Can KG and JG come up with a plan for NE that works?

[LABillsFan]

The whole coaching staff was made to look like Pop Warner coaches when the Pat's came to Buffalo. Honestly now, can they learn, adjust, and create a game plan that can win this gameor to even keep it close??? This game is for the season. After dropping 2 to the Jets, and losing to KC and OAK, if the Bills can't win against NE, SD and Cincy and keep it respectable in GB, the questions about GW and his whole coaching need to be addressed. If the expectations for this team, real or exceding, aren't met, are the players that make this team run going to resign? Will the FA's looking for new homes choose elsewhere?

There's a difference between winning games when you have to and winning games you should. The NE game is not only about players trying to distinguish themselves, but should be viewed as how the Bills coaching staff measures up. So far they look 1 step ahead of DET, Minn, Miami, Chi and Hou.. The next 3 teams the Bills face in a row are true measuring sticks to how well or how far off the Bills really are.

[LtBillsFan66]

How about different snap counts to throw off that friggin standing d-line switcheroo scheme they were running. A little hurry up O maybe???

Lets see them pull that screen crap with Winfield back.

[LABillsFan]

I agree with the hurry up. Add in the draws, Screens and a LOT Wire coming off the end, I know the D will get burned a few times but pressure on Brady is ESSENTIAL. Knock him around and he faulters.

[Buffarama]

I can:

Brady will go deep twice early on to confuse Gray, then back to the same old underneath stuff.
Buffalo needs to put 8 in the box to hit Smith behind the line of scrimmage, and force Brady to throw long.
Offensively, RUN. Bellicheck will once again take away the pass, and force Buffalo to run more than they want to, something we have a hard time doing, but seem to be accepting. RUN RUN RUN, play action, dump passes, flairs, then more running. If those idiots don't set on the DLine again, we had better run it right down their throat.

[LuvDaBills11]

i dont think the coaches can come up with a plan to beat the pats. you people here know more about what to do. they should listen to you.

on defense they need to stop blitzing brady so much and have the lbs look for screens and dump passes. fill all the zones with bodies and let the dl get whatever pressure they can. keep winfield and clements tight on the wrs and let smith run all day long since hes not good enough to carry the team. if they spread the d out with 3 or 4 wrs, keep playing bostic for watson to throw them off. theres no film on bostic.

on offense i agree with varied snap counts and hurry up offense. i also think they should run travis henry early, often, inside and outside, and hit him with screens and dumps. when they start to bite on those go deep like they did against miami. price and moulds are peaking and should be able to get open but i think nes secondary is better than miamis and we will need to use reimesma and moor in the passing game.

[The_Philster]

Overall, some good thoughts, LuvDaBills11. But don't dismiss Antowain so lightly. The reason he wasn't a superstar here was a buffoon named Joe Pendry who didn't use him.

[casdhf]

Originally posted by The_Philster
Overall, some good thoughts, LuvDaBills11. But don't dismiss Antowain so lightly. The reason he wasn't a superstar here was a buffoon named Joe Pendry who didn't use him.

It wasn't all Pendry. He bacame lazy and sluggish and definately needed a change of scenery. If you remember, he failed the physical he first took with the Pats. :drool:

[Patrick76777]

28 first downs, 300 yards passing and 5 times in the Red Zone. The offense moved the ball, just couldn’t close the deal.

[itsandthings]

Smith didn't fail the physical, he failed the conditioning run at the start of camp. If he failed his physical, the Pats would not have signed him to a contract.

Belichick makes players pass a conditioning run at the start of camp or they can not practice. The run varies by position, but RBs have to run 20 consecutive 60-yard dashes in 8 seconds or less with 30 seconds rest in between. It isn't an easy test, especially for a back the size of Smith. While there is little doubt Smith's offseason work ethic is questioned at times (he has failed the test the last 2 years), there is also little doubt he is in pretty good shape at this point.

Smith has been criticized, but he is what he is. He is a good North-South runner who needs the ball. He isn't a top back, but he is a good, 2nd-tier guy who is capable of carrying the load. He actually hasn't played poorly this year, but the Pats have shown a lack of commitment to the running game. There are only 2 games this year where Smith saw as many as 20 carries, and the Patriots are 2-0 in those games.

The Pats are 5-0 in games where Smith has carried the ball more than 20 times in the last 2 seasons, and 8-0 in that same stretch when they have run more than they passed. However, between struggles with their young RTs (Kenyatta Jones and Greg Randall) and injuries to their interior line, the Pats OL has not had the same consistency they had last year. The run game is something they likely would like to go to more down the stretch, with Smith being a big part of that.

