. Spiller will be an absolute BEAST someday. Buffalo's problem is that they are in the AFCE. Tough division to really do well in most years.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

Most Pats fans who are honest with themselves are nervous about the defense.

Without question. It's not all bad though. I think that they will develop over the course of this year. This defense just play "young". I think there are worse problems to have. Bodden and Warren losses are killing us.

But, for the time being, it's painful to watch.

 

[buffalo34]

I'm just hoping that this performance by the offense wasn't just a one game wonder. They will be tested next week vs. the Jets, and our offense has been sloppy vs. the Jets for the past 3 or 4 games.

I also liked what I saw from the OL today. Fitz had time to throw for the most apart and there were plenty of big plays from Lynch out of the backfield.

If Sanchez goes into midseason form vs. Buffalo next week maybe we'll win.

 

[Brady2Welker]

I'm just hoping that this performance by the offense wasn't just a one game wonder. They will be tested next week vs. the Jets, and our offense has been sloppy vs. the Jets for the past 3 or 4 games.

I also liked what I saw from the OL today. Fitz had time to throw for the most apart and there were plenty of big plays from Lynch out of the backfield.

If Sanchez goes into midseason form vs. Buffalo next week maybe we'll win.

Not to rain on your parade but a lot of that has to do with the incompetence of the Pats D. That said, I hope the Bills pull the upset next week.

 

[buffalo34]

Yeah, when you've got a team like Buffalo, you have to give that food for thought. Did Buffalo's offense decide to show up today? Or was New England's defense just that bad? That's why I'm hoping it wasn't a one-hit wonder. But New England for the most part has effectively shut down Buffalo's offense during this 14 game winning streak against them, regardless of who we had playing.

I have a little faith that we can beat Jacksonville after next week. That's been one of our annual games going back to 2006, haha.

 

[Kontradiction]

Yeah, when you've got a team like Buffalo, you have to give that food for thought. Did Buffalo's offense decide to show up today? Or was New England's defense just that bad? That's why I'm hoping it wasn't a one-hit wonder. But New England for the most part has effectively shut down Buffalo's offense during this 14 game winning streak against them, regardless of who we had playing.

I have a little faith that we can beat Jacksonville after next week. That's been one of our annual games going back to 2006, haha.

Unfortunately for the Bills, the Pats defense was just that bad today. Your offense will always look good if they our defense every week. However, they will probably look pretty bad next week.

 

[buffalo34]

Yeah, we haven't exactly looked good vs. the Jets in our past few matchups, and I'm not exactly confident that we'll see a repeat of last night. And if New England manhandled Buffalo's defense on the ground, then I'm scared to see what New York will do.

I checked way out, and it looks like WBZ will air NYJ/BUF next Sunday, since New England is on at Monday Night.

 

[Sivy]

I was at the game. I was in Section 108, Row 35, Seat 8. If you saw a guy with a Jim Kelly jersey that was too big for him wearing tan shorts and flip flops, that was me.

Anyhow, I originally thought 41-7 Patriots, with Buffalo's TD coming when down 21-0 or 28-0. Very shocked to see them keep the game in reach all day.

Very impressed with Fitzpatrick today. I think the two interceptions were more of horrible throws by him than great plays by New England's secondary. Watching Fitzpatrick play was a breath of fresh air compared to Trent Deadwards. He was throwing the ball downfield, trusting his receivers to make plays, and so on. If you remember that 3rd and 18 play where he hit Roscoe for a first down, Edwards would've NEVER tried that. He would've scrambled for 4 yards or throw a dumpoff to CJ Spiller for 2 yards.

And notice how when Fitzpatrick started, Evans, Parrish, and Steve Johnson all started catching balls and making plays. Isn't that a bit suspicious?

Pitiful performance by the defense. I miss Aaron Schobel. Brady had all day to throw and had minimal to no pressure to deal with. If we had even an average pass rush, our secondary would be a lot better. Not to mention, Schobel was always our best player during a Patriots game.

