Like everyone else, I can't stand Borges, but the headline suckered me into reading it earlier, and it's damn good.
Pasted here for those who don't want to click...
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Borges: Bills again prove they just don't get it
Can’t sniff Pats but win pointless pregame war
Ron Borges Monday, October 31, 2016
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — As promised, the Buffalo Bills did not allow the Patriots to run through their pregame calisthenics line yesterday at New-Era-Same-As-The-Old-Era Stadium. But perhaps they should have worried more about them running over their defense instead?
All week long the Bills in general and young cornerback Stephon Gilmore in particular kept yapping about how they would not allow the Patriots to disrespect the NFL’s pregame demilitarized zone by jogging on their end of the field during warmups. It was an objective they achieved. It was also about the only objective they achieved in a 41-25 demolishment of any hopes they had of challenging the Patriots in the AFC LEast race.
While the Bills seemed fixated on winning the pregame, shouting and challenging the Patriots before the opening kickoff as the two sides were getting loose, their counterparts from New England stayed focused on winning the only thing that counted. They focused on winning the game.
The Bills opened up by driving to the Patriots’ 6-yard line but then stalled out, which would become a pattern. They settled for a field goal before Gilmore and his tough-talking defensive mates responded to that by allowing a 14-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that began with them being flagged for having 12 men on the field and ended with safety Jonathan Meeks being roasted on a Danny Amendola post-corner route for a 7-3 Patriot lead that would only end up getting bigger.
Buffalo’s tough-minded response to that challenge was to drop two passes, go three-and-out and then give up a 53-yard touchdown completion to Chris Hogan on a third-and-8. The victim was, stunner, Stephon Gilmore, whose jam attempt was more like jelly as Hogan knocked him off balance and then ran by him on a straight “9” route downfield for a wide-open touchdown.
Gilmore immediately turned and glared at the safety to let the crowd know he should have had safety help but in case they missed that selfish gesture he doubled down after the game by grousing “busted coverage’’ when asked about the play.
“They didn’t ever beat us one-on-one really,’’ he insisted. “We just gave them everything. (Tom Brady) seen it. Easy throws. Just gave them everything.’’
Well, not everything. The Bills had the jumping jacks line covered like a blanket.
By the end of the day, Gilmore had contributed single-handedly with not only those 53 yards to Hogan (which in fairness were not totally his doing because he should have had safety help but that guy was too busy protecting the Bills’ pilates area) but also three holding calls and two other critical miscues.
Unhappy Gilmore was beaten and then run over by Rob Gronkowski on a 31-yard reception along the sideline on a third-and-4 and followed that up on the same series with a holding penalty on third-and-12 that gave the Patriots a first down at the Bills 15 to set up another score. Clearly he had talked far tougher than he played.
In the end, maybe Gilmore was half right though. Maybe the Patriots didn’t beat the Bills one-on-one all that often but one thing was sure. They beat him like he was a carpet on a clothesline.
“They try to intimidate you,’’ Patriots safety Devin McCourty said of Gilmore and his teammates. “That’s what they do. They want to come in and try to out-tough us. We know that.’’
What they also know is they are 28-4 in the Bill Belichick Era against the Bills and Tom Brady has now beaten them 26 of the 29 times he’s faced them. So when someone like Gilmore says, as he did earlier in the week, “We’re not gonna let nobody push us around. .?.?. You know what I’m saying?’’ the answer is no I do not know what you’re saying.
If going 4-28 to a team and 3-26 against its quarterback doesn’t constitute being pushed around perhaps committing 12 stupid penalties does? Or missing a field goal just before halftime that would have closed the margin to eight points does? Or allowing a 28-yard drive and a field goal in 27 seconds after that miss to end the first half and then opening the second by allowing a 73-yard kick return followed by a 12-yard touchdown pass a minute into the third quarter, a 13-point swing in less than three minutes, does?
Actually, now that I think about it, that’s not being pushed around. That’s being trampled by a stampede.
“The better team won today without question,’’ downcast Bills’ coach Rex Ryan conceded. “We made too many mistakes. Mistakes we hadn’t made all season and a guy like Brady makes you pay anytime you have a mistake. We didn’t deserve to win by any stretch. You get them backed way up on the third-and-long and we blow a coverage. Its 10 guys playing one thing and somebody else playing something else. Even if you’re not signing out of the same hymnal it looks bad and sounds bad and everything else.
“It doesn’t break our season but I think it’s unrealistic to think you’re going to win your division when you just got beat by .?.?. how many games are they up by?’’
That would be three, which is to say the kind of lead Secretariat once had when he won the Belmont Stakes by half a track.
“I just told you the truth,’’ Ryan said. “You’re pretty much shot if you really think we can run the table and still win it. I don’t think so.’’
Probably not even Unhappy Gilmore does but one thing is sure: if they ever decide the Super Bowl by whom defends the warmup area most ardently, the Buffalo Bills will be tough to beat.
