Pats V Bills Matchup

[dave mcbride]

12 minutes ago, eball said:

 

If the Bills had blown out the Chargers I'd feel exactly this way...but because that game was closer than expected I am looking to see a highly motivated Bills team on Sunday afternoon.  I could be wrong, but that's my gut feeling...

 

I hope you're right. 

[K D]

I have a lot of friends who are Pats fans. If you laugh about how bad they are the always say the same thing: 6 rings. Not sure what that has to do with how absolutely pathetic this team is now.

 

Hopefully the rumors aren't true and Belichick stays there another 5+ years because I would be worried if they actually had a good offensive minded coach/GM and a top QB in the draft.

[cd1]

How hard do you work when you know you are getting canned in two weeks?

[Success]

3 minutes ago, KDIGGZ said:

I have a lot of friends who are Pats fans. If you laugh about how bad they are the always say the same thing: 6 rings. Not sure what that has to do with how absolutely pathetic this team is now.

 

Hopefully the rumors aren't true and Belichick stays there another 5+ years because I would be worried if they actually had a good offensive minded coach/GM and a top QB in the draft.

 

Many of those fans are also Red Sox fans - who always mocked Yankees fans for just responding "27 titles" when NY was struggling over the past decade+.

 

I love the irony.

 

[Since1981]

deflate the K balls back to 1947—the great BB equalizer

[RiotAct]

2 hours ago, Ray Stonada said:

Our kicker punter and special teams are pretty inconsistent if not downright poor this year, unfortunately. Have a feeling Belichick will try to take advantage. 

which is maddening, since McD keeps guys on the roster pretty much solely based on their (perceived) Special Teams prowess.

[Whites Bay]

34 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

Issue for the Bills will be the weather.  It could be snow or it could be wet and wet is worse.

Bills receivers have had trouble catching balls in wet weather and trouble catching tend to lead to interceptions.

Just had the NWS site up, so I plugged in Orchard Park.

 

 

"Sunday: A chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 39. West wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%"

 

72 hours out, so it'll change a little - but not much.  Start to lean on the run game in the second half.

 

 

[JustHewIt]

4 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

The Chargers did it last week and did OK with virtually no talent

 

Did they? They had 273 yards on 65 plays, took five sacks, and kicked a bunch of field goals thanks in part to great drive starts after turnovers. That yards per play would rank at the bottom of the league, looking at season long averages

Edited December 28, 2023 by JustHewIt

[Ray Stonada]

8 minutes ago, Whites Bay said:

Just had the NWS site up, so I plugged in Orchard Park.

 

 

"Sunday: A chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 39. West wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%"

 

72 hours out, so it'll change a little - but not much.  Start to lean on the run game in the second half.

 

 

Throw it all over the yard from 12 personnel first half, then run wild out of the same sets in the second.

[dave mcbride]

Just now, JustHewIt said:

 

Did they? They had 273 yards on 65 plays, took five sacks, and kicked a bunch of field goals thanks in part to great drive starts after turnovers. That yards per play would rank at the bottom of the league average

Yes, they surely did. A team with that level of talent should have been held to 170 yards and 3 points. They were HORRIBLE talent-wise on offense in that game. That same offense had 123 yards vs the Raiders before garbage time kicked in (late in the 3rd quarter when the Raiders were up 49-0). The Bills didn't force any turnovers either against that horrible unit.

[PatsFanNH]

1 hour ago, KDIGGZ said:

I have a lot of friends who are Pats fans. If you laugh about how bad they are the always say the same thing: 6 rings. Not sure what that has to do with how absolutely pathetic this team is now.

 

Hopefully the rumors aren't true and Belichick stays there another 5+ years because I would be worried if they actually had a good offensive minded coach/GM and a top QB in the draft.

What rumors are you hearing? Even BB is now starting to sound like it’s over for him in NE.

 

people laugh about their terrible record I laugh and just say for as High as my team was and for how long they were.. I was fully expecting the wheels to fall off sometime.  (I mean being good to great from 1996 till 2020 is pretty amazing stretch.)

 

as for the team now, the O is pathetic, the D is pretty good… I mean the set a record for losing 3 games in a row when the D gave up 10 points or less… that’s a pathetic offense!

[frostbitmic]

I'm glad the patriots are starting Zappe over MacCorkle Jones. In the previous Bills/pats game, the Bills Defense made Jones look like a HOFer. Losing to Jones twice in a season would be pitiful.

[Saxum]

7 minutes ago, frostbitmic said:

I'm glad the patriots are starting Zappe over MacCorkle Jones. In the previous Bills/pats game, the Bills Defense made Jones look like a HOFer. Losing to Jones twice in a season would be pitiful.

 

Zappe is starting against Bills for if Bills knock him out Beli-CHEAT's chosen QB comes in.  It is the 4th dimensional tic-tac-toe he plays.

[PatsFanNH]

1 hour ago, frostbitmic said:

I'm glad the patriots are starting Zappe over MacCorkle Jones. In the previous Bills/pats game, the Bills Defense made Jones look like a HOFer. Losing to Jones twice in a season would be pitiful.

