FOR BILLS TO BEAT PATS – REX RYAN HAS TO SHELVE HIS DEFENSIVE EGO

November 21, 2015 · No Comments

DON’T GET ME STARTED has me hearing so many positives for the Buffalo Bills when they face those highly disliked New England Patriots Monday.

Art Wander

So many friends are hurtling out the words “We are going to beat them.” Others point out the fact that the Bills beat New England in their own barn last year. But they forget that the Pats played patsy in the second half resting Brady and his productive buddies.

Can the Bills beat the Pats? Sure. Will they beat the Pats? Unlikely as even the pickers have New England by about 7 points. Forget that Edelman will not be playing. They still have Brady – they still have Gronkowski and history has shown that the Pats can unleash Blount to establish a running attack. If that happens, then the 40 points New England put up against Buffalo in game 2 of this season might be repeated.

OK, let’s figure out a way Buffalo can emerge victorious. There is one way, and I hope Ryan can put away his ego for this one game. That means he will have to scrap his 3-4 defense; forget about putting Mario Williams and Hughes into pass coverage.

The Bills will have to unleash a furious pass rush since Brady gets the ball off in a couple of seconds. That doesn’t mean continuous sacks. But rush – get the arms up in the air – prevent him with an alley where he can step up and fire away. And, equally important – they will need to hit him often.

Yes, the Bills can win. But they can’t afford to take all those dumb penalties that have put them at the top of the heap as far as being called in historic fashion.

Important game? You betcha. But if Rex has to live up to his reputation of being a truly defensive mind……he has a big opportunity to show it Monday night. The Bills have only one significant player out – Kyle Williams. But they have to have that front four pushing the young offensive linemen of the Pats into the face of Brady. Failure to do that and Buffalo will be asking for help from other teams to make the playoffs.

Offensively, it’s easy. Grind it out. Move the chains. Pound New England with a heavy dose of McCoy and Karlos Williams. Win the time of possession battle while getting one score after another with long drives and time consuming plays. Bring back the 70-75% completion % Taylor had before the last game. That keeps Brady off the field.

So, it will be interesting to see how Rex Ryan maps out the defensive plan and how Roman will “ground” out the yards for first down after first down.

Then on Tuesday – fans will be rejoicing. Of course, they are hopeful they won’t be yelling out :”Same old story” on Don’t Get Me Started.

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