Simon Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 Pats have a mediocre run defense? LOL, you are in the wrong neighborhood pal. Your best bet is just to shut the hell up before you end up as another skin on Lori's wall..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 Pitt had sucess bringing it to them. Actually Johnny C, I was at that game and the Stillers played a lot more conservatively than the gameboook would indicate. They didn't send a lot of extra guys, spent most of their chits maintaining shifting downfield coverages and basically just frustrated teh hell out of the Brady bunch. They managed to get a fair amount of pressure on a banged-up Patriot OLine with just thier front3 and a 'backer, usually the unblockable Joey Porter. I don't know how much that OLine has improved the last two weeks so I think the Bills can do the same and not allow those singles that Brady picks his teeth with. Cya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffOrange Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 All this talk about the Pats passing game. Don't discount the Pats running game. It's been VERY good this season. Dillon is averaging 107 yard rushing per game this season. That's 4th best in the league. Dillon is also averaging 4.9 yards per carry, which ranks him 3rd best overall amongst RB's with 100 or more carries. Most impressive perhaps is that when the Pats are leading in the game and need to grind out the clock along the ground to preserve the win they have been able to do so. If we get behind on these guys and they lead us heading into the 4th quarter, it's probably lights out. 113711[/snapback] If the Pats are able to run the ball, the Bills have no chance and everything else goes out the window. For the sake of pre-game discussion, you really have to assume that Dillon will be held under 100 yards; otherwise the outcome is a sure thing. I personally don't see Dillon winning this game, but if he does run through Adams, Williams, Fletcher & Spikes, then hats off to him. I don't think the Bills will be as passive defensively as some are saying. Blitzing with Coy Wire in coverage didn't work, but they will likely try it again with Milloy. As bad as the secondary played in the first game, I like their chances of holding up better than I like the chances of our front four getting any kind of a pass-rush against a good OL. Remember Schobel was a non-factor in the first game, and I'm not confident of Kelsay having two good games in a row. Marcia has dramatically improved his downfield throwing lately and they're not necessarily a dink&dunk offense anymore like they were 2 years ago, so you have to put pressure on him. Then again I don't know why we're talking defense. Really, hasn't the outcome of every Bills game for the last 3 years been directly related to how well the offense plays, with very few exceptions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Patsrulz Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 Actually Johnny C, I was at that game and the Stillers played a lot more conservatively than the gameboook would indicate. They didn't send a lot of extra guys, spent most of their chits maintaining shifting downfield coverages and basically just frustrated teh hell out of the Brady bunch.They managed to get a fair amount of pressure on a banged-up Patriot OLine with just thier front3 and a 'backer, usually the unblockable Joey Porter. I don't know how much that OLine has improved the last two weeks so I think the Bills can do the same and not allow those singles that Brady picks his teeth with. Cya 114147[/snapback] The difference between then (Pitt game) and now (Bills game) is that Brady will have Dillon around to take the heat off of him and to keep the defense honest. The reason why Pitt was able to frustrate the hell out of Brady is because they had zero worry about defending against the Pats running attack with Faulk in at RB. The Pats ran for a NFL record low 6 tries in that Pitt game. Thus Pitt could shift coverages appropriately and allow Porter to pin his ears back and tee off on Brady. If the Bills attempt to do the same this game Brady and Dillon will kill them and this game will be over by 1/2 time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffOrange Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 The Pats will probably win this game, but stop telling me Corey Dillon was the reason you got your ass kicked a couple weeks ago. You had no running game in the previous 3 years either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Patsrulz Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 The Pats will probably win this game, but stop telling me Corey Dillon was the reason you got your ass kicked a couple weeks ago. You had no running game in the previous 3 years either. 114284[/snapback] What are you talking about? Antowain was a very capable RB for us the 3 years he was a Patriot. Not having Dillon for that Pitt wouldn't have been as big a problem if the Pats had been able to gameplan around him not having there. But, with him re-aggravating his injury late in the week, they weren't able to do so and they went ahead and put in their gameplan thinking that he was playing. When he pulled up after the gameplan was in place, the Pats were screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffOrange Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 Name a worst starting RB than Antowain in the AFC last year. Tough to do, isn't it? Probably Eddie George? MAYBE William Green? That's pretty much it, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gross Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 What are you talking about? Antowain was a very capable RB for us the 3 years he was a Patriot. Not having Dillon for that Pitt wouldn't have been as big a problem if the Pats had been able to gameplan around him not having there. But, with him re-aggravating his injury late in the week, they weren't able to do so and they went ahead and put in their gameplan thinking that he was playing. When he pulled up after the gameplan was in place, the Pats were screwed. 114296[/snapback] If Antowain was so capable, why couldn't he hold the starting job against Kevin Faulk? Their numbers were statistically identical for last year, yet all of a sudden using Faulk this year means the Pats "have no running game." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 Name a worst starting RB than Antowain in the AFC last year. Tough to do, isn't it? Probably Eddie George? MAYBE William Green? That's pretty much it, right? 114314[/snapback] While I agree that last year Smith's performance slipped, he still was a very good fit for what the Pats wanted out of their RB last year, namely a sure handed RB who they could rely on to not cough the ball up in inclimate NE weather and a runner who could be relied upon to pound the ball between the tackles, getting positive yards and moving the chains. In this respect, I think Smith was a better RB for the Pats than say A Thomas, T Barber, A Green, K Barlow, T Hambrick, M Shipp, etc would have been. All of these guys either fumble too much or they lose yardage too often to be the right fit for the Pats. Ironically, Eddie George, who you suggest might have been an inferior player to Smith, would probably be an ideal fit for RB in the Pats system. Thats' probably why Parcells jumped on him so quickly. In any case, Dillon is a monumental upgrade over Smith, or most RB's in the league for that matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Patsrulz Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 If Antowain was so capable, why couldn't he hold the starting job against Kevin Faulk? Their numbers were statistically identical for last year, yet all of a sudden using Faulk this year means the Pats "have no running game." 114339[/snapback] Classic case of stats not telling the whole and/or true picture. Faulk was used mostly as a 3rd down RB with the occasional 3 down series or two thrown in to spell Smith. Together they worked excellent as they complemented each other really well and each provided a matchup situation that benefitted the Pats and what they wanted to do on offense. So both were used about equally. But, make no mistake, Faulk is NOT a full time starter in this league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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