Patriots Outclass Buffalo, 25-6

The Patriots shoved the Bills aside in Buffalo last night, 25-6. The game put the Patriots at 6-2, two games ahead of Miami in the division. Next week it’s the Packers coming to town for a Sunday night tilt at Foxboro, a game that promises to be more competitive and compelling.

Lackluster is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about this game. One rushing touchdown, one pick-six touchdown, and a bunch of play between the 20s.

The Pats showed real disdain by playing Cordarrelle Patterson at running back (which I think was punishment for the previous week’s fumbled kickoff). And Bill Belichick seemed to have nothing up his sleeve for this game, as if nothing special was needed to beat Buffalo. Turns out, that second part is true.

Just a quick update, a few “Up” and a few “Down,” and some small matters to get to before next week’s Brady/Rodgers showdown.

Up:

1. The Patriots secondary had tight coverage almost all night long. Very few open receivers, though the receivers aren’t all that great.
2. Trey Flowers is so good at disrupting the offense, whether it’s pressure on the QB (2 hits), knocking down passes (1), or tackling running backs for a loss (2).
3. Kyle Van Noy led the team in tackles (8), had 2 sacks for 14 yards, hit the QB twice, and forced fumble. That’s two really good games in a row for Van Noy.
4. Rob Gronkowski, but mostly when he was blocking for running backs. He only had three catches, but was very good sealing edges or opening holes for the backs… all two of them.
5. Julian Edelman was more in sync with Brady, making 9 grabs for 104 yards.

Down:

1. Special teams appear to be falling apart. Stupid alignment penalty on a kickoff, poor coverage, missed field goal, and no returns to speak of.
2. The defense got caught completely by surprise by the Wildcat offense… ten years after it was last effective.
3. Their situational execution was poor; too many failed third downs (36% blech), too many burned timeouts early in the first half, and some bad short coverages on third downs for the defense.

Let’s just sum it up by saying it’s a good thing they were playing the Bills. Maybe they saw their next free agent acquisition last night, as the few good Buffalo players are likely anxious to skip town in 2019.

So where does that leave us? 6-2 and atop the division is good. Still one game back of KC for the first overall playoff seed. But there is time for Andy Reid to choke down the stretch.

Biggest ongoing issue: Special Teams for the fourth week this season. I bet they can’t wait for the Bye week to get some of this stuff straightened out.

Non-Brady MVP: Kyle Van Noy, all over the field and looking better by the week.

Statistical oddity: Prior to this season, punter Ryan Allen had three games where he averaged less than 30 yards net per punt. He’s done that twice in the last five weeks (28.8 last night, 28.5 against Miami). I wish he had a real special teams coach to lean on right about now.

Weekly water-cooler wisdom: “This next game might be their biggest test of the season — and their last one until the playoffs.”

Keep the faith,

- Scott

PS. 6-2!