Rematch whole new game
One month later, New England brings Brady to Buffalo.
Doping: Nine more athletes, including six medal winners, were retroactively disqualified from the 2008 Beijing Olympics after fail- ing retests of their doping samples. Four competitors were stripped of silver medals and two of bronze med- als in weightlifting, wrestling and women’s steeplechase. All six medal winners come from former Soviet countries — Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan — and tested positive for steroids.
The IOC stores samples for 10 years to allow them to be reanalyzed when enhanced techniques become available. The IOC recorded a total of 98 positive cases in recent testing of samples from Beijing and the 2012 London Olympics.
■ Organizers of the Boston Marathon are stripping Kenyan runner Rita Jeptoo of her 2014 victory as part of the athlete’s newly extended doping ban. The Boston Athletic Association announced it will seek to reclaim the 35-year-old Jeptoo’s winnings and is starting the process of adjusting race results.
Jeptoo tested positive for a banned hormone in 2014. Her ban now extends to Octo- ber 2018.
Rex Ryan readilyconcedes he had a much easier time drawing up a defensive game plan the last time the Buffalo Bills prepared to face the New England Patriots.
It goes without question, the biggest factor working in the Bills coach’s favor was he didn’t have Tom Brady to worry about four weeks ago.
“It was a great time to play them,” Ryan said Wednesday, reflecting back on Buffa- lo’s 16-0 win against a Jacoby Brissett-led New England offense Oct. 2.
“They have a new player back there for some reason,” he added, with a distinct roll of his eyes in referring Brady. “He looks decent.”
Once the laughter subsided, Ryan went on to praise Brady by calling him the best quarterback he’s faced.
The Bills (4-3) have their hands full Sunday, when the Patriots (6-1) come to town with Brady back at his famil- iar spot under center since serving a four-game “Deflate- gate” suspension.
In reeling off three consecutive wins, Brady has completed 75 percent of his passes for 1,004 yards with eight touchdowns and no interceptions. New England has combined for 85 points, 1,300 yards and 70 first downs.
That’s a significant turn- around from an offense that managed just 277 yards, 13 first downs and was shut out at home for the first time since 1993 against Buffalo.
Brady has been so productive Bills defensive tackle Kyle Williams wondered how much of an advantage the quarterback might have actually gotten for using under-in- flated footballs.
“Maybe it didn’t make a bit of difference,” Williams said.
The AFC East-rival Bills know Brady all too well. Since taking over the starter’s job from Drew Bledsoe in 2001, Brady has a 25-3 record against Buffalo. One more win and Brady matches the NFL record for most wins by a quarterback against one opponent: Brett Favre had 26 over Detroit.
Ryan credited Brady for how well he can identify mismatches from the line of scrimmage based on how the defense is aligned.
“You don’t want to pres- ent the same picture because once he’s seen it, he’s got great recall and he’s got the skill to beat you,” Ryan said. “So hopefully, you can paint a different picture for him.”
Another concern is how the Patriots keep defense’s off-balance with a sturdy running game led by LeGar- rette Blount. It doesn’t help that the injury-depleted Bills had a four-game winning streak snapped in a 28-25 loss at Miami during which Ryan’s defense surrendered 256 yards rushing.
“What running back wouldn’t be happy seeing the team he’s about to play just gave up 200 yards,” linebacker Preston Brown said.
The key remains keeping Brady in check.
“It’s the same team, but you know when you have Tom Brady it’s a new team,” Brown said. “It’s definitely going to be a totally differ- ent challenge with the pass.”