Rico Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 McGahee, strong 'D' give Bills chance for upset Why To Watch The Bills have more talent than their record indicates, as three of their five losses have come by three points or fewer. With three wins in their last four games, the Bills should be considered a little bit of a "sleeping giant" team in the NFL right now. Buffalo has reestablished the running game with Willis McGahee and its defense has continued to be one of the dominating units in the NFL. Making the team even more dangerous is the exceptional play of its special teams units, especially on kickoff returns. The Patriots are ravaged by injuries in the secondary but had no problem controlling the one-dimensional Rams offense in St. Louis last week. If the Bills can establish the run early, they can get the Patriots to over-commit, which then will put QB Drew Bledsoe in position to exploit his former team's hobbled secondary. This primetime event is the last chance for the Bills to climb back into the wild card chase. Knowing that, expect to see their best effort on Sunday night. When the Bills have the ball Rushing: The Bills may have finally found a recipe for success on offense, which is controlling the ball with the run game and not forcing Bledsoe to win with the passing game. It worked to perfection last week with McGahee carrying the ball 37 times for 132 yards, as the Bills achieved a run-pass ratio more suited to winning (46 rushes and 30 passes). If the Patriots defense has a weakness it may be in their interior run defense, which becomes even more important with the injuries the Patriots are facing in the secondary. The more cover-two schemes that the Patriots are forced to play in order to protect their cornerbacks, the less SS Rodney Harrison is involved in run support. When he is playing the deep half of the field in coverage, it is difficult to get him in the box. The Patriots are good on the edge in run support because they rarely get out of position and it will be difficult for McGahee to run wide or even break a run to the outside on the second level. The Patriots will try and confuse the Bills blocking angles by disguising coverage and switching between 3-4 and 4-3 fronts. They will show some blitz looks, on run downs, but in all likelihood on the snap they will play fairly vanilla packages. Passing: Bledsoe is the most sacked quarterback in the league and he faces a defense that has a history of confusing him and sacking him with regularity. Bledsoe may catch a break in this game, as the Patriots may not be able to blitz a lot in order to protect their wounded corners. If the Bills offensive line can pass protect versus what likely will be a lot of three-and-four man rushes from the Patriots, they will find some good throwing lanes and enable them to get their backs and tight ends involved in the passing game. Both Bills starting receivers, Eric Moulds and Lee Evans, have very good vertical speed and if they get one man-to-man matchups, which is not likely, they can make some big plays. The more likely scenario will be the receiver's attacking the cover-two with intermediate perimeter routes and some deep routes down the middle. If the passing game is successful early, it will make Harrison a non-factor in run support, giving McGahee more room to run. If the running game is successful it could force the Patriots out of the cover-two and give the Bills great one-on-one matchups on the undermanned Patriots corners. This will be a "chess match" early. When the Patriots have the ball Rushing: The Patriots were a different team last week with the return of RB Corey Dillon to the lineup. He carried the ball 32 times for 147 yards and the Patriots controlled the flow of the game. But the Bills defense is a much tougher test than the soft Rams defense. The Bills are big up front and their defensive tackles do a good job of occupying blockers and allowing their linebackers to flow to the ball to make plays. The Patriots must account for SS Lawyer Milloy on all run plays, as he loves to line up in the box and he is an excellent run blitzer and pass rusher. The Bills have good range at linebacker and it will be difficult for the Patriots to break anything to the outside. Dillon will have his number called early and often in an attempt to soften up the Bills front seven and also to set up play action opportunities later in the game. It wouldn't be surprising to see the Patriots come out on some multi receiver sets, to try and stretch the defense, even forcing the Bills to play some nickel packages. This would create better blocking angles for the offensive line and give Dillon more room to run. Once he gets to the second level he is one of the best backs in the league at yards after contact. Passing: The Bills are doing a good job of penetrating with one gap schemes with their defensive line on passing downs and using some inside blitzes with their linebackers. The Patriots are just getting healthy in the passing game and will start stretching the field more, instead of using a short controlled passing game with their backs and tight ends. The Bills have a pass defense that is doing a good job in man-to-man schemes, but injuries are becoming a concern and they may not be able to go four and five deep in the secondary with man-to-man coverage with the Patriots receivers. The Patriots like to use wide-open passing sets with an empty backfield to put the defense back on its heels in vanilla schemes. But Buffalo may come after QB Tom Brady and force him to get the ball out quickly, which would also protect their corners in their sub-packages. Brady will have to be very decisive and accurate, as the Bills front seven applies the pressure. Brady may find his success dumping the ball off to his backs over the blitzing linebackers or exploiting the middle of the field with his tight ends. But it may be difficult to get a lot of big vertical plays on the perimeter with the wide receivers. Scouts' Edge The Patriots have had the upper hand on Bledsoe since his move to Buffalo, but the emergence of a legitimate running game with McGahee, the suffocating play of their defense and the explosive potential of their return game right now gives the Bills their best opportunity to beat New England in Bledsoe's tenure. Furthermore, with all the injuries they are being forced to overcome, if there ever was a time that the Patriots were ripe for an upset it is right now. However, time and time again the Patriots find ways to win as a result of their pride, resiliency, teamwork and uncanny ability to come up with a game plan