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OK this is going to be a quick one since it's already 12:30 and I have a 7:15am Doctor's appointment and I want to look good for the receptionist. Besides there is really nothing much to learn from this game except that the Bills have a pretty good defense and ZERO offense outside of Hauschka (who was VERY good in bad conditions). The rest of it was fairly ugly. I was actually surprised when I found out Brady had 324 passing yds. That's a LOT of yds on what I thought was a bit of an off night from Tom (and Josh, btw). Granted the weather conditions were tough, though I've seen him better in worse conditions. Granted that is a tough environment to play in. And Granted there were missing some key pieces with no one really to run the ball and Cannon being out again too..
So lets stop the jabbering and get this done. I'd like to get a few hours before I have to get up at 6am.
1. General Offensive thoughts - Like I said I think the Bills have a pretty good defense and clearly had a nice plan for the Pats. I think the Pats had to work very hard for every yard they got tonight. The Bills played hard, and until McCordy's pick still had a puncher's chance well into the 4th quarter.
I questioned a few more calls this game then usual. I know Josh was hindered by a lack of any real running threat. CPatterson was willing but looked uncomfortable in his reads at RB, but still he was better than any other option we had. I hated the 3rd an 4 run on third down. I hated a LOT of calls in the read zone.
2. QB - Brady completed 64% of his passes in somewhat tough conditions for 324 yds and that passes for an off night in today's NFL 4 FG's and zero TD's is going to get Brady really pissed when he looks at this game. He hit Hogan early and I thought this would be a big game for him. Instead he only got one more look and it too was a long completion. I took the time to look for Hogan when the Pats were in the redzone. I saw at least 3 occasions where I thought Brady should have gone to him. I could be wrong and will want to see the rewatch thread to confirm my impression.
Only 3 yds to go before Brady becomes a member of the 1000 yd club. . He also threw an effective if not pleasing block to help Edelman get a first down to keep a drive going. Brady correctly described his efforts as being a "speed bump" in his presser after the game.
I felt that except for a handful of passes Brady's ball seemed to lack the zip we've seen in earlier contests. Maybe I'm just overreacting to a very sloppy offensive performance that never seemed to find any rhythm. Gronk had 3 nice catches, but was targeted 8 times. Not an efficient night.
3. OL - Another good pass blocking night for them. Brady was sacked twice, but on both occasions he had plenty of time to make a play. A good job against a team that was in the top 10 in sacks. The running attack....not so much. After a great run blocking week against KC, there were very few holes or space for our remaining runners to get some room. But my biggest concern was when it was reported Mason was out and Karras was in. I'm hoping it was nothing serious.
4. RB's - James White, who has been our most consistent offensive player other than Tom Brady,was consistent again. 10 catches on 13 targets for 80's and a short running TD. He also did nothing much in the run game, though there never seemed to be much room for him.
CPatterson got the bulk of the run game, if you can count 10 rushes as "the bulk" I loved his effort, but like I said, he never looked completely comfortable running between the tackles. And why SHOULD he look comfortable, his a freakin' WR! Not that he didn't run hard. It was just he looked like he was a WR thrust into a position he shouldn't have been placed.....and fortunately didn't look awful.
5. Receivers - Gronk made one of those catches that make you go WOW!, but for most of the game he seemed unusually out of sync with Brady. I wonder when the last time Brady threw to Gronk 8 times and only got 3 receptions out of it.
BTW- Gronk was getting held and pushed WELL past 5 yds most of the night. And on his great catch, he was being mugged well before the ball got there (which match the catch even more remarkable). There shouldn't have been any drama about whether he got that 2nd foot down because there should have been a flag thrown.
Hogan is open more than he gets thrown to. Edelman is awesome even in his dotage. And Gordon was OK, but I'm still seeing no burst or acceleration from him. I can't get that image of him pulling away from Talib back in 2015 or so. Maybe that guy doesn't exist anymore. Still he can go "get the ball" and has outstanding hands. (except maybe for that first one.)
Bottom line here for the offense is that it isn't going to reach anything close to its potential without a REAL between the tackles RB. Now all that will take care of itself when Michel and Burkhead return, but until that happens this offense will be running at 70%.
6. Defensive generalities - Good effort against a flawed team. The Bills gained a lot of soft yardage during the game. I thought the D was particularly effective in quickly adjusting to the new wrinkles that the Bills trotted out there in the first quarter.
