PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Pats Posits: Systematic Destruction of the Bills

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Bill Belichick Pirate Halloween GIF

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The Patriots capped off the first half of their 2016 season with a convincing 41-25 win over the Bills that puts them three games ahead in the division as we sit at Halloween.

Considering Tom Brady‘s suspension, and Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett‘s injuries, it would be hard to ask for better than 7-1, with a commanding lead in the division.

The offense is shaping into the most balanced attack we’ve seen yet. Against Rex Ryan’s defense it was on full display.

The defense had their “bend-don’t-break” moments, but overall it was a fine showing considering the Bills offense was on life support as injuries mounted. But the Pats D has made strides every week on third down and in the red zone, and by the time January comes around they should be peaking.

Now, the bye week, and a chance to take stock of who the 2016 Pats are.

More on that and the systematic destruction of Rex and the Bill in the Posits.

tom brady bomb gif

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Best/Worst in Weekly Patriots Links-10/29

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After blowing a great opportunity to take care of business in Miami and firmly entrench themselves in the AFC Wildcard conversation, Rex and company have been awfully quiet this week. No pranks, no bold proclamations, no guarantees, no nothing. That is, at least up until the point that I’m writing this. Unfortunately, there are no low hanging fruit courtesy of Buffalo’s head coach for me to address this week. That being said, there’s plenty to fire up so let’s get right into it.

Chris Price (WEEI) gets us kicked off with two columns. One, as always, is his “5 Things to Know” which gives us a spark note look at the Bills and an excellent breakdown of their strengths and weaknesses. Price points out how impressive Buffalo’s running game has been, but notes they may be without the catalyst for that success on Sunday:

“The key to everything? McCoy, who is as dynamic a back as you’ll find. His health will certainly bear watching over the course of the week. There was plenty of debate surrounding the wisdom of having him try to play against the Dolphins. If Rex Ryan blew him out against Miami and isn’t available for this week’s showdown with the Patriots, the folks in upstate New York won’t be happy.”

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New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 8 at Buffalo Bills

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It’s been just four short weeks since the Patriots were shut out at home for the first time since the early 90’s by the Buffalo Bills. The game got off to annoying start when the Bills secondary took issue with Jacoby Brissett and Malcolm Mitchell running by their pregame drills and started a pushing contest with Mitchell as Brissett ignored them and continued toward the locker room. Some Patriots coaches got involved and all of it resulted in fines for three Bills’ players.

This wasn’t the Patriots trying to start shit. This was the Bills trying to get in the head of a rookie quarterback then acting like they were just defending their precious warm-up drill, as if two rookies just decided to cut straight through the Bills secondary to send a message.

The Patriots played coy about the pregame incident but Danny Amendola did comment afterwards, “It pissed me off to tell you the truth,” Amendola said. “I’m not going to forget about that. … I just heard they got into it and to be ready to go. I’m always ready to play this team.”

Well, here we go.

The Patriots’ performance in Week 4 was gross. The offense was, well, led by one-thumbed rookie Jacoby Brissett, and alleged provocateur, while Gronk was in his second game working back from a hamstring injury  They also fumbled five times, even though they only lost one.

So we can throw most of that offensive performance out. However, the defense was flat and gave up 378 yards. It was one of those games where almost nothing they did worked and they were on their heels most of the game. They did give up just one touchdown in the first quarter and then three field goals, none in the fourth quarter.

Brady could win with that performance from his defense and they were pretty much terrible. So it has to be better this time, right?

Also uncharacteristic was that the Pats lost both the turnover (-1) and penalty battles (9-74 to 6-60).

Now the stage is set for a meaningful game in an awesome road football environment, with some bad blood already brewing. These are the regular season games you live for.

What the Patriots have to do to redeem themselves and put a stranglehold on the AFC East in the gameplan.

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Dion Lewis Back at Practice for Patriots

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Oh happy day, Dion Lewis is off the PUP list and back at practice for the Patriots. The team now has 21 days to activate him onto the roster.

The former journeyman running back burst onto the scene last season, looking like Barry Sanders 2.0 in seven games with the Patriots before tearing his ACL. The Pats placed him on the PUP list after a setback this summer delayed his return to action.

In those seven games, Lewis put up 49 rushes for 234 yards with two touchdowns and 36 catches for 388 yards and two touchdowns. As those number show, he was a true dynamic threat, and was breaking tackles at a record pace. The thought of what he could bring to the Patriots offense if he can return to that form is frightening (for opponents) and tantalizing (for Pats fans).

