This is a collection of quotes, notes, and other writers’ observations from the game.<\/p>\n
Mike Reiss came up with this stat \u2013 the three passes were the fewest in a game in Patriots history.\u00a0 The previous low was the infamous \u201cSnow Plow\u201d game in 1982.<\/p>\n
Damien Harris TD run was the longest since Curtis Martin\u2019s 70 yarder in 1997.<\/p>\n
Branden Bolden had a good snippet in his post-game press conference.\u00a0 He said practicing against the Patriots’ defense every day in practice is \u201ciron sharpening iron\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Rhamondre Stevenson stated he had never been in weather like this.\u00a0 Coach Belichick in his post-game locker room address to the players exclaimed \u201cThis is why we practice in [all types] weather\u201d.<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019 hamstring injury does not appear to be serious.\u00a0 He showed up at the post-game press conference of David Andrews.\u00a0 He yelled out Roll Tide, as a little dig to Andrews as Alabama won the SEC championship over Andrews alma mater Georgia.\u00a0\u00a0 The fact he showed up in front of the media is a good sign.\u00a0 Stevenson and Bolden spoke to the media.<\/p>\n
I have a bone to pick with the NFL schedule makers.\u00a0 Why are the Patriots scheduled to play a second team that is coming off their bye week?\u00a0 Never mind the fact that they are getting no advantage (outside of rest) because their next opponent is having the same bye week.\u00a0 Add to that they are now playing their 4th<\/sup> night game.\u00a0 The Patriots, by virtue of their finish last season are supposed to have a favorable schedule by playing teams in other divisions that are in the lower half of those divisions.<\/p>\n The Defense held Buffalo to 10 points.\u00a0 All those points were the result of gifts, Harry\u2019s muffed punt, and an absolutely horrendous call by the official on Myles Bryant pushing Josh Allen out of bounds.\u00a0 Allen was a runner, had not touched out of bounds, and was reaching for a 1st<\/sup> down.\u00a0 Even the official expert on TV called it a bad call.\u00a0 That\u2019s an average of 10.4 pts a game over the 7 game win streak.\u00a0 They are the least scored upon defense in the league.<\/p>\n Loved these quotes from Tom Curran and Michael Holley from their Post-Game Live program last night.\u00a0 Curran \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s emasculating, humiliating, and embarrassing when you can\u2019t win the physical matchup\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cYou can\u2019t stop us, your #1 rival in the division.\u201d\u00a0 “If we are going to do this in primetime, at your place that\u2019s something you [Bills] are going to have to suck on the rest of the season\u201d.<\/p>\n Holley \u2013 \u201cNothing is more frustrating than being run on and run on, knowing it is coming\u201d.<\/p>\n Was it stubborn of Bill Belichick to run the ball or was it necessary?\u00a0 I would have liked to see a few more passes, especially on 1st<\/sup> down.\u00a0 When N\u2019Keal Harry was in the game it was a poker tell, the Patriots were running the ball.\u00a0 I also think there is some animosity between Belichick and McDermott.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think Belichick cared for McDermott\u2019s comments after the wins last year.<\/p>\n McDermott made an ass out of himself after this game.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t give Belichick too much credit\u201d.\u00a0 He then proceeds to embarrass himself with quotes about field position, Patriots starting at their 23 average, and Buffalo starting at the 40 average.\u00a0 He also talked about being 1 for 4 in the Red Zone while the Patriots were 0-1.<\/p>\n This gem is courtesy of Greg Bedard – Nobody wants to talk about the blunder McDermott made to start the second half.\u00a0 A new rule allows the coach that deferred until the second half, to choose to receive the ball or play for field position (the wind in the 4th<\/sup> quarter).\u00a0 Think McDermott even knows the rule?<\/p>\n With the wind conditions as bad as they were (Gusting winds reached 55 MPH), I thought the coin toss would determine the winner.\u00a0 The Bills won the toss and deferred.<\/p>\n Bill Belichick said the game in 2008 was worse as far as the wind goes.\u00a0 Matt Cassel was the QB for that game and he attempted 8 passes.<\/p>\n Bedard claims this was one of Bill Belichick\u2019s greatest coaching performances, a masterpiece.\u00a0 How can Belichick not get the coach of the year for the job he has done so far this year?<\/p>\n The matchup between JC Jackson and Stephon Diggs was one of the hotter topics leading up to the game.