Pre-Game Thread- Bills @ Pats (Thursday Night)

[venecol]

It's a risk reward proposition. Their RZ offense is even more conservative than the rest of their approach right now. Every team knows they're going to run on first down, shotgun alignment WR/TE screen on second down, and then (usually) hold the ball waiting for someone to get a three step separation (which rarely happens in the RZ) or RB check down on third down.

The entire approach is about protecting the ball (at least to me) with the least risky throws in football. Is that Mac's early season recklessness? Likely some. Is it Patricia's "engineer mindset" (love that BTW whoever coined it) which values safety over risk? Likely some. Is it the unsettled and poorly executing OL? Likely some as well. Is it BB not wanting to further damage his QB's confidence by putting him in risky situations where failure and success are not as balanced? Also probable.

Winning against teams that are more talented is probably not going to happen without taking some risks. Can they explode in the Patriots' face? Absolutely - we've already seen the terribly timed pick-6s from riskier throws, but we also have seen zero reward recently as well with production in the red zone an all time low for the Pats.

The Vikes won in large part due to trust and risk - Jefferson was well covered and even double covered on some throws. The odds weren't in the offenses favor, but they threw it anyway and the kid made the plays.

I'm not saying chuck it up for grabs (which is what the first four games of the year were...back foot desperation heaves to no one in many cases), but sometimes for this team to take the next step they will have to throw it to the guy that's covered and trust him to win the matchup. (I dunno...maybe not Parker or Agholor....on second thought it was their non-wins that led to some of those early year INTs...maybe Meyers, Rham, and Henry?)

It may simply be that we don't have a "talented" receiver that can make those tight window catches consistently, like a Jefferson, Chase, etc. That would limit the plays to those where receivers are open. Parker was supposed to be that guy, but he just isn't.

 

[captain stone]

Bill's have a #1 WR in Diggs who will get his like Jefferson. And a legitimate #2 WR In Gabe Davis who's better than any Patriots WR Meyers included. Yeah that Gabe Davis torched KC for 200 in the playoffs.

And could've been ours with as late as our #125 pick.

 

[upstater1]

Generally there's a progression, each year the QB gets better. The wheels fell off Mac for most of the season. Lets see if he can right the ship after that Vikings game

He's been doing what he needs to do for a while now. Not just the Minnesota game but against the Jets and Indy as well

 

[captain stone]

Whoever scouted the Bills-Vikes game should have told Bill to take away JJ.

They tried to do that sometimes; but Devin McCourty's our Free Safety, so...

 

[captain stone]

Mac is PROBABLY better than Zappe. That is expected when you’re comparing a second year QB and last year’s runner up ROTY to an unpolished rookie.

Fify... And at this stage of the season, that's really the only thing we know about them.

 

[ashley]

Is Meyers dealing with some sort of injury? He's been wincing a lot lately in games I wish he was healthier last game Bourne and Thornton are next to useless.

It's the shoulder but we'll see later when the injury report comes out if he's on it.

 

[PatsFan2]

It's the shoulder but we'll see later when the injury report comes out if he's on it.

Thanks horrible injury for a WR who takes a lot of hits.

 

[Patsfan1958]

From Patriots.com:

Game Preview: Bills at Patriots

2022 REGULAR SEASON	NEW ENGLAND	BUFFALO
Record	6-5	8-3
Divisional Standings	4th	1st (T)
Total Yards Gained	3,585	4,575
Total Offense (Rank)	325.9 (21)	415.9 (2)
Rush Offense	109.0 (22)	136.7 (8)
Pass Offense	216.9 (19)	279.2 (3)
Points Per Game	21.7 (18)	28.1 (2)
Total Yards Allowed	3,386	3,600
Total Defense (Rank)	307.8 (5)	327.3 (12)
Rush Defense	109.3 (9)	105.6 (7)
Pass Defense	198.5 (9)	221.6 (19)
Points Allowed/Game	18.4 (6)	18.1 (5)
Possession Avg.	30:21	29:25
Sacks Allowed/Yards Lost	31/200	23/120
Sacks Made/Yards	37/242	30/198
Total Touchdowns Scored	24	34
Penalties Against/Yards	66/528	63/484
Punts/Avg.	47/42.5	24/48.4
Turnover Differential	+1 (12T)	+1 (12T)

 

[Patsfan1958]

Enter to win tickets to Thursday nights game vs the Bills:

Official New England Patriots News and Analysis

 

[PatsFan2]

From Patriots.com:

