By now you've probably had your fill of Tom Brady's offensive numbers against a Rex Ryan defense. This week, I spent some time looking at those numbers as well as how Brady has recently played against Buffalo. Instead of rewriting what has already been written, hey guess what they are selling at the Bills' Proshop, I'm just going to point out a few things and move on to what the Patriots need to do today to be successful.
Over the past 2 seasons the Tom Brady led Patriots have gone a combined 6-1 against the Jets and Bills. Brady has been held below 200 yards passing in 3 of those games. He has thrown for 13 touchdowns and has had 4 completions to the wrong team. Additionally, he has one fumble and has been sacked a total of 16 times.
While Brady's most recent start against Buffalo was a pretty good one (4 touchdowns, 27/37 for 361 yards), he struggled mightily against them week 1 of the 2013 season. For a quick refresher on that game, Brady was 29 of 52.....yes, 52. He had one interception to go along with an untimely fumble. Although the Patriots would win the game 23-21, they made it much closer than it needed to be by their own miscues. The following miscues resulted in a significant change in the final score. One was a fumble which occurred right outside the red zone and ended up being taken back for a Buffalo score. The other was a fumble on the one yard line.
While Brady's most recent start against Buffalo was a pretty good one (4 touchdowns, 27/37 for 361 yards), he struggled mightily against them week 1 of the 2013 season. For a quick refresher on that game, Brady was 29 of 52.....yes, 52. He had one interception to go along with an untimely fumble. Although the Patriots would win the game 23-21, they made it much closer than it needed to be by their own miscues. The following miscues resulted in a significant change in the final score. One was a fumble which occurred right outside the red zone and ended up being taken back for a Buffalo score. The other was a fumble on the one yard line.
With that being said, the biggest key to today's ballgame is turnovers. If the Patriots do not give the ball away, they should be the victors.
Another offensive key to the game will have to do with the game plan. Still having a young hodgepodge of an offensive line in front of him and playing in front of an opposing fan base who plans on bringing the noise, Brady can not make huge changes to the responsibilities of his lineman. Obviously, Brady will make adjustments at the line as he always does. Hopefully these adjustments don't set up opportunities for him to get sacked.
While the Patriots typically dominate special teams and field position, they need to keep that up today.
Defensively the keys are pretty simple. First off they need to keep guys between the numbers. Second of all they need to make sure tackles. Lastly, when given the opportunity they need to finish big plays (sacks and interceptions).
Hopefully my next post will be about our 2-0 New England Patriots.
Another offensive key to the game will have to do with the game plan. Still having a young hodgepodge of an offensive line in front of him and playing in front of an opposing fan base who plans on bringing the noise, Brady can not make huge changes to the responsibilities of his lineman. Obviously, Brady will make adjustments at the line as he always does. Hopefully these adjustments don't set up opportunities for him to get sacked.
While the Patriots typically dominate special teams and field position, they need to keep that up today.
Defensively the keys are pretty simple. First off they need to keep guys between the numbers. Second of all they need to make sure tackles. Lastly, when given the opportunity they need to finish big plays (sacks and interceptions).
Hopefully my next post will be about our 2-0 New England Patriots.
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