\u00a0 The wind conditions played a big factor but it looks like Jackson came out on top this time.\u00a0 Diggs had 1 catch for 26 yards in 3 matchups against Jackson.\u00a0 One of those incompletions was a pass breakup by Jackson.<\/p>\n Seth Wickersham, ESPN writer and author of the book about Bill Belichick and the Patriots Dynasty, It\u2019s Better To Be Feared had this tweet.\u00a0 \u201cPeople think throwing three times reveals what Bill Belichick thinks about Mac Jones when maybe it reveals more about what he thinks about Josh Allen and his Buffalo offensive coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n Myles Bryant made a very instinctive play in his pass breakup of the potential go-ahead pass.\u00a0 Steve Belichick called a \u201cZero\u201d blitz.\u00a0 That is when the Free Safety (Devin McCourty) is part of the blitz and there is no one in the deep middle of the field.\u00a0 The purpose of the blitz is to hurry up the decision-making by QB Josh Allen and not allow him the time to scan the field and pick out the open man.\u00a0 The remaining DBs are all in Man-to-Man, one-on-one coverage.\u00a0 Bryant was assigned to Cole Beasley in the slot and actually had Bryant beat if Allen had looked for him.\u00a0 Trailing Beasley across the middle, Bryant was looking back into the backfield and saw Allen pass to the outside receiver Gabriel Davis who was beating Jalen Mills running a similar but deeper route than Beasley.\u00a0 Bryant broke off his coverage like Ty Law used to do and reached up and knocked down the pass.\u00a0 Game Over!\u00a0\u00a0 Bryant is highly thought of by the Patriots.\u00a0 The Un-Drafted Free Agent (UDFA) from Washington was passed over because of his height (5\u20199\u201d).\u00a0 He is filling in for Jonathan Jones, playing the slot corner.\u00a0\u00a0 Some think he will be the heir to Devin McCourty at Free Safety.<\/p>\n The Patriots gained 144 yards of their 222 after the first contact.\u00a0 Harris and Stevenson combined to make 11 defenders miss tackles, of which Stevenson had 9 (on his 24 carries).<\/p>\n The Patriots Offensive line played very well.\u00a0 They used their jumbo package with Michael Owenu as a Tackle Eligible (Tight End) on 61% of the plays.\u00a0 That meant Owenu had to report to the official every play and be declared to the Defense that he was an eligible receiver.\u00a0 That took a lot of discipline.<\/p>\n The Bills fans are delusional claiming \u201cThey only had one big run\u201d.\u00a0 Yeah, your defense played 10 men in the box and they over-pursued to the running back going left.\u00a0 Harris cut back and because all the defenders, except the Free Safety, were within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, once Harris got to the second level, he was gone.\u00a0 Even Safety Micah Hyde over-pursued the play, leaving nothing but green between Harris and the end zone.<\/p>\n This game could have easily been a loss for the Patriots if the Bills didn’t continue to screw up.\u00a0 The Bills were driving and aided by a Donta Hightower horse collar personal foul penalty, the Bills have 1st and goal at the NE 6 yard line.\u00a0 With 9:04 left on the clock, the Bills were in a prime position to take the lead.\u00a0 A run play by Zach Moss for no gain on 1st down, followed by a huge -9 yard sack by Judon pushed them back to the 15.\u00a0 \u00a0An incomplete pass to Dawson Knox led to the FG attempt.\u00a0 Tyler Bass missed a 33 yard FG attempt into the wind with 7:28 left in the 4th Quarter.\u00a0 He didn’t aim toward the left goal post.\u00a0 Instead kicked it slightly right and the wind caught it and blew it wide right.\u00a0 Getting the ball back after a quick three and out, with 5:47 left in the game Josh Allen moved the Bills smartly down the field. He got them down to the 13-yard line with 3rd<\/sup> and 9.\u00a0 Dawson Knox gets a false start penalty moving the ball back to the18 and 3rd<\/sup> and 14.\u00a0 The next play was a pass breakup by Adrian Phillips on an attempt to TE Dawson Knox.\u00a0 Phillips was injured on the play.\u00a0 That’s the two-minute warning.\u00a0 On the 4th down play, Myles Bryant makes the pass breakup on a wide-open Gabriel Davis who had beaten Jalen Mills.\u00a0 Bryant made the play and the Bills did not.\u00a0 So temper all the talk about a dominating run game and realize we could be talking about a completely different narrative if the Patriots had lost, and they were very fortunate not to lose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a collection of quotes, notes, and other writers’ observations from the Bills vs Patriots game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":38931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22712],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2021-patriots-season"],"yoast_head":"\n