Game Preview: Bills at Patriots

2022 REGULAR SEASON	NEW ENGLAND	BUFFALO
Record	6-5	8-3
Divisional Standings	4th	1st (T)
Total Yards Gained	3,585	4,575
Total Offense (Rank)	325.9 (21)	415.9 (2)
Rush Offense	109.0 (22)	136.7 (8)
Pass Offense	216.9 (19)	279.2 (3)
Points Per Game	21.7 (18)	28.1 (2)
Total Yards Allowed	3,386	3,600
Total Defense (Rank)	307.8 (5)	327.3 (12)
Rush Defense	109.3 (9)	105.6 (7)
Pass Defense	198.5 (9)	221.6 (19)
Points Allowed/Game	18.4 (6)	18.1 (5)
Possession Avg.	30:21	29:25
Sacks Allowed/Yards Lost	31/200	23/120
Sacks Made/Yards	37/242	30/198
Total Touchdowns Scored	24	34
Penalties Against/Yards	66/528	63/484
Punts/Avg.	47/42.5	24/48.4
Turnover Differential	+1 (12T)	+1 (12T)

Well the stats definitely say that we should be able to keep up Buffalo will definitely try to outscore people. We didn't look like a5th Ranked Defense against the Vikes even made Kirk Cousins look good in prime time.

 

[StrawHatPatriot]

I think saying Jones is a better QB is a huge stretch, but the last month is the reason why I don't consider Allen elite. He is capable of playing like an elite QB for stretches, but the guy every year goes through stretches where he is average at best and awful at times. His lack of consistency keeps him out of the elite ranks in my eyes. You never saw this lack of consistency for Mahomes, Brady, Manning, Brees, or any other QB you would put in the elite ranks.

What "stretches"? I'm willing to bet I can look through Mahomes, Brees, Brady, Peyton, and find 2-3 game pockets where they didn't play well.

Did you not see Mahomes in the first 7 games of 2021? He struggled like mad. But he was still elite.

Saying Allen isn't the best QB in the league is fine, but saying he isnt elite in 2022 is silly.

 

[venecol]

Outside 3 catches 1 which shouldn't have even happened because the defense should have been off the field no he didn't really "own". His 15.4 ypc was his 6th best game of this season, his 9 rec was his 5th best game this season, his yards were 5th best for a game for him this season
For the WR he is which is arguably the best WR in the game right now he pretty much had a mid-tier game based on his season so far and it was a game where he had the benefit of playing at home and against a defense on 2 days prep.

Come on man, there's only been 14 receivers in 19 games (179 played) that had =>139 receiving yards plus =>1 TD. He had an 82% catch % and Cousins passer rating when throwing to Jefferson was 149.1, 4th best of those 19 games.

The worse part was we tried everything to take Jefferson away from Cousins. He absolutely owned our secondary. Just own it man. Hopefully, we learned something from it because going forward it isn't going to get easier.

 

[PatsFan2]

I think saying Jones is a better QB is a huge stretch, but the last month is the reason why I don't consider Allen elite. He is capable of playing like an elite QB for stretches, but the guy every year goes through stretches where he is average at best and awful at times. His lack of consistency keeps him out of the elite ranks in my eyes. You never saw this lack of consistency for Mahomes, Brady, Manning, Brees, or any other QB you would put in the elite ranks.

You don't consider Allen Elite really?? I am sure BB doesn't agree with you here's hoping Buffalo Punts this time around.

 

[PatsFan2]

What "stretches"? I'm willing to bet I can look through Mahomes, Brees, Brady, Peyton, and find 2-3 game pockets where they didn't play well.

Did you not see Mahomes in the first 7 games of 2021? He struggled like mad. But he was still elite.

Saying Allen isn't the best QB in the league is fine, but saying he isnt elite in 2022 is silly.

Let's hope Allen doesn't play Elite on Thursday night or its' kiss the Playoffs goodbye.

 

[PatsFan2]

 

[venecol]

If Cook gets 150 yards rushing, we're cooked. Typically can't win if you give up 100+ rushing yards to a rb. A lot of things went wrong in that game. At least Buffalo doesn't have a true number 1 rb

That would be Josh Allen, that averages 51 y/g which is more than all our RBs except Rham. He has 5 rushing TDs, more than any of our RBs. We have to account for his rushing.

 

[Rob0729]

You don't consider Allen Elite really?? I am sure BB doesn't agree with you here's hoping Buffalo Punts this time around.

When he is on, he is elite. When he isn't, he can suck royally. He is just not on more than a elite QB should be. Every year he has like four or five games where he is either awful or average at best.

 

[PatsFan2]

When he is on, he is elite. When he isn't, he can suck royally. He is just not on more than a elite QB should be. Every year he has like four or five games where he is either awful or average at best.

Ok that's clearer he played lights out when it counted last year.

 

[venecol]

Good thing about this game is that I think the Bills play very similarly to the Vikings, with the exception that Allen can run the ball, and that's a very very big exception. Vikes have better RBs than Buffalo, so swap a run defender for someone who can track Allen.

Tavai?

 

[FCB02062]

Who's happy with Folk kicking FG's? All posts that I have seen have said that the redone offense needs to improve. Show me one post on here claiming their happy with Folk kicking 5 FG's a game. I have a feeling I'll be waiting a while.

I don't have time to go ciphering through posts but some folks were posting "FOLK!" that seems pretty satisfied with a FG....