7. Front 7- The Bills were supposed to have one thing going for themselves offensively and that was their run game. Well despite that slow start the front 7 held the Bills to only 46 yds rushing in a game you KNOW the Bills wanted to run the ball a lot. I found it interesting that in the end the Pats not only rushed for more yd (78-46), they had more attempts. Holding a back as good as McCoy to 13 yds and a 1.1ypc is an accomplishment. Especially with Hightower out.
In the GDT, I wondered why the Pats outside rushers seemed to be treating Anderson as if he were a scrambling threat, as they seemed to rush only from the outside and were careful to keep decent leverage and not run by the QB. I only had to wait about one series before Chaybourn FINALLY made an inside move and beat the OT and got the sack. About freakin' time as far as I was concerned.
Flowers continues to be enormous in both in the run AND the passing game. And KVN just seems to make play after play with 2 sacks, 8 tackles and 1 TFL. About the only blemish in the game for him was that long pass he gave up to McCoy on that wheel route early in the game. Kudo's to the guys in the middle of the D on their run D. Lot of good work there.
8. DB's Gilmore effectively erased Benjamin except for 2 plays that were both tightly contested. His work has been consistently good. The only receivers who had any real success were Zay Jones and McCoy out of the backfield, each with 6 catches. I thought Anderson did a decent job tonight despite only having 6 practices. He threw some nice balls. Even the pick was on target. He just never saw DMcCourty laying a trap for him.
Chung was solid again all night. Clay got 3 on him, but all were heavily contested,
9. ST's - OK night for them. I thought Allen didn't have a great night (38yd per punt. On Gotkowski's miss at 50yd, I don't think it was the wind. He just missed a bit wide.
10. Miscellaneous -
a. I learned a few things I didn't know before. I learned that if you call a fair catch, you can't block a cover guy from downing the ball. I learned that somehow the Pats KO coverage team created an illegal formation when they had someone hold the ball in the wind. The former official they had on the broadcast to explain it to us, sounded like a blithering idiot, and I still have no idea what they did wrong.
b. 6-2 and a tough game coming up before a well needed bye. The Packers looked really strong in a losing effort on the road against the well stoked Rams. It will be a challenge for sure and will be fun to talk about all week. Lots of Brady/Rodgers talk of course
c. Another win, but not a defining one. We still don't know exactly in what direction this team is going.despite 5 straight wins There are still questions about if the defense is getting better. Unfortunately this strong 6 point result still isn't going to answer that question. And having this offense seemingly taking a step back, we still have more questions than answers, which is rare this late into the season.
Still 6-2 is a solid first half of the season, especially after such a shaky start.
OK 2am and I'm hitting the hay. Enjoy....and comment and add anything I've missed
So lets stop the jabbering and get this done. I'd like to get a few hours before I have to get up at 6am.
1. General Offensive thoughts - Like I said I think the Bills have a pretty good defense and clearly had a nice plan for the Pats. I think the Pats had to work very hard for every yard they got tonight. The Bills played hard, and until McCordy's pick still had a puncher's chance well into the 4th quarter.
I questioned a few more calls this game then usual. I know Josh was hindered by a lack of any real running threat. CPatterson was willing but looked uncomfortable in his reads at RB, but still he was better than any other option we had. I hated the 3rd an 4 run on third down. I hated a LOT of calls in the read zone.
2. QB - Brady completed 64% of his passes in somewhat tough conditions for 324 yds and that passes for an off night in today's NFL 4 FG's and zero TD's is going to get Brady really pissed when he looks at this game. He hit Hogan early and I thought this would be a big game for him. Instead he only got one more look and it too was a long completion. I took the time to look for Hogan when the Pats were in the redzone. I saw at least 3 occasions where I thought Brady should have gone to him. I could be wrong and will want to see the rewatch thread to confirm my impression.
Only 3 yds to go before Brady becomes a member of the 1000 yd club. . He also threw an effective if not pleasing block to help Edelman get a first down to keep a drive going. Brady correctly described his efforts as being a "speed bump" in his presser after the game.
I felt that except for a handful of passes Brady's ball seemed to lack the zip we've seen in earlier contests. Maybe I'm just overreacting to a very sloppy offensive performance that never seemed to find any rhythm. Gronk had 3 nice catches, but was targeted 8 times. Not an efficient night.
3. OL - Another good pass blocking night for them. Brady was sacked twice, but on both occasions he had plenty of time to make a play. A good job against a team that was in the top 10 in sacks. The running attack....not so much. After a great run blocking week against KC, there were very few holes or space for our remaining runners to get some room. But my biggest concern was when it was reported Mason was out and Karras was in. I'm hoping it was nothing serious.
