Despite many considering the New England Patriots to be the safest bet of this week’s slate of games, the Buffalo Bills played spoiler and defeated them 16-0 at Gillette Stadium.
While some are considering this loss as the Patriots’ luck running out, I won’t go as far to say that New England’s first three wins were luck. They were simply outplayed in this one.
It’s hard to win in this day and age of football when you get subpar quarterback play, no matter who your opponent is. This wasn’t a classic Brady vs Manning matchup, but Tyrod Taylor outplayed Jacoby Brissett on Sunday.
Considering that most people thought the Patriots would be in good shape if they were 2-2 going into Week 5 with Brady returning, the Patriots will be just fine sitting at 3-1. Say all you want about Rex Ryan but he managed to get the victory, which is all that matters. Ryan was the center of national attention this past week with a few choice acts (to say the least) with the media.
But come Sunday, on gameday, his team looked the most prepared and the most hungry. It’s unusual for a Bill Belichick team to come out as sluggish as they did, and they most definitely paid the price. The Bills won the turnover battle, had 11 more first downs, and 14 fewer yards in penalties. All played a key role in Buffalo pulling out this one, and costing bettors lots of money.
1. Tyrod Taylor continues to manage games for the Bills
He won’t beat you for 300 passing yards week in and week out, but Taylor has done a good job the last three weeks in getting the ball downfield at the right times, and also taking what defenses will give him. The Bills were lucky that Brissett was under center and not Brady, because Taylor would not have kept up.
For the most part this year, the Bills’ defense has done a solid job keeping them in games. They have yet to play a quarterback of the “elite” status however. He kept the offense going against the Jets in Week 2, where they fell just short in a shoot out, but he’s been a bit muffled, at least in the passing game.
Then again, he hasn’t been asked to do as much. While he threw it 39 times against New England, they also ran it 32 times. It’s no secret what the Bills’ philosophy is on the offensive side of the ball.
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Because they don’t scare anyone (yet at least) in the passing game, it’ll be interesting to see how the running game holds up with teams know what’s coming. Thus far in two games under new offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn, they’ve done a pretty good job mixing run schemes up and keeping defenses on their heels.
2. Jacoby Brissett struggled under pressure
After the game Sunday, Ryan claimed he knew that Brissett was going to start on Sunday. Whether he did or didn’t, the Bills were able to shut down the Patriots offense in large part to them shutting down Brissett, who didn’t enjoy the same success that he did in his first NFL start last week.
Brissett was sacked three times by the Bills. This will likely be Brissett’s last start for this year. He has some things to improve on, including stepping up in the pocket when pressure arrives from the edges.
According to Pro Football Focus, Brissett had a completion pecentage of 71.4 percent when not under pressure, and 33.3 percent when he was under duress. The Bills tested Brissett with a variety of blitzes to get him uncomfortable in the pocket and throughout the game. Of course, it didn’t help much that most his passes were behind or within inches of the line of scrimmage.
This was a great win for the Bills, but let’s face it, New England was without a huge piece to their team in Tom Brady.
3. Bill Belichick is human
The shutout loss to the Bills brings Belichick and the Patriots back to Earth. The Bills not only outplayed New England, they outcoached them as well. Out of the gates, New England didn’t look crisp. They opened up things with a bang when Julian Edelman caught a quick crossing route for what would have been a 91-yard touchdown if it weren’t for an offensive pass interference penalty on Chris Hogan.
The Patriots’ sloppy play was on both sides of the ball, but in particular, the offense shouldn’t be too concerning. I’m not convinced that Brissett’s thumb was even fully healed either.
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New England didn’t force any turnovers, which they had against the Texans that helped the offense get going. With that being said, it wasn’t all that bad, and it will only get better in the weeks to come for the Patriots.