Pneumonic

The Bills corners need to be able to matchup against Welker and Lloyd not the TE's. You don't want large corners to do this.

Last chips from when? The super bowl winning years? The current Pats team bears little resemblance to those SB teams or even that '07 team. They have completely overhauled the team with different talent since then yet they are still winning 13 and 14 games a season and playing in super bowls. The facts are staring you right in the face. Don't let your dis-taste for them cloud your objectivity.

They are slipping? Curious how you draw that conclusion? The Pats just played in the SB after coming off a 13 win season and have improved in the talent department. Sorry, I don't follow your logic on this one. Perhaps so. Exclude that '07 team, or any of the SB winning teams also and compare them to the last 2 Pats teams that went 13-3 and 14-2 respectively. Many people believe this years Pats teams to be more talented. That doesn't indicate to me a team that is slipping due to poor personnel moves as is being argued by some.

With Gronk, Hernandez and now Shiancoe the Pats will be able to trot out a mighty impressive trio of TE's who know how to score TD's when down in the red zone. Who knows but, barring key injuries, I don't see a single game where the Pats won't be favoured to win.

Forgetting any of the SB winning teams, even if the comparison is to the last 2 Patriots teams, that were talented enough to post 13-3 and 14-2 win seasons respectively, then I'd say a betterment of the talent on those teams is saying something. In support of this statement. According to My link Since 2008, there have been 20 receivers with more than 65 targets of at least 21 yards downfield. The only one not to drop a deep ball? Brandon Lloyd (88 targets). Over the past two seasons, with Josh McDaniels as his head coach or primary offensive coordinator, Lloyd was the most targeted receiver on throws deeper than 20 yards downfield, with 73 such targets. Calvin Johnson was second with 64. Further relevant stats from the same article: Lloyd has done this with Kyle Orton, Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, A.J. Feeley and Kellen Clemens as his quarterbacks. Lloyd's quarterback this year is Tom Brady. And his offensive coordinator is Josh McDaniels.

The point is many people believe this years Pats team to be very talented, maybe even the most talented of the Belichick era. As such, this is contrary to the belief of many posters in here who suggest the Pats are suffering from a decline in talent because of poor personnel moves.

Many people are suggesting that this years Pats team may be the most talented of the Belichick era. You even have some NFL analysts predicting the Pats may go 16-0. This doesn't point to a decline in roster talent as you suggest.

Why of course. How could I be so blind

Geez, if they suck so much come draft time and in free agency, how the heck do you explain them winning 27 games against just 5 losses the last 2 years?

Maybe I picked the wrong word in collapse. Let me try again. The confusion due to the unusual schemes shown by the Giants DL lead to the wrong reads in the OL blocking assignments which negatively impacted the protection afforded to Brady.

I agree. I pointed out above that the confusion caused the Pats OL blocking to collapse which didn't allow Brady's best skill (pre snap reads) to become a factor in the equation like it normally does.

You are missing my point which is this Bills defense is NOT at all like the Giants defense that has caused Brady so much trouble of late. That Giants defense caused Brady trouble because, by scheme, they were unique enough to be able to lineup 4 DE at any and all DL spots - inside and out, on any down, for every series played in the game, which was so confusing that the Pats OL blocking calls collapsed which ultimately took away Brady's best skill, the ability to read a defense, pre snap, in order to identify the best matchup to take advantage of, and the Giants made them pay. This would be akin to asking Dareus and K Williams line-up as DE's with Anderson and M Williams lining up at inside at DT play in and play out. That's not going to happen with any regularity to cause recognition problems for Brady. I am not saying the DL won't be able to get after Brady and cause him trouble. Many teams have DL capable of doing this and have done so in the past and caused Brady grief.

My point isn't that they'll not be effective in their roles. If they perform as capable I suspect they'll be highly productive. My point is that comparing this Bills DL to the NASCAR DL version of what the Giants used to confuse and ultimately curtail Brady isn't at all accurate. The two defensive fronts employ very different personnel skillsets. The Giants regularly employed all of their DE's in all 4 positional spots on the DL in an attempt to confuse Brady's pre-snap recognition and utlimately fluster him. The Bills don't have the personnel to do the same. They'll simply line em up and attempt to win the 1 on 1 battles against the Pats OL so that they are able to pressure Brady before he is able to get the ball out to his receiving options (or before his receiving options are able to get open).

The uniqueness with the Giants DL is that the 4 DE all can play all spots on the DL. Inside and out. All 3 downs. It's this ability that is the real problem for a QB because the QB struggles to read what scheme and front the Giants DL is in. For a thinking QB like Brady it takes away perhaps his biggest strength and key matchup advantage; that of pre-snap read of the opposing defense. Now, as promising as the Bills DL is, guys like Dareus and K Williams are 4-3 interior players who won't give the same flexibility, and thus scheme confusion, that all the Giants DE's give. This is not to say that the Bills front 4 can't be effective rushing Brady but, as pointed out previously, the Pats offense is ideally suited to effectively counter such schemes.

