Looking ahead to the Patriots rematch.

[WhiskyBreath]

Pats have played well and their coaches have done a terrific job -- they deserve credit for that.  However, they have played a pretty soft schedule and have not been plagued by crippling injuries to key players.

 

At present, the Bills have Ed Oliver, Michael Hoecht, Landon Jackson, Damar Hamlin, Taylor Rapp, and Curtis Samuel on IR, among others.  They have also lost folks like Matt Milano, Terrell Bernard, and Dalton Kincaid for significant stretches.

 

We certainly have had issues getting the team prepared for games against "weak" opponents, but in a long season every team has a few games where they under-perform.  So, it is not just coaching, injuries have been pretty devastating for the Bills.

 

All that said, it is time to buckle down, beginning with the Bengals, who are suddenly looking rather good.  We better not sleepwalk this one!

[Jrb1979]

38 minutes ago, WhiskyBreath said:

Pats have played well and their coaches have done a terrific job -- they deserve credit for that.  However, they have played a pretty soft schedule and have not been plagued by crippling injuries to key players.

 

At present, the Bills have Ed Oliver, Michael Hoecht, Landon Jackson, Damar Hamlin, Taylor Rapp, and Curtis Samuel on IR, among others.  They have also lost folks like Matt Milano, Terrell Bernard, and Dalton Kincaid for significant stretches.

 

We certainly have had issues getting the team prepared for games against "weak" opponents, but in a long season every team has a few games where they under-perform.  So, it is not just coaching, injuries have been pretty devastating for the Bills.

 

All that said, it is time to buckle down, beginning with the Bengals, who are suddenly looking rather good.  We better not sleepwalk this one!

I disagree with the weak schedule nonsense. Outside of 3 games,  they have the same schedule as the Bills. 

[Avisan]

11 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

I disagree with the weak schedule nonsense. Outside of 3 games,  they have the same schedule as the Bills. 

Those are a pretty big 3 games in difference, though, and with anyone other than Hochuli reffing we very probably win that first matchup even with the turnovers

[mjt328]

2 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

I disagree with the weak schedule nonsense. Outside of 3 games,  they have the same schedule as the Bills. 

 

Not nonsense. Those three games are significant.

- Bills get AFC champion Chiefs.  Patriots get Raiders, arguably the worst team in the league.

- Bills get Texans, best defense in NFL.  Patriots get Titans, only team probably worse than above.

- Bills get Super Bowl champion Eagles.  Patriots get 2-win Giants with rookie QB and interim HC.

 

Also:

- Bills got the Ravens at full strength.  Patriots will get version with Lamar Jackson on one-leg.

- Bills get Bengals at full strength.  Patriots got them without Joe Burrow or Jamar Chase.

 

The Patriots best win of the season was against us... probably the most lopsided penalty fest in the NFL this year.  And they barely escaped with a 3-point victory.  We will see about the rematch.  It may be a longshot for us to come back and win the division.  But if we win that game, the margin will be pretty close.

 

Yes, the Bills blew a cake schedule this season.  No excuses.  But the Patriots have a HISTORICALLY weak slate of opponents.  If the AFC East comes down to Week 18 or a tiebreaker, nobody can say these differences didn't play a factor.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, Jrb1979 said:

I disagree with the weak schedule nonsense. Outside of 3 games,  they have the same schedule as the Bills. 

Pats may be just as good against good teams and it may end up being meaningless for sure  but their schedule played so far has been historically easy I don’t really even think it’s up for debate.  Those three different games are going from 3 good/great opponents for the bills to pretty much the 3 worst teams in the league for the pats on top of the already easy afc east schedule and on top of that their bills rematch/ravens game haven’t happened yet

if the season ended today they’d have the lowest sos of any team in at least 12 years (espn app won’t go back further) and outside of Chicago this year who has people equally suspicious I’d say no one is even that close.  

it’ll seemed biased cuz we’re talking bills/pats but three games going from tough for one team to an absolute joke for their opponent is a massive deal in a division race and i feel exactly the same about the bears situation 
 

Edited 6 hours ago by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Ray Stonada]

My questions for this game: 

 

1) if they sell out to stop the run, will Brady have a plan B?

 

2) can McD come up with a specific plan to counter Maye?

 

More confident in the second thing than the first. 

[BVBILLS]

Mustache man is going to try to knock the **** out of Allen

 

Patriots coach Mike Vrabel says he loved the hit linebacker Christian Elliss put on Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart on Monday night. And Vrabel knows what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

 

Vrabel said on WEEI that he also tells Patriots quarterback Drake Maye that quarterbacks are fair game when they’re running along the sideline if they don’t get out of bounds. Elliss drilled Dart while he was still inbounds, and it was the kind of good, clean legal hit that Vrabel knows his own quarterback will take if he doesn’t protect himself by stepping out of bounds.

 

“We show that to Drake and our defenders are being coached the same way,” Vrabel said. “When I say [to Maye], ‘We better not get cute over there by the sideline because this is legal,’ I turn around and tell the defense, ‘If this is happening, we need to try to knock the ***** out of him as legally as possible.’”

The Patriots’ defense hit Dart hard multiple times, and Vrabel loved to see that.

 

“I thought it was good. I thought it was excellent,” Vrabel said. “If you’re in bounds and you’re not sliding . . . If there’s a football player running down the sideline we’re gonna have to hit him.”

[BillytheKid]

10 hours ago, Psautcsk said:

The only reason The Bills lost to the Pats is because the Pats scored more points. No excuse for losing a primetime home game with Diggs on the other side and letting him beat you. 

Well obviously because they scored more points.

 

My point is that the Patriots don’t scare me at all. 
 

The Bills losses this year for the most part to me is because they think they can just show up to the game and they will automatically win. 
 

If the Bills show up to actually play I don’t think the game will be that close. 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

3 hours ago, BVBILLS said:

Mustache man is going to try to knock the **** out of Allen

 

Patriots coach Mike Vrabel says he loved the hit linebacker Christian Elliss put on Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart on Monday night. And Vrabel knows what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

 

Vrabel said on WEEI that he also tells Patriots quarterback Drake Maye that quarterbacks are fair game when they’re running along the sideline if they don’t get out of bounds. Elliss drilled Dart while he was still inbounds, and it was the kind of good, clean legal hit that Vrabel knows his own quarterback will take if he doesn’t protect himself by stepping out of bounds.

 

“We show that to Drake and our defenders are being coached the same way,” Vrabel said. “When I say [to Maye], ‘We better not get cute over there by the sideline because this is legal,’ I turn around and tell the defense, ‘If this is happening, we need to try to knock the ***** out of him as legally as possible.’”

The Patriots’ defense hit Dart hard multiple times, and Vrabel loved to see that.

 

“I thought it was good. I thought it was excellent,” Vrabel said. “If you’re in bounds and you’re not sliding . . . If there’s a football player running down the sideline we’re gonna have to hit him.”

The thing about the Dart hit is, if that were Drake Maye in the exact same position and say Dorian Williams hit him would they call the penalty on us , the Bills. Makes for interesting thought doesn't it?

[CincyBillsFan]

8 hours ago, Avisan said:

Those are a pretty big 3 games in difference, though, and with anyone other than Hochuli reffing we very probably win that first matchup even with the turnovers

It also matters where you play the game.