[itsandthings]

As far as the game, it is unlikely Belichick will show the same scheme this time around, he rarely does the same thing the 2nd itme against division opponents. Thus, the move around before the snap stuff may not be used much outside of obvious passing situations.

Of course, Belichick will use a lot of cover-2, and utilize extra-DB packages. The Pats aren't going to allow the big plays over-the-top that Miami did. The strength of the Pats defense is their depth in the secondary. They are actually better off now then when they played the Bills a month ago, thanks to the return of promising young CB Leonard Myers. The team has 4 good CBs in Ty Law, Otis Smith, Terrell Buckley and Leonard Myers to go with strong safetymen like Lawyer Milloy, Tebucky Jones, Victor Green and Antwan Harris. Harris is very important in their extra DB packages, as he is a CB-S tweener who is versatile and fast enough to play some CB despite he primarily being a S.

The key will be getting an early lead. In order to get to the extra-DB packages, the Pats need to force passing situations. That means forcing the Bills to play from behind, like the last game. If the Pats are behind, their weaknesses are more apparent, and they have difficulty creating a pass rush because their best pass rushers are guys like McGinest, Bruschi and Vrabel, who aren't down rushers unless it is an obvious passing down.

If the Bills get the lead and can mix the run and pass, the Pats likely will be unable to pressure the QB from their base set. One of the keys last game was them being able to pressure Bledsoe while rarely sending more than 4 guys in to rush. Most of this pressure came when Buffalo was in obvious passing downs, which happened more as the game went along. The Pats will drop a lot of guys into coverage no matter what, and they don't want to have to blitz too much, since that opens things up for Bledsoe.

[itsandthings]

Buffalo may catch a break in this game as Richard Seymour and Tedy Bruschi were both banged up in the Detriot game. Seymour looks like he will play, but Bruschi isn't as certain. Bruschi looks like a game-time decision at this point.

That is 2 of the Pats top 5 defensive players (along with Law, Phifer and Milloy).

[TigerJ]

I agree with itsandthings. Bellichick is not likely to run that strange "stand around and look confused" defence, or at least not very much of it. If he does, Buffalo finally figured out that it's effectiveness is largely neutralized if the O-line simply zone blocks rather than "looking for your guy."

I think on offence Buffalo needs to throw deep once in a while even if DB has to intentionally overthrow to avoid an interception.
We need to keep the DBs back in coverage to allow Henry room to run. I would not run a lot of gimmick plays (end arounds) or even screens because one hallmark of a Billichick defence is discipline. They don't bite easily on deceptions. The dink and dunk passing game (which you just about have to do a lot of vs. Bellichick) only works if receivers hold on to the ball. I was watching the Oakland/Jets game last night and even though Oakland won, I was amazed an how many times Oakland started a drive impressively only to have it stall 30 or 40 yards down the field because of dropped passes and inconsistently. Buffalo has been more inconsistent than Oakland when we've tried to dink and dunk.

[lordofgun]

Originally posted by itsandthings
Smith didn't fail the physical, he failed the conditioning run at the start of camp. If he failed his physical, the Pats would not have signed him to a contract.

Belichick makes players pass a conditioning run at the start of camp or they can not practice. The run varies by position, but RBs have to run 20 consecutive 60-yard dashes in 8 seconds or less with 30 seconds rest in between. It isn't an easy test, especially for a back the size of Smith. While there is little doubt Smith's offseason work ethic is questioned at times (he has failed the test the last 2 years), there is also little doubt he is in pretty good shape at this point.

Smith has been criticized, but he is what he is. He is a good North-South runner who needs the ball. He isn't a top back, but he is a good, 2nd-tier guy who is capable of carrying the load. He actually hasn't played poorly this year, but the Pats have shown a lack of commitment to the running game. There are only 2 games this year where Smith saw as many as 20 carries, and the Patriots are 2-0 in those games.

The Pats are 5-0 in games where Smith has carried the ball more than 20 times in the last 2 seasons, and 8-0 in that same stretch when they have run more than they passed. However, between struggles with their young RTs (Kenyatta Jones and Greg Randall) and injuries to their interior line, the Pats OL has not had the same consistency they had last year. The run game is something they likely would like to go to more down the stretch, with Smith being a big part of that.



Originally posted by itsandthings
As far as the game, it is unlikely Belichick will show the same scheme this time around, he rarely does the same thing the 2nd itme against division opponents. Thus, the move around before the snap stuff may not be used much outside of obvious passing situations.