My point is it's next to impossible to get pressure on Brady on a consistent basis unless you confuse him with scheme (ie Giants NASCAR package) or you get great coverage play (Jets) which makes him hold the ball longer than usual. The Pats offense (quick hitting, short passing game) is designed around Brady's biggest strength's, processing things properly at the LOS and getting rid of the ball very quickly, and is intended to beat defenses that play simple man up in the trenches. Especially so with the great pass protection the Pats OL generally affords Brady and the weapons he has at his disposal; guys who are adept at getting open in short area passing zones.

I agree. If Dareus improves his play and if M Williams plays better this year than he has the last 2 seasons then, health permitting, the Bills DL has serious potential to be a top 5 unit.

Forcing Brady to throw quick isn't the best way to defend him because their offense is designed to defeat just that by employing a quick and short passing game. Brady is very astute at the LOS and he prcoesses defenses so quickly and accurately, it's an exercise in futility to try and pressure him in the pocket. Especially so when coupled to what has traditionally been a very strong pass blocking OL. Inevitably those defenses which have had success in defending the Pats offense do so either with top notch coverage of his receiving weapons (which causes coverage sacks or throwaways) or by mass confusion like what the Jets and Giants have been successful at doing of late. With the addition of Brandon Lloyd I think the Pats will be much more difficult to defend in coverage so I would think causing confusion is the best plan of attack. Then again, Brady is a year wiser and already one of the wisest to ever QB in the NFL. Keep in mind that the Pats short passing game is part of their run game.

While the Bills DL *may* end up being productive against the Pats it won't be because they are similar to that Giants DL that caused the Pats so much trouble. The 4 of Tuck, Osi, JPP and Canty are unique in that they are all sub 275#, pass rush DE's who excel at getting at the QB but who can also all defend the run without being exposed. What this combination of rush/run skillset allows is for all 4 of them to be used in all 4 DL spots on all 3 downs in all series of the game. This is what caused the Pats trouble, the matchup and confusion that having 4 such unique DE's all being able to play inside or out and not knowing where they'll lineup play in and play out. The Bills don't have anything close to that personnel (4-3 pass rush DE's who can also play 4-3 DT capably) on the DL on a consistent and regular basis. The closest thing they could lineup in comparison (ie all DE types) would be Merriman - M Williams - Kelsay - Anderson and if they did use this regularly in a game they'd get dominated. FTR, I have excluded Dareus and K Williams in this package since they are 300+ pound DT's and not 275# 4-3 DE's like what the Giants have. Now granted a M Williams - Dareus - K Williams - Merriman (Anderson) grouping has the potential to excel against the Pats but for entirely different reasons than why the Giants front of Tuck, Osi, JPP and Canty caused the Pats so much grief.

The best defense to go up against Brady is one of confusion. The Jets defense for example is probably best in this respect. If you can stick a bunch of DE all over the line and go NASCAR like what the Giants do when facing Brady that works too. But, over the course of the season, Brady wins MUCH more than he loses and, if we are talking winning the division, you have to look at a 16 game sked and project beating them over the course of it. It's likely going to take 14 wins to do so. Does Fitz have it in to win that many games? We know Brady does!

Brady has gone up against, and beaten, oodles of the leagues best defenses for over a decade now. There is a well established pattern of success in his corner. It's not like the Bills defense is going to be anything different than what Brady has routinely dissected numerous times throughout his career. Further, in those Giants SB wins it was Manning and his offense that won it for them. As mentioned previously, it's all about QB play over the course of a season.

When it comes to the Bills supplanting NE as AFCE champs, it'll all boil down to which of Brady or Fitz plays best at critical times in games throughout the course of the season. With Brady, it is expected he'll dominant much of the season. OTOH, with Fitz ..... who knows what to expect out of him. He's the key!

I would be wildly guessing with my answer to this question.

Rather than wildly guessing, the Pats actually claimed Ballard and will now employ a medical and training staff to decide his health and help nurture him back to the field.

I often wonder why a bunch of teams don't do what the Pats do on a regular basis but have stopped wondering about that for some time now. It may well be that the other teams believe Ballard's injury is career threatening but, outside of having his medical charts and papers, they'd be wildly guessing. The Giants made a blunder is what happened. Reese admitted they expected Ballard to make it through waivers in order that they could retain him. What Reese miscalculated is that the Pats would jump in and steal him away. My link My link

Sorry, I don't buy that all teams (but the Pats and Giants) believe that Ballard's injury is a career threatening one.