FOXBORO — In their closing recreation final season, the Patriots confirmed their remaining playing cards towards a division opponent that performed prefer it had stacked the deck.
The outcome, in fact, was an notorious 47-17 blowout loss at Buffalo. Eleven months later, many of the Patriots’ and Bills’ gamers from that evening are again. The identical may be stated, kind of, for the coaches.
So what playing cards does Bill Belichick have left to keep away from a repeat embarrassment Thursday evening?
Offensively, his Xs-and-Os choices are pretty restricted.
Buffalo has not modified its defensive construction and zone-heavy scheme since head coach Sean McDermott took over in 2017. McDermott’s protection has particularly stifled the Patriots, even within the Tom Brady years. The Pats common fewer than 20 offensive factors per recreation towards McDermott’s Bills, and haven’t scored greater than 25 since 2017.
“Schematically it’s pretty similar from week-to-week, year-to-year,” Belichick stated this week. “I mean they obviously tweak it by game plan, do a little more of this against one team or a little more of that against somebody else. But they don’t really change what they do.”
As the expertise pool within the Patriots’ vast receiver room has dried up through the years, the Bills’ secondary has grown deeper, which has allowed them to play an atypically excessive price of man-to-man with nice success.
“We know that come clutch time, they’re playing man, and they’re gonna try to rush the passer,” Pats wideout Jakobi Meyers stated. “So we’ve gotta win our routes.”
To counter Buffalo’s sticky single protection, it’s affordable to anticipate the Patriots will name a number of “rub” route ideas that drive man-to-man defenders to tail receivers by way of visitors. The Pats may additionally drive the Bills, house owners of the NFL’s third-worst tackling protection per Pro Football Focus grades, to cease ball carriers in house on screens and swing passes.
Up entrance, the Patriots have traditionally needed Buffalo to play 1-on-1. The Pats hammered the Bills with quite a lot of man-blocked runs of their solely sequence win of the previous two years, a 14-10 triumph final season in a windstorm. But within the ensuing rematches, Buffalo’s defensive entrance — which was and stays loaded with first-round expertise — stood its floor.
“The last two games, they out-physicaled us,” stated proper guard Mike Onwenu. “So it’s our challenge to step up to.”
The excellent news for Onwenu and Co. is the Bills are actually weak towards these forms of runs, like energy and counter, which may usually be recognized when an offensive guard pulls. According to Sports Info. Solutions, the Bills are permitting 5.4 yards per carry versus man-blocked schemes energy, counter, entice and duo, the eighth-highest common within the league. Expect extra of the identical Thursday.
Defensively, the Patriots have brazenly mentioned this week treating Josh Allen as a runner and passer second.
The Patriots’ Josh Allen drawback has just one answer
“We have to work together up front to keep him in front of us, force him to be a passer,” said leading pass rusher Matt Judon. “He’s a very dangerous passer, but I think we’ll stay with that instead of him running all over us.”
Allen rushed for 149 yards towards the Patriots final season, gouging them at 6.2 yards per stick with it a mixture of scrambles and designed runs. Keeping Allen in entrance must also stop him from extending performs and improvising, his biggest weapon towards Bill Belichick’s meticulously deliberate and ready protection final yr. Pats security Adrian Phillips famous the protection was too usually caught out of place, leaving escape hatches for Allen when he was underneath strain and open receivers downfield.
“He was in an unbelievable mode last year, but at the same time, we did some stuff that was very uncharacteristic of us and it played into his hands,” Phillips stated. “And he’s a great player, so he took advantage of it.”
Phillips additionally insisted the Patriots found just a few efficient ways towards Allen, regardless of the very fact Buffalo didn’t punt as soon as within the groups’ final two conferences. Phillips stated the Patriots supposed to repeat these calls and disguise them, which ought to require bailing from blitz appears or safeties darting to or away from the road of scrimmage on the snap. The hope is to idiot him into committing a turnover.
Allen hasn’t thrown an interception towards the Patriots since Nov. 1, 2020.
Elsewhere, after getting smoked for 139 yards by Vikings All-Pro wideout Justin Jefferson, it causes the Patriots pays further consideration to Bills receiver Stefon Diggs, a fellow All-Pro. Diggs has roasted the Pats over his profession, averaging greater than six catches and 84 yards per recreation, whereas scoring 5 touchdowns in six conferences. Early within the week, Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo left little question about how the teaching employees sees Diggs’ significance to Buffalo’s offense.
Patriots WR Jakobi Meyers expects to play Thursday towards the Bills
“It all runs through the quarterback and also through (Stefon) Diggs,” Mayo stated.
Added Belichick: “(Diggs)’s good at everything.”
And but for all of the Patriots’ potential scheming and plotting to keep away from a repeat of final January, Thursday will come all the way down to the bodily. Winning 1-on-1 battles, pushing Allen’s offensive line round and pulling him to the bottom when alternatives come up.
Because after failing to drive a single punt of their final two conferences final season, even with the best defensive coach of all time commanding their sideline, the Patriots know this:
“Division games are more (about) players gotta go make plays,” Meyers stated. “They know what we do, and we know what they do.”
Cards down. Game on.
Source: www.bostonherald.com