Ozymandias
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- May 16, 2012
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After digesting these three preseason games I feel as fans it's time to begin looking ahead to the season opening opponent. Although the Patriots have historically dominated the Bills in the BB-TB era, I think this game might be a lot harder than many realize, at least judging by areas of weakness in the Patriots team and those areas relate to the Bills' strengths. I view the Bills as by far the biggest threat to the Patriots in the AFCE, and like Mike Mayock said, they could surprise a lot of people this season that are sleeping on them.
So far what we know based on the Pats' preseason games, the Patriots defense has somewhat shown an inability to handle RBs in space. Reggie Bush had big plays on them in space. This is extremely problematic, especially with C.J. Spiller's explosive ability and speed being a way above that of even Bush's. The Patriots will have a lot of problems containing him (everyone does).
To add to that, receivers have been able to get behind the defense a la Desean Jackson. Marquise Goodwin is about as dangerous as it gets on deep routes in the NFL. No one in Patriots secondary can be trusted to cover him 1-on-1 downfield. McCourty's presence over the top should help in that area but the Patriots secondary as a whole has done nothing to make me feel comfortable in their ability to contain the Bills' tandem of Stevie Johnson and Robert Woods. Also, the coverage by the starting LBs (Spikes especially) hasn't changed much from last season to this season. They haven't gotten much better at defending the middle of the field. By the looks of it that is still an area of concern.
Now obviously who plays QB will be a huge factor in that. Since the Bills haven't played their third preseason game yet, or named their starting QB either, I'll add more at a later time and do some amateur scouting of their game tapes from now until the regular season starts.
Thoughts?
So far what we know based on the Pats' preseason games, the Patriots defense has somewhat shown an inability to handle RBs in space. Reggie Bush had big plays on them in space. This is extremely problematic, especially with C.J. Spiller's explosive ability and speed being a way above that of even Bush's. The Patriots will have a lot of problems containing him (everyone does).
To add to that, receivers have been able to get behind the defense a la Desean Jackson. Marquise Goodwin is about as dangerous as it gets on deep routes in the NFL. No one in Patriots secondary can be trusted to cover him 1-on-1 downfield. McCourty's presence over the top should help in that area but the Patriots secondary as a whole has done nothing to make me feel comfortable in their ability to contain the Bills' tandem of Stevie Johnson and Robert Woods. Also, the coverage by the starting LBs (Spikes especially) hasn't changed much from last season to this season. They haven't gotten much better at defending the middle of the field. By the looks of it that is still an area of concern.
Now obviously who plays QB will be a huge factor in that. Since the Bills haven't played their third preseason game yet, or named their starting QB either, I'll add more at a later time and do some amateur scouting of their game tapes from now until the regular season starts.
Thoughts?