Of course, Belichick will use a lot of cover-2, and utilize extra-DB packages. The Pats aren't going to allow the big plays over-the-top that Miami did. The strength of the Pats defense is their depth in the secondary. They are actually better off now then when they played the Bills a month ago, thanks to the return of promising young CB Leonard Myers. The team has 4 good CBs in Ty Law, Otis Smith, Terrell Buckley and Leonard Myers to go with strong safetymen like Lawyer Milloy, Tebucky Jones, Victor Green and Antwan Harris. Harris is very important in their extra DB packages, as he is a CB-S tweener who is versatile and fast enough to play some CB despite he primarily being a S.

The key will be getting an early lead. In order to get to the extra-DB packages, the Pats need to force passing situations. That means forcing the Bills to play from behind, like the last game. If the Pats are behind, their weaknesses are more apparent, and they have difficulty creating a pass rush because their best pass rushers are guys like McGinest, Bruschi and Vrabel, who aren't down rushers unless it is an obvious passing down.

If the Bills get the lead and can mix the run and pass, the Pats likely will be unable to pressure the QB from their base set. One of the keys last game was them being able to pressure Bledsoe while rarely sending more than 4 guys in to rush. Most of this pressure came when Buffalo was in obvious passing downs, which happened more as the game went along. The Pats will drop a lot of guys into coverage no matter what, and they don't want to have to blitz too much, since that opens things up for Bledsoe.



Originally posted by itsandthings
Buffalo may catch a break in this game as Richard Seymour and Tedy Bruschi were both banged up in the Detriot game. Seymour looks like he will play, but Bruschi isn't as certain. Bruschi looks like a game-time decision at this point.

That is 2 of the Pats top 5 defensive players (along with Law, Phifer and Milloy).

Great posts! :up:

An early lead is vital. That's been one of the weaknesses of our offense so far. When we have the chance to go up early, we need to get it done. Touchdowns, not settling for 3.

One thing that was nice to see on Sunday was a bit of a killer instinct. Hopefully that will develop, because it's something that's BADLY needed. I can't even count the number of times we've been up by 3 or 7 and our drives stall. We have to put away this Patriots team if we have the chance.

[LABillsFan]

Considering the Bills went from a 4.0 to a 4.5 point dog already tells me that this is a 7+ game. The depth on NE and the D schemes they run will make up for the loss of players (if any). The more I think about it, this needs to be a defensive battle. The Bills D is so vulnerable to the run and over pursuing plays that the offense won't have a shot running the ball being down by 7 or more. The key isn't the big plays on offense it's the D controling the line of scrimmage and the offense eating up the clock instead of striking quick. The threat of the big play from DB will always be there, but controling the clock will be what NE fears because the Bills will be dictating the play. Gilbride has to bore NE's D and get inside their heads. 3.5+3.5+3.5=1st down.

[dolfan25]

In a word No

[LuvDaBills11]

i didnt say antwain was a bad back but he cant carry a team the way henry or williams can. hes a decent back who doesnt have the talent to truly be a dominating force.

brady is also an average qb who cant carry a team but he is good enough when combined with the other team members.

pats win 24-17

[SABURZFAN]

these coaches better think of something or the PATS will have their way with us AGAIN!!!we need to establish a running game and not abandon it.their defense is a little banged up so we should be able to do so.our defense needs to put on a better display than last time too.all of the missed tackles were horrible.they need to stay within themselves and not overrun the plays that also happened too often.Gee Dubya needs to understand that we need to control the clock on these guys.for some reason,we don't matchup too well with the PATS' offense.

[itsandthings]

If you think Brady is average, then you must not know what you are talking about. I don't know what more the kid has to do.

Brady is on pace to throw for over 4,100 yards and 32 TDs. He is completing almost 65% of his passes and has a QB Rating of 91.1.

That is from a 25-year old QB in his 2nd year as a starter. There are only a handful of QBs in NFL history to perform at that level so early in their careers.

Think about these numbers:

Brady's career totals to date, including playoffs:

565-for-880 (64.2%), 5,942 yds (6.75 yds/att), 42 TD, 23 Int, 88.7 QB Rating.

Joe Montana's career total after his 3rd season as a Pro, including playoffs, a similar point to where Brady is now:

500-for-784 (63.8%), 5,456 yds (6.96 yds/att), 35 TD, 21 Int, 87.9 QB Rating.

Now that isn't to say he is Joe Montana, but it shows the comparisons are strikingly similar. Also, both won the Super Bowl and were named MVP of the game. That is pretty good company for him to be in.

[vmark11]

I think the best way to defend the Patsies is to use an "aggressive conservative" gameplan if that makes any since.

They're the last team you want to blitz because they never throw the ball further than 8 yards downfield and Brady ALWAYS has an outlet receiver. I'd play both safties close to the line of scrimmage and challenge Brady& his WR's to make a play 10+ yards down the field; but don't blitz.