4. RB's - James White, who has been our most consistent offensive player other than Tom Brady,was consistent again. 10 catches on 13 targets for 80's and a short running TD. He also did nothing much in the run game, though there never seemed to be much room for him.
CPatterson got the bulk of the run game, if you can count 10 rushes as "the bulk" I loved his effort, but like I said, he never looked completely comfortable running between the tackles. And why SHOULD he look comfortable, his a freakin' WR! Not that he didn't run hard. It was just he looked like he was a WR thrust into a position he shouldn't have been placed.....and fortunately didn't look awful.
5. Receivers - Gronk made one of those catches that make you go WOW!, but for most of the game he seemed unusually out of sync with Brady. I wonder when the last time Brady threw to Gronk 8 times and only got 3 receptions out of it.
BTW- Gronk was getting held and pushed WELL past 5 yds most of the night. And on his great catch, he was being mugged well before the ball got there (which match the catch even more remarkable). There shouldn't have been any drama about whether he got that 2nd foot down because there should have been a flag thrown.
Hogan is open more than he gets thrown to. Edelman is awesome even in his dotage. And Gordon was OK, but I'm still seeing no burst or acceleration from him. I can't get that image of him pulling away from Talib back in 2015 or so. Maybe that guy doesn't exist anymore. Still he can go "get the ball" and has outstanding hands. (except maybe for that first one.)
Bottom line here for the offense is that it isn't going to reach anything close to its potential without a REAL between the tackles RB. Now all that will take care of itself when Michel and Burkhead return, but until that happens this offense will be running at 70%.
6. Defensive generalities - Good effort against a flawed team. The Bills gained a lot of soft yardage during the game. I thought the D was particularly effective in quickly adjusting to the new wrinkles that the Bills trotted out there in the first quarter.
7. Front 7- The Bills were supposed to have one thing going for themselves offensively and that was their run game. Well despite that slow start the front 7 held the Bills to only 46 yds rushing in a game you KNOW the Bills wanted to run the ball a lot. I found it interesting that in the end the Pats not only rushed for more yd (78-46), they had more attempts. Holding a back as good as McCoy to 13 yds and a 1.1ypc is an accomplishment. Especially with Hightower out.
In the GDT, I wondered why the Pats outside rushers seemed to be treating Anderson as if he were a scrambling threat, as they seemed to rush only from the outside and were careful to keep decent leverage and not run by the QB. I only had to wait about one series before Chaybourn FINALLY made an inside move and beat the OT and got the sack. About freakin' time as far as I was concerned.
Flowers continues to be enormous in both in the run AND the passing game. And KVN just seems to make play after play with 2 sacks, 8 tackles and 1 TFL. About the only blemish in the game for him was that long pass he gave up to McCoy on that wheel route early in the game. Kudo's to the guys in the middle of the D on their run D. Lot of good work there.
8. DB's Gilmore effectively erased Benjamin except for 2 plays that were both tightly contested. His work has been consistently good. The only receivers who had any real success were Zay Jones and McCoy out of the backfield, each with 6 catches. I thought Anderson did a decent job tonight despite only having 6 practices. He threw some nice balls. Even the pick was on target. He just never saw DMcCourty laying a trap for him.
Chung was solid again all night. Clay got 3 on him, but all were heavily contested,
9. ST's - OK night for them. I thought Allen didn't have a great night (38yd per punt. On Gotkowski's miss at 50yd, I don't think it was the wind. He just missed a bit wide.
10. Miscellaneous -
a. I learned a few things I didn't know before. I learned that if you call a fair catch, you can't block a cover guy from downing the ball. I learned that somehow the Pats KO coverage team created an illegal formation when they had someone hold the ball in the wind. The former official they had on the broadcast to explain it to us, sounded like a blithering idiot, and I still have no idea what they did wrong.
b. 6-2 and a tough game coming up before a well needed bye. The Packers looked really strong in a losing effort on the road against the well stoked Rams. It will be a challenge for sure and will be fun to talk about all week. Lots of Brady/Rodgers talk of course
c. Another win, but not a defining one. We still don't know exactly in what direction this team is going.despite 5 straight wins There are still questions about if the defense is getting better. Unfortunately this strong 6 point result still isn't going to answer that question. And having this offense seemingly taking a step back, we still have more questions than answers, which is rare this late into the season.
Still 6-2 is a solid first half of the season, especially after such a shaky start.
OK 2am and I'm hitting the hay. Enjoy....and comment and add anything I've missed