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Pats Posits: Pats Are Who I Posit They Are

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The Pats pulled away late to close out the Bills as Tom Brady extended his dominance over Buffalo to a whopping 29-3. Brady has more wins over them than any other quarterback over any other team. The Bills Mafia has been left to just throw dildos on the field and accept their loss.

Without Sony Michel it was the grind that I thought it possibly could be in the gameplan:

For the past two seasons, it’s been clear that the Patriots are at their best when they’re balanced and establishing that balance in this game might be tougher than anyone realizes. If the run blocking isn’t on and Barner is unable to make people miss they’re going to become one-dimensional against a good passing defense and that could be cause for concern. Toss in any more strange giveaways leaving a short field for Anderson and there’s a chance this game is interesting, at least for a little bit.

So we got a heavy dose of Cordarrelle Patterson at running back (10 carries, 38 yards) and a game that was just 12-6 in the 4th quarter. The other stats that stand out due to the lack of a ground game was third down where the Pats were just 5-14 and in the red zone where they were 1-3. Just three of the 14 third downs were four yards or less. That speaks to not getting enough early down yardage.

What’s clear to me now about the 2018 Pats is that as long as they have Brady-White-Edelman-Gronk they’re going to give just about any team problems. They have less margin for error with turnovers, but they’ll move the ball. If they have Michel, or just an effective ground game, they’re at a different level of unstoppability.

As for the defense they met expectations against Derek Anderson and the inept Bills offense, holding them to just 6 points, a season low. They also forced two turnovers, returning an interception for their first defensive touchdown since 2015, a streak of 40 games. With no quick change situations, the defense showed that they’re definitely not as crappy as many were making them out to be. But again, it’s the Bills. We’ll see how they look against Aaron Rodgers, but we’ll take it.

More on it all in a halfway edition of the Posits…

— I heard Zolak mention Trey Flowers was really banged up after the Jacksonville game and this Bills game left no question he’s all the way back. Total beast mode from Flowers who was disruptive and a true force whose effect trickled down through the rest of the defense. Flowers’ pending free agent status is a slow-growing pit in my stomach. If he walks it will be a huge blow. Rob Ninkovich got a ton of extensions during his time with the team, but they’ve never quite had a budding superstar like Flowers who’s been an ideal citizen and exceeded all expectations. The rest of the league would be salivating for a chance to offer him a huge deal and who knows where Flowers’ head is at regarding staying in New England, taking less money and all that. Something scary to try and ignore until February….

— Kyle Van Noy continues his ascension towards star status with eight tackles, two sacks, two tackles-for-loss and two quarterback hits. You wouldn’t even realize they were without Dont’a Hightower, which is surprising but a good sign considering in the past teams would run all over the Pats when High was out.

— Julian Edelman had his best game of the season, breaking 100 yards and looking like a guy who didn’t tear his ACL last year. I never quite was on board with those who thought Edelman looked all that off during camp. I was there, I saw it with my own eyes. Some rust, sure. But definitely not a recovery-year ACL guy. And he sure didn’t look like that last night. He shows no signs of slowing down which is an outlier for a player like him at 32.

— I know it was the Bills’ offense but that’s how I expect the secondary to play every game. They should. So many vets, their inconsistencies over the past two seasons have been a bit maddening, but when they’re on they’re as good as it gets. Add in that Jason McCourty has been a seamless replacement for Malcolm Butler, and a more consistent one, and you have the makings of a back six starter group who can play with anyone. Add in that JC Jackson and Keion Crossen are being eased in with some experience and things look good long term as well.

— Josh Gordon sat out zero snaps after the talk of the pregame was that he was late for the team plane and would be benched for it. He played 84 percent of the snaps! The story was broke by Ian Rapoport and confirmed by some local beat guys so who knows what the hell happened. They’re not all just making it up no matter how bad you want to believe that. I have had my issues with strange agenda-driven leaks the last year with the Pats. Usually, they related to last season’s drama. Just as Gordon was getting the praise articles for assimilating into New England, this happens then doesn’t happen. Hard to see the logic to leak it then just play him if you’re Belichick. Maybe it was a warning shot to Gordon while also saying that they still value him. Welker got benched for the Rex Feet thing and that wasn’t known till he wasn’t playing. Maybe it was the rogue leaker trying to cause dissension over the Pats newest toy. We’ll just have to wait and see but for now there was smoke but no fire. Gordon continued to look pretty good. This wasn’t a breakout game, but he had his quality catches, finishing with four catches for 42 yards on six targets. His slant that he takes all the way is still coming, I promise.

— Yes, Devin McCourty is faaaaaaast.

— James White continues to be the ultimate in reliability. 18 touches, 94 yards. He’s not going to be all that effective running between the tackles, even with teams playing him primarily as a receiver, but he is just simpatico with Brady. I’ll always remember the 2015 AFCCG where the injury-depleted Pats leaned heavily on White and he didn’t come through. It was his first year as a full-time player. He had just five catches on 16 targets leaving me frustrated with him. Cut to a year later in the Super Bowl — 16 targets again, 14 catches, three touchdowns, two two-point conversions, won the game in OT on an uncharacteristic goaline hard run. Just a perfect illustration why you must must must give guys a chance to develop no matter how they look their first couple years.

The Pats now turn the page to the Packers, who are a disappointing 3-3-1 but almost assured to give New England all they can handle on Sunday Night Football. The good news is that New England is always far better equipped to deal with a QB like Aaron Rodgers than the mobile gadget ones. Rodgers is of course mobile too, but their offense is traditional and the Pats know how to play those and have the tools to deal with it.

Getting Michel back is paramount, especially if this one is going to be a back-and-forth affair. He did return to practice but returning to the field this soon might be asking too much. What isn’t asking too much is not having Patterson getting the most carries, but it’s already Tuesday so we might not have a choice.

Enjoy the trade deadline, my favorite deadline to see pass since it ends the questions of whether or not Jamie Collins, Demaryius Thomas, Golden Tate and everyone else will be joining the team tomorrow. I expect a move, but more of the “who’s that now?” variety.