PREVIEW

Two teams coming in with some momentum, something’s going to give in what is a pretty important AFC East matchup, Buffalo is 3-2 and has won at Chicago in overtime and at Detroit on the final play. They also beat hell out of Miami a week after the Dolphins blasted the Patriots. It ain’t the SOB (same old Bills), especially with the Patriots having just stumbled onto their first complete performance of the season. This is going to be the hardest game of the season to date.

REVIEW

Other than that, how did you enjoy the game Mr. Pegula? The Bills were couldn’t turn their “ONE BUFFALO” mantra into a Buffalo win because the Patriots exploited the Bills’ secondary (thanks to time provided by the Pats offensive line) and the New England defense made opportunistic plays that were made part in possible because Darrelle Revis wiped out Sammy Watkins for the day.

PREVIEW

The Patriots offensive performance is totally tied to their running game. The ability to gain yards on the ground and get in second-and-6 or better means so much. It forces defenses to commit more people to the run game, meaning the ability to drop seven and make Tom Brady find that needle in the defensive haystack goes away. It also helps play-action, freezing the linebackers, making the safeties creep. Can the Patriots run with effectiveness against Buffalo? That’s the game right there. Buffalo’s allowing 71 yards per game on the ground, 3 yards per carry. They line their ends up wide and funnel everything back to their run-stoppers, Kyle Williams, Marcell Dareus and Brandon Spikes. The Patriots may go into this game without rookie center Bryan Stork who seemed to lend some stability to the line the past two weeks. This reality and the Patriots’ understanding the strength of the Bills is run defense may cause them to come out firing. We haven’t seen that work this year. The whole “zig when they thing you’re gonna zag” approach isn’t as effective when the zigs and zags aren’t that daunting to deal with. And they haven’t been yet. Tom Brady showed last week that, when given time, his dissection skills are still there.

REVIEW

The Patriots offensive line improved so much that the running game wasn’t the least bit effective. I didn’t anticipate this quick an improvement but the protection before Dan Connolly went out and then after the OL got its feet back under them allowed Brady to divvy up his targets. Ten different players caught passes (none of them poor Danny Amendola) and three Patriots were over 90 yards receiving (Edelman with nine for 91, Gronk with 7 for 94 and LaFell with 4 for 97). Brian Tyms, who showed in the preseason a strength for taking the ball away on 50-50 throws, did it again for a 46-yard touchdown. The late-game closeout authored by Josh McDaniels and carried out by Brady when they stayed wide-open was well-executed.  

PREVIEW

This is an interesting matchup for the Pats because there is certainly offensive talent at the skill positions. A lot of it. C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson are a nice blend of quickness, slashing ability, power and receiving skill. The tireless Jackson – one of the league’s most underrated backs for years – has 26 catches and 42 carries and 409 yards from scrimmage. Scott Chandler is a solid tight end who’s had his successes against the Patriots before. Sammy Watkins is going to be a star in the NFL and is coming off a very good game against the Lions. Robert Woods is a solid No. 2. The X factor is Kyle Orton. He’s 30 for 43 since coming in for E.J. Manuel and a veteran quarterback playing with nothing to lose can be a dangerous thing. The Patriots run defense has to be better than it was against Kansas City, the last time New England was on the road. It should be.

REVIEW

The Patriots ability to shut down Sammy Watkins with Darrelle Revis made such an impact. And made such an impact last week as well. You can see why he makes the money he does. The Patriots locked down the Bills’ running game and held on against the rest of the passing game. Spiller was non-factor with seven touches for 19 yards from scrimmage. Jackson had just 26 yards on the ground and they were hard-earned. Scott Chandler did have success at tight end – he had a key 28-yard pickup when Patrick Chung got hung up on a pick and he made a brilliant one-handed catch over Tavon Wilson when Wilson got too far into a trail position after his jam. Robert Woods made some nice plays and had 78 yards and Chris Hogan chipped in with 72 on five catches. Funny dynamic, though, when you think how inevitable the defensive collapse seemed in games like this in past years and how they seem locked down now with Revis out there and Devin McCourty at safety.

PREVIEW

Huge field goal last week by Buffalo kicker Dan Carpenter with a 58-yarder to beat Detroit on the road. Spiller is a terror on kickoff returns when he’s back there. Leodis McKelvin is still the punt returner and he is experienced. Patriots special teams have been up and down this season but with this shaping up as a defensive struggle, field position, coverage and returns takes on added importance.

