It’s All-22 Tuesday! Trying to make this a little easier to read and follow, so I’m shortening it a bit and doing both offense and defense in one post, just divided by halves to look for adjustments.
Lots of great stuff in this one but I still think the Pats have much better football ahead of them on both sides of the ball.
Let’s dive in, defense first of course…
Defense
1st Half
The Bills had a nice first drive, with the Pats playing Cover 1 Man on 6 of 9 snaps. The problems were primarily early-season sloppiness, not getting off blocks, not causing havoc. The coverage shift that occurred after that was switching to Cover 3, which matched up well with the long-developing routes the outside receivers were running. That led to five-straight three and outs.
After the first drive I had them in Cover 3 on 16 snaps, Cover 1 Man on 8 snaps. Again, it’s Tyrod Taylor, and there were some open receivers in the zone holes, but generally this coverage was perfect for forcing indecision and check downs.
The Patriots also started to use McCourty closer to the line of scrimmage whether as a zone defender or spying the quarterback.
Chandler is up and down in run defense and it seems teams do target him, but his athleticism as a pass rusher is excellent and he’s a very solid piece.
On the long PI call on Bradley Fletcher he was playing Cover 3 so he wasn’t trying to jam and it quickly became a foot race that he was losing. Expect teams to target him on deep shots frequently now.
2nd Half
As expected the defense stuck with mostly Cover 3 in the second half and it continued to be mostly effective. The Bills adjusted by hitting some sideline comeback routes to attack the coverage, but they really didn’t start doing damage and mounting a comeback until Taylor started getting out of the pocket and make throws on the run late in down when the coverage had broken down a bit.
How about that hole?
The 32-yard Woods TD was a prime example of this as Malcolm Butler was left essentially alone covering two guys in the end zone and the pass just snuck through his hands.
Would’ve liked to see a better game out of Siliga. He’s probably their best tackle right now but he’s not playing like it, getting easily blocked too often. Alan Branch bounced back and made some plays while Malcom Brown was just okay.
The 24-yard Watkins TD again just beat Bradley Fletcher with speed over the top. This is a major area of concern.
Offense
First Half
The Patriots always have a feeling out period at the start of a game, especially on offense. They spread the field on the first possession, then went to a jumbo package early on the second drive, but still threw it. Just seeing how the Bills would play them.
Rex’s favorite thing is to only send three in the red zone, but credit the protection and Edelman on his touchdown as he beat the double team and Brady found room to scramble and deliver the perfect ball. Edelman makes so many tough plays we’re almost starting to take them for granted.
Loved Dion Lewis’ hard touchdown run, the first time the Pats handed off in the game, on their third possession! He lowered his shoulder to get into the end zone, the kind of play the coaches surely love. I know I do.
Never a good sign when there’s visible confusion on the defense’s side on how to cover Gronk just before the snap. That’s what happened on Gronk’s touchdown not surprisingly.
Michael Williams is an interesting player who seems to skew more tackle than tight end but the Patriots are using him all over the place. His rise could mean the end of the Hooman.
On the failed fourth-down conversion in the second quarter they tried to sell the fly sweep that they had just run earlier with Edelman. Nobody bit and Brady just had to fling and pray.
On the second-quarter sack of Brady, that was nullified by a hold on Buffalo, it’s clear where Vollmer hurts his finger. Andrews and Mason missed the stunt and Brady had to hit the deck.
Dion Lewis’ 40-yard catch up the sideline was reminiscent of Vereen but he’s got even more wiggle to him. Excited to see how they start to scheme even more to get him open in space. Dead on balls throw from Brady.
Second Half
What a throw by Brady on third-and-1 to find Gronk for 28 yards on the first possession. This is just as he’s throwing the ball, most QBs would have a loaf in their pants long before this.
Seemed like an effort to get Chandler more involved in the second half, of course him not coming up with a touchdown those two times they targeted him in the end zone were no bueno.
Lewis has such side-to-side agility and is so hard to tackle in tight spaces. That part of his game is very Woodhead-y.
Didn’t even realize Vollmer returned to the game until now.
Edelman’s touchdown was so Edelman, just all out effort. Can’t say enough about the player he’s developed into.
Definitely a few miscues by the offensive line but all things considered this was an impressive performance by all of them. Yes, Brady got the ball out quick but we’ve seen even that gameplan get disrupted by immediate pass rush.
Dobson did have one kinda gross drop but otherwise it was just the kind of game he needed to build some confidence. His chances will continue, I just want to see him do something special.
Didn’t love the 4th-and-1 play call but Edelman was open, Brady just missed. I prefer aggressive play calling but I think a punt would’ve been the right call there instead of trying to over-finish, if that makes sense.
On Brady’s fumble that made all our butts pucker up it was on Solder a bit for missing the cut block but also for Brady thinking he could reload. Good pursuit by Hughes and good coverage on Gronk to force Brady to not throw.
Pats were up five with 4:04 when they got the ball back and what a drive they put together to seal the game. Big part of it was the unbelievable Amendola catch.
Pats offense looked really good in this one, with Gronk, Edelman and Lewis making most of the big plays but Amendola and Dobson chipping some key ones as well. Still, they left some plays on the field and are still learning what they do best. But right now I see no reason this offense won’t be better than last year’s outside of injuries.
