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On Sunday night, the New England Patriots destroyed the Buffalo Bills in front of a national TV audience.Tom Brady completed 31 of 39 passes for five TDs in a 56-10 win...

Patriots-Bills: The Bad News for New England

by Chris Radez (Senior Writer)

18

2,654 reads

Sports

November 18, 2007


http://cachemediasrv.patriots.com/ImgDyn.cfm?s=Pats-Cowboys-023.jpg&c=1&w=525&cs=1On Sunday night, the New England Patriots destroyed the Buffalo Bills in front of a national TV audience.

Tom Brady completed 31 of 39 passes for five TDs in a 56-10 win. Randy Moss was on the receiving end of four of those scores, and totaled 10 catches on the night.
 
Still—the news wasn't all good for the Pats.
 
New England running back Laurence Maroney managed just 19 yards on the ground. Granted, he was only handed the ball six times—but what does that say?
 
Is Maroney still injured? Is Bill Belichick so displeased with Maroney's play that he's just plain not giving him the rock?
 
Heath Evans and Kyle Eckel each carried the ball 10 times, and both had better yards-per-carry averages than Maroney.

For all Moss' highlights, meanwhile, he did have one glaring drop—on a ball that hit him in the numbers with no defenders nearby. Donte Stallworth had a similar flub.
 
Those kinds of concentration lapses can't happen. If anything's going to derail the Pats come playoff time, it'll be the failure to do the little things right.
 
Speaking of the little things, there were a number of plays on which New England linebackers had trouble wrapping up open-field tackles. If the front seven can't secure the ball carrier more consistently, the Pats will be in trouble in January.
 
The poor tackling form was on display against the Colts too. Apparently Belichick and Co. didn't find a solution during the bye week.

Other than that...the Pats played okay. You can't argue with 56-10.
 
Tell me why my writing stinks in the comments section below, or in the Patriots Forum at TheScoreBoards Sports Forums.
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18 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    Your writing is just fine... your thoughts stink!

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  2. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    Your writing is just fine... your thoughts stink!

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  3. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    Place your orders now to have Patriots humble pie delivered Thanksgiving day. Yum, Yum!

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  4. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    Tell me why my writing stinks in the comments section below....

    Becasue you suck as a writer?

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  5. Joshua Shive about 1 year ago

    I don't think it really matters that much, shit i don't even think they even need a running game.

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  6. david ditty about 1 year ago

    are you serious? they played their weakest game of the year BY FAR against indy and still won. missed tackles (as you said) and penalties up the you know what....no biggie, brady leads them back from 10 down w/under 10 left to taking a knee with 2 left. the pats, by the way, rushed for 127 yards in this one vs buffalo. but why run when you can fly?

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  7. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    ...you missed the other (more likely) explanation for why Maroney didn't come in during the second half:

    At the outset of the season, the Pats' running game rested mainly on the shoulders of 3 players: Maroney (1), Morris(2), and Faulk(3). Injuries now have Maroney as the "last man standing" of that group and he's still potentially "coming back" from those weeks lost to the groin injury.

    When the weather turns colder and nastier as it no doubt will in Foxboro over the next 10 weeks, the Pats are going to NEED their "A" runner fit and hale. So then why would they play their last remaining "A Squad" RB, in a game where they're already devastating the opponent with the air-game and your 4th and 5th seeded runners are doing well enough to get the job done?

    The running game is necessary to keep opposing defenses challenged and to free up the "over the top" (and even the short-option) passing game. As such, as the sole remaining top-tier runner on the Patriots' squad, Maroney's going to be very important in the post-Christmas games. There's no need to tempt fate or anything else now, especially in the 2nd half against Buffalo when you're already up by 35 points and the weather's still plenty good enough to let the air-attack reign.

    -Brett

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    • Chris Radez about 1 year ago

      Good points. I must say though, that I'm not happy with the way Maroney has been hitting holes. I do think he's comensating for the injury still, and I wonder if he'll ever really get over that.

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    • Zander Freund about 1 year ago

      Frankly I'm not sure anyone can stop the Patriots offense, regardless of whether they establish the running game or not. I mean, who are we kidding it really didn't make a shit of a difference last night that Buffalo's D knew that Brady was dropping back time and time again. The Pats' o-line is way too good and there's very little a defense can do to put pressure on the quarterback, let alone try to cover the triple threat of Moss, Welker, and Stallworth.

      In a sense, a running game is generally a good way of preventing the defense from keying in on the pass. But when Buffalo tried to put pressure on Brady and triple covered Moss, the duo still hooked up for four TDs.

      Hence it may not matter in the end whether the Pats can get the ground game going come playoff time (don't quote me on that though).

      That said, while Maroney definitely played below his ability against Buffalo, Kyle Eckel looked quite impresive. I think a more traditional north/south back is a good fit for this offense, as the last thing you want running behind an O-line that creates holes the size of Neptune is a back who tries to create on his own and doesn't take the conservative route through the tackles. Not to say that Maroney can't do that, but it's an absolute certainty that Kyle Eckel ain't going to try and do his best Barry Sanders imitation.

      I mean, why does this team need a real "weapon" in the backfield anyway? Brady and the receiving core are enough of a weapon on their own for any team and then some. If you ask me, what the Pats need more is a bruiser like Eckel to pound out the tough three yards...

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  8. Wade Peery about 1 year ago

    The Patriots will have a perfect season and your writing is completely fine, but I'm not a big fan of your opinions on this New England Team. I mean Randy Moss had an unreal performance and you're going to talk about the one drop he had. The linebackers not wrapping up in the open-field? Lol... doesn't really matter when the final score is 56-10, that's a near-perfect game my friend. Patriots organization was likely more than pleased with that methodical beating of Buffalo.

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  9. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    Being a Patriot hater must be a terrible life. They were perfect as you can be last night. & Randy Moss is the best since Jerry Rice, hands down.

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  10. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    Nice tongue-in-cheek piece. Pats clearly need to resolve the glaring dropped passes and missed tackles issues, otherwise they likely will need to punt at some point later in the season, and may give up some points on defense. Absolutely unacceptable lack of playmaking...

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  11. Derek Kramer about 1 year ago

    Wow... As a Bills fan, I'll say this is not needed. I think that other than Losman's miracle play, there's no need to say anything went wrong... End of story...

    I just hope SOMEONE beats these pricks...

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  12. Derek Kramer about 1 year ago

    That said, JP did fine...

    ...for playing the Pats. Best of luck to the unbeaten year though (as hard as it is to say)

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  13. Anonymous about 1 year ago

    What you say is true. Very true. But consider this: they have all of these problems, but they are still putting up at least 40 points a game. As long as their defense can hold the opponents to less than 40 points, they are just gonna keep winning. And, I think their defense is good enough to accomplish that, no matter how high-powered an offense they are playing. The only ones I believe who have a chance are Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and possibly Jacksonville. This may be one of the greatest teams ever.

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  14. Ernie Lamoree about 1 year ago

    The Bills can beat the Pats and will .

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