Hmm but wouldn’t it be worse ton lose to Jones AND Zappe?  I don’t see it happening but IMO that be worse.

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

Yes, they surely did. A team with that level of talent should have been held to 170 yards and 3 points. They were HORRIBLE talent-wise on offense in that game. That same offense had 123 yards vs the Raiders before garbage time kicked in (late in the 3rd quarter when the Raiders were up 49-0). The Bills didn't force any turnovers either against that horrible unit.

 

Yeah I pointed out in another thread the Chargers scored 4 FGs on drives that started at or before the 50, and we allowed a TD instead of a FG after Harty's fumble. That is 16 points legitimately given up by the defense against a UDFA QB throwing to his #3 and #4 WRs and down to his 3rd center. Inexcusable performance against that crew IMO.

 

I hope McDermott learned something after the first Patriots debacle. That was probably the worst defensive performance of any team this season. I am begging him not to call a bunch of stupid and predictable blitzes that Zappe simply dumps off for chunk yardage. I want him to call more man than usual - against this group of weapons, I would much rather trust our guys to stick to their man than give Zappe easy holes in zone coverage to exploit.

 

On offense this is one of those weeks where I want Allen to play reserved. No need to push the envelope with cross body deep throws and the like, not with Bailey Zappe on the other side. Smart conservative football and just wear the Pats down slowly. I would lean heavily into throws to the RBs and TEs in this one. I don't expect Diggs and Davis to suddenly become separation machines this week.

 

Take every point available in this one. 4th and goal from the 2, kick the FG. Don't make the same mistake Denver made. Again it is Bailey Zappe on the other side. Any score is a huge positive.

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by HappyDays

[RoyBatty is alive]

6 hours ago, Ray Stonada said:

Our kicker punter and special teams are pretty inconsistent if not downright poor this year, unfortunately. Have a feeling Belichick will try to take advantage. 

Lets be honest, our special teams have sucked.  I give  a massive plus to the Pats except we do have the superior field goal kicker.

 

Our punt protection and out punt coverage has been dreadful  I am fearful Belichek is going to  scheme in an overbalanced line to clock one of our punts.   If we do get it off, our lane discipline is terrible and we allow for large returns.  Also Martin's delivery to punt is slow and he too often pumps right down the middle of the field really exposing our punt defenders.

Edited December 28, 2023 by RoyBatty is alive

[LetzGoBuffalo]

Bills - 28

Patricia's - 17

[dave mcbride]

17 minutes ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Lets be honest, pour special teams have sucked.  I give  a massive plus to the Pats except we do have the superior field goal kicker.

 

Our punt protection and out punt coverage has been dreadful  I am fearful Belichek is going to  scheme in an overbalanced line to clock one of our punts.   If we do get it off, our lane discipline is terrible and we allow for large returns.  Also Martin's delivery to punt is slow and he too often pumps right down the middle of the field really exposing our punt defenders.

Martin is 32nd out of 33 qualifying punters in net yards per punt.

 

The Bills have straight-up lost two games on ST blunders on the final play: vs the Jets and the Broncos. That's two too many.

Edited December 28, 2023 by dave mcbride

[TwistofFate]

 

[JustHewIt]

53 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

Yeah I pointed out in another thread the Chargers scored 4 FGs on drives that started at or before the 50, and we allowed a TD instead of a FG after Harty's fumble. That is 16 points legitimately given up by the defense against a UDFA QB throwing to his #3 and #4 WRs and down to his 3rd center. Inexcusable performance against that crew IMO.

 

I hope McDermott learned something after the first Patriots debacle. That was probably the worst defensive performance of any team this season. I am begging him not to call a bunch of stupid and predictable blitzes that Zappe simply dumps off for chunk yardage. I want him to call more man than usual - against this group of weapons, I would much rather trust our guys to stick to their man than give Zappe easy holes in zone coverage to exploit.

 

On offense this is one of those weeks where I want Allen to play reserved. No need to push the envelope with cross body deep throws and the like, not with Bailey Zappe on the other side. Smart conservative football and just wear the Pats down slowly. I would lean heavily into throws to the RBs and TEs in this one. I don't expect Diggs and Davis to suddenly become separation machines this week.

 

Take every point available in this one. 4th and goal from the 2, kick the FG. Don't make the same mistake Denver made. Again it is Bailey Zappe on the other side. Any score is a huge positive.

 

 

Like, I respect what you guys are saying and that these close games against lesser teams don't feel great. But what specifically do you feel our defense did wrong? The other poster said to hold them to 170 yards. That would be 2.61 yards per play. Seems a bit unreasonable to me. This is still an NFL offense with a system that has been super productive over the years. 

 

Do other teams look at our banged up defense and say "They're missing three all pros, two other pro bowlers, their best linebacker is running around with a banged up ankle, and their 100 million dollar pass rusher is useless. Why didn't we score 50 pts!!!!"  Perhaps their backups and young players aren't god awful? What do you actually know about their third string center?