that is superior to their opponents. In front of what promises to be a ruckus Foxboro crowd, the Patriots should be able to withstand a strong run game and win a physical battle by forcing Bledsoe into some mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 ruckus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJPearl2 Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Good take. Scouts, Inc. is usually dead-on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsNYC Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 If the Patriots defense has a weakness it may be in their interior run defense, which becomes even more important with the injuries the Patriots are facing in the secondary. The more cover-two schemes that the Patriots are forced to play in order to protect their cornerbacks, the less SS Rodney Harrison is involved in run support. When he is playing the deep half of the field in coverage, it is difficult to get him in the box. 111425[/snapback] Solution - first play of the game...tell Evans to run deep as fast as he can and have drew throw it as far as he can. Even if he overthrows Evans, the Pats will be forced to keep Harrison deep and we can run right over these bastards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Solution - first play of the game...tell Evans to run deep as fast as he can and have drew throw it as far as he can. Even if he overthrows Evans, the Pats will be forced to keep Harrison deep and we can run right over these bastards. 111452[/snapback] We've actually done this in quite a few games. I think the first play of the 2nd half we did it against the Jets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gross Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 ruckus? 111433[/snapback] as an adjective? Someone from the Wall wrote this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 The Patriots have had the upper hand on Bledsoe since his move to Buffalo, but the emergence of a legitimate running game with McGahee, the suffocating play of their defense and the explosive potential of their return game right now gives the Bills their best opportunity to beat New England in Bledsoe's tenure. Am I missing something here.... or did they miss something? Good read. Bills aren't a great team, but they're getting better. Pats are a great team, but they're limping right now. As I told one of our resident Patfans - there are still tons of reasons for me not to like the Bills' chances Sunday night, but I like the odds better than I did a couple of weeks ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JÂy RÛßeÒ Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Am I missing something here.... or did they miss something? Good read. Bills aren't a great team, but they're getting better. Pats are a great team, but they're limping right now. As I told one of our resident Patfans - there are still tons of reasons for me not to like the Bills' chances Sunday night, but I like the odds better than I did a couple of weeks ago. 111511[/snapback] Yeah, the Milloy situation provided a pretty good opportunity last year I thought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_BiB_ Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Am I missing something here.... or did they miss something? Good read. Bills aren't a great team, but they're getting better. Pats are a great team, but they're limping right now. As I told one of our resident Patfans - there are still tons of reasons for me not to like the Bills' chances Sunday night, but I like the odds better than I did a couple of weeks ago. 111511[/snapback] 30 what to zero? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly the Dog Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 They are just like a bunch of our fans: The Bills stink and Bledsoe stinks and the games that the Bills don't stink and Bledsoe don't stink don't count because the Bills stink and Bledsoe stinks. Seems pretty simple to me. That wasn't a bad read and take overall though, even if there is nothing new or that we don't already know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRH Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 as an adjective? Someone from the Wall wrote this... 111478[/snapback] I bet the crowd will create quite a raucus when they let loose with their ruckus cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gross Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 I bet the crowd will create quite a raucus when they let loose with their ruckus cheers. 111529[/snapback] How about as a verb? "Ruckus You!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Oops - just found something else to take issue with: The Bills have a pass defense that is doing a good job in man-to-man schemes, but injuries are becoming a concern and they may not be able to go four and five deep in the secondary with man-to-man coverage with the Patriots receivers. Actually, if Vincent plays this week (as I expect he will), the Bills secondary will finally have all of its key players healthy for the first time this season. Unless they're talking about Coy..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrJaimie Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Bledsoe is the most sacked quarterback in the league and he faces a defense that has a history of confusing him and sacking him with regularity. Bledsoe may catch a break in this game, as the Patriots may not be able to blitz a lot in order to protect their wounded corners. Bledsoe is not the most sacked QB. Bulger, Fiedler, Vick, and Warner have been sacked more so far this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webtoe Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 Solution - first play of the game...tell Evans to run deep as fast as he can and have drew throw it as far as he can. Even if he overthrows Evans, the Pats will be forced to keep Harrison deep and we can run right over these bastards. 111452[/snapback] Didn't they do that the first game against the Pats. They were even about to go no huddle when Johnny Greer pulled up lame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_Coach_Tuesday Posted November 10, 2004 Share Posted November 10, 2004 I agree with their assessment of the Pats O - I think Weiss will realize that they won't be able to run the ball early, and that McGee has been struggling. I think it'll be one of those games where the Pats start out with like 17 straight pass plays. Get ready for the aerial blitz - Vincent, I hope you're healthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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