REVIEW

The punt and kick return games were non-factors but the field goal miss by Stephen Gostkowski in the first half was a tough pill. Danny Aiken had a false start on a 31-yard attempt and when Gostkowski was moved back to the 36, he hooked his attempt after a low and inside snap from Aiken.

PREVIEW

PATRIOTS
OUT: S Nate Ebner (finger), T Cameron Fleming (finger). QUESTIONABLE: QB Tom Brady (ankle), CB Brandon Browner (ankle), LB Jamie Collins (thigh), DE Dominique Easley (shoulder, knee), LB Donta Hightower (knee), WR Matt Slater (shoulder), C Bryan Stork (concussion). PROBABLE: DE Chandler Jones (shoulder), S Devin McCourty (rib).

BILLS
OUT: WR Marcus Easley (knee), G Chris Williams (back). QUESTIONABLE: LB Nigel Bradham (knee), CB Ron Brooks (neck), RB Fred Jackson (ankle, illness), S Da’Norris Searcy (knee), LB Brandon Spikes (ribs), S Aaron Williams (wrist, neck), DT Kyle Williams (knee).

PREVIEW

Despite the routine poundings Buffalo has taken from the Patriots in the past 14 seasons, the Bills are usually very competitive at home. The Patriots escaped with a 23-21 win in the opener last season, the Bills led 21-7 in the third quarter in 2012 (before losing 52-28), they beat the Patriots 34-31 in 2011 and were ahead 24-23 in 2010 before losing 38-30. Bills fans love the underdog theater when the Pats are in town and the announcing of the team’s new ownership – and the fact the Bills aren’t going anywhere – will make for a party atmosphere.

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The Patriots – in their least likely game to apply a convincing beating to the Bills

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Rob Gronkowski. Last week was another step on Gronkowski’s road back to being Gronk. He’s improving every week and the trickle-down effect to the rest of the skill position players will be significant IF protection holds up.

REVIEW

Gronk was Gronk. He had seven catches for 94 yards a week after having six for 100 yards against the Bengals. One of his catches that didn’t count – a merciless post-up of Leodis McKelvin – went for a touchdown but was wiped clean by a flag.

PREVIEW

Marcell Dareus/Brandon Spikes. The leaders of the Buffalo interior defense, the Patriots have to run the ball to have a shot at working play-action and stopping these two will be the key. Big game for (presumably) fullback James Develin and whoever ends up at center if Bryan Stork can’t go.

REVIEW

The Patriots didn’t do much on the ground but their play-action still worked because the protection was so good that it still manipulated safeties and Brady was able to find areas over the middle. Spikes and Dareus had 10 total tackles.

PREVIEW

There’s a return to the uneven offense we saw so often in the first four weeks of the season.

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Not at all. Not at all.

PREVIEW

“He’s a hard guy to block. He’s strong, quick, he’s got good instincts. He reads blocks well, does a good job attacking the leverage, does a good job in the pass rush of beating, based on how the guard or how he gets set. He had a big play against Detroit where the center slid to him and he split the double team. You don’t see that a lot. He’s got the quickness and the strength to do that. He runs games well. They run a lot of games. He does a good job with that, as does Kyle Williams. They have that penetrating quickness that makes those games effective and also the athleticism to come around and contain a quarterback if the end goes first or if they run an inside tackle game.” – Bill Belichick on dealing with Marcell Dareus.

REVIEW

The Patriots did a tremendous job blocking up the middle for about 93 percent of the game. Dareus and Kyle Williams ended up with five total tackles. They were not entirely erased but just an outstanding performance – especially after Connolly went out – by guys who were dangerously bad a few weeks ago.

PREVIEW

“He’s going to need to be 100-percent this week because he’s going against a heck of a secondary. Whether they try to match him up or not, both of those corners can flat out play. In nickel they’ve got about three or four corners. They’ve got a bunch of secondary guys. It’ll be a challenge for him and it’ll be a good challenge to see where he is.” – Doug Marrone, Bills coach, on Sammy Watkins.

REVIEW

The Bills didn’t even look at Watkins until the second half. If he was winning any matchups with Darrelle Revis or not, he wasn’t getting the ball. When he did win, Watkins sold Revis on the idea he wasn’t getting the ball and Revis drifted away before Orton went back across the field for a 20-yard gain to Watkins.

PREVIEW

Patriots 19, Bills 17

REVIEW

Patriots 37, Bills 22