Dion Lewis

Dion Lewis

The Pats have been fine with James White and LeGarrette Blount. In fact, has the top running back receiving grade from PFF, while Blount has already exceeded his career-high in touchdowns and needs just nine more catches for his career high. But both are somewhat one-dimensional, especially White, who’s rushing numbers are far below his receiving ones.

So Lewis could bring the best of both worlds, and his ability in space and to make people miss is unique and will bring another dynamic playmaker to an offense that is already loaded with them. But again, Lewis was a nobody before those seven games last season, so there is just a bit of uncertainty that he’s going to automatically get back to the same level of awesomeness, especially coming off an injury that usually takes two years before the player is fully comfortable.

With White and Blount the Pats can bring Lewis along slowly, as they’ve already been doing. But as they slowly bring him into the mix with the goal of seeing some of that 2015 form in January, the offense could see a level of unstoppability not seen since the early months of 2007.

Malcolm Butler is Playing at a Pro-Bowl Level… Again

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Patriots Cornerbacks

Darrelle Revis’ departure from the Patriots after their 2014 Super Bowl victory, at least for a moment, appeared to leave a gaping hole in the New England secondary. Thankfully,  Malcolm Butler quickly asserted himself as the team’s top corner during the 2015 training camp. Butler never looked back and was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2015, an accomplishment he’s on pace to duplicate with his stellar start to 2016.

While he’s not the biggest guy, Butler is more than capable in run support, but it’s his elite ball skills and speed that put him in the upper echelon of NFL corners. This season Malcolm Butler has eleven passes defensed and one interception, putting him on pace to exceed his 2015 total of 15 and two, respectively.

Below is a week-by-week look back at Butler’s performance thus far in 2016. H/T to Doug Kyed from NESN for the passing stats from his weekly takeaways column.

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Belichick on Patrick Chung’s Second Stint With Patriots

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When I first started this blog back in 2010, Patrick Chung was one of my favorite players. He came to New England right at the start of the defensive rebuild and for a fan base longing for another Rodney Harrison-esque enforced in the secondary, Patchung! (as I called him then) fit the mold.

Today Bill Belichick touched a bit on what has made Chung’s second stint with the Patriots so much better for the team and the player and I thought his answers were telling.

“He’s great at that; finding the ball, getting through traffic, fitting in the running game, covering in traffic. He knows all of those kinds of things. He’s really good at that,” Belichick said of Chung’s abilities near the line of scrimmage. “When we had him before he left and then he came back and you know we just weren’t able to put him into some of the positions that he should’ve been put in. We had other things to deal with. We were trying to deal with other things on the defense and we’ve been able to I would say play him in a much better way in the last three years than we did when he was here the first time. I think our utilization of him has been better. He’s been pretty much the same player but I think we’ve been able to utilize him better the last three years and he’s done a great job embracing the different responsibilities that we’ve given him, which he has a lot of different things to do on the defense within the game or from game to game.”

One of the biggest problems with Chung was that he couldn’t stay healthy. He missed 14 games from 2010-2012, when he was hitting his prime and the Patriots desperately needed help in their secondary.

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Week 8 Scouting Report: Buffalo Bills

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What a busy Tuesday in Pats Nation (or Bill’s Mafia as Doug Kyed penned) yesterday was. The Patriots dealt away TE AJ Derby, my training camp binky, to the Broncos for a 5th round pick in 2017, and traded for Lions LB Kyle Van Noy and a 7th rounder in exchange for a 6th rounder. We won’t get into draft/trade talk here, but just keep in mind BB might not be done wheeling and dealing just yet.

The Bills have slowly turned into a worthy adversary, being the only real contender in the AFC East. Sexy Rexy is notorious for throwing his best at Tom Brady and the Buffalo offense has come to life under an inspired running game. This will be a great challenge for Brady and Co.

Here is everything you need to know about The Buffalo Bills aka, “The Only Team to stop Jacoby Brissett”

Week 8 at Buffalo Bills

Sunday October 30

1 pm EST, CBS

Low 50’s 80% chance of rain, 16 mph winds

Opponent/Patriots Stats
Bills: 4-3

Notable Games: In Week 2 Rex Ryan fired then OC Greg Roman and since their Week 4 shut out win against NE, the Bills have turned it around and proved their worth.

Common Opponents: Arizona Cardinals (Both teams won), Miami Dolphins (Pats won, Bills lost).

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