I'm somehow happy even though we lost the game. I think it's because of the life of our offense today, and it was a breath of fresh air watching a team move the ball downfield. Cleared out a lot in my head.

That game proved nothing for the bills..you have to minus atleast 20 points due to the horrible refs.

 

[Rob0729]

The one thing that was promising about the defense in how bad they played is that players were in position to make plays, but made mental errors like running into each other to not make plays. This defense still has a long, long way to go to be good; but there are things that can be corrected with experience.

 

[JSn]

5) BJGE and Woodhead both had great days out of the backfield. Woodhead looks like he could be a steal.

This was one of the big ups for me today. Seeing a good run game and the slow build-up of playing time for Law Firm. It's not that painful to give him credit for running hard, now is it? ;^]

 

[Fencer]

the future in-laws.

Congratulations!!

Or, as the case may be, condolences ...

 

[p8ryts]

I taped the game and watched it after getting home from lunch with the future in-laws. What I noticed was the following:

1) This officiating crew clearly felt sorry for the Bills. They called ONLY what they absolutely had to against the Bills and even then they missed the 2 time outs in a row. The amount of holding the Bills did today was worse than the Colts EVER did. It led directly to at least 2 scores, one of which was Spiller's scamper into the endzone. The officials, besides blowing the 2 timeouts in a row, missed the illegal formation of a wedge (3 defenders in a row) on Spiller's kick off return, 2 clips and 3 blocks in the back. ALL on that return.

2) I understand why Meriweather had lost his starting job for free-lancing. He did it today as well. Granted, he got the interception, but the Bills were able to continue 2 drives specifically because Meriweather took himself out of position.

3) Hernandez and Gronkowski both look like they are going to have great careers. The PI calls on them were utter BS. PI is supposed to be involving players who have an attempt at receiving the pass. In both cases, the pass was on the opposite side of the field from where the "infraction" supposedly occurred.

4) This was the first game in years that the O-line was able to run block consistently for the entire game. And the RBs had a field day with it.

5) BJGE and Woodhead both had great days out of the backfield. Woodhead looks like he could be a steal.

6) It was great to see Randy in the scrum trying to recover the fumble. A selfish player wouldn't have done that.

7) The blocking on the kick-offs regressed and it caused Tate to look pedestrian.

8) Count me as very surprised that TBC did not start the game at ROLB.

9) I think the best way to beat the "Wildcat" is to Run Blitz.

10) The Pats seriously need Sanders to step up in regards to calling coverages. And the rest of the secondary needs to follow what is called. Too many times the DBs seemed to be out of position. The DBs showed us that they are still wet behind the ears and still have a lot of growing to do. Including Meriweather. Yes, he had that pick, but that was only 1 of 2 good plays he had all day.. The rest of the day he wasn't doing so well.

11) Ron Brace looks to be taking to the LDE position quite well. I see a very solid player right now and his future could be great.

Re #3, I don't believe you are correct on this. We have had big interference calls in the past where there was no involvement in the pass, both times against the Colts. Troy Brown was called nullifying a Ben Watson first down catch that might have sealed the game and the TE from Texas (old age) nullified another first down in one of the title games.

Re #6 Randy in the scrum, argh!!! A real football player would have been tough enough not to lose the ball in the pile.

Re # 7 Blocking wasn't great, give the other team some credit, I didn't think Tate looked pedestrian.

 

[The Dynasty]

Why were you surprised that TBC didn't start at ROLB? He's always been somewhat of a liability against the run and was absolutely invisible in the pass rush. The fact that he didn't started didn't really surprise or shock me at all. Though, with what we have there now, it might be best if he starts going forward. Didn't notice the Bills holding as much as you did, but I'll take your word for it.

Also, I think BB was sending a message to the players that he isnt going to tolerate stupid penalties, like the one TBC had last week on the late hit out of bounce. Our OLB group is awful though, the only positions on D that arent a cause for concern are the ILBs and maybe the safteies