Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Brady-led Pats seek to avenge loss to Bills
New England QB has owned Ryan’s teams
Rex Ryan likes nothing better than beating the Patriots.
His Buffalo Bills managed that in a 16-0 shutout in Week 4, with a very big absence on the New England side. Yeah, that guy: Tom Brady.
On Sunday (10 a.m., KLAS-8), the star quarterback brings his 6-1 team to Buffalo. Brady has owned the Bills throughout his career, and pretty much owned Ryan, too.
Brady is 25-3 against the Bills. Those 25 victories are one short of matching the NFL record for most wins by a quarterback against one opponent: Brett Favre had 26 against Detroit.
“Well I think the last time was a great time to play them,” said Ryan, who is 3-11 in the regular season but 1-0 in the playoffs vs. Brady in his stints with the Jets and Bills (4-3 this season). “They’ve got a new player back there for some reason. He looks decent.
“I shouldn’t make waves by saying he doesn’t look the same to me.”
Asked if a quarterback approaching 40 has ever looked so good, Ryan responded: “I think you can cut it off and say, ‘Have you ever seen a quarterback that good?’”
Brady has torn up Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh in his three starts.
Now that he is done with the AFC North for a while, he goes after the only team to smudge New England’s record so far. To Brady, Buffalo is a challenge despite his dominance of the Bills.
“Yeah, I think the players do a good job disguising their looks and giving you some different looks,” he said of Buffalo’s defense. “He has always had good defenses when he’s played us. He’s had very good players. They have a good scheme, and that’s what makes it challenging. Last time we played them, we didn’t score points. We didn’t play particularly well. They played really well.”
WASHINGTON (4-2) VS. CINCINNATI (3-4) AT LONDON 6:30 A.M., KVVU-5
Neither team has played a real game in London, though Washington lost to Buffalo in Toronto in 2011. Of note here is Jay Gruden was an offensive coordinator with Cincinnati, and so was Cleveland coach Hue Jackson. The Bengals beat the Browns last week.
Two productive quarterbacks go at it in Washington’s Kurt Cousins and Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton. Cousins has the offense enough in tune that it has all of six three-and-out series this season. Dalton has the superb A.J. Green as a target; Green leads the NFL with 50 catches and is second to Julio Jones with 775 yards receiving.
SEATTLE (4-1-1) AT NEW ORLEANS (2-4) 10 A.M., KVVU-5
The Seahawks are in a similar bind to Arizona after that endless deadlock last Sunday night. Certainly the focal point will be Jimmy Graham’s return to the Superdome. The star tight end has become a bigger part of Seattle’s offense now that he is healthy.
Seattle’s Legion of Boom, which shut down Arizona’s strong group of receivers, will be further tested by Drew Brees and his targets. Although the Saints are struggling, Brees once more has been terrific: Brees passed for 367 yards and three TDs last week and became the only player in NFL history with 100 career 300-plus-yard games passing. He is averaging 403.4 yards passing in the past five home games, with 17 TDs against two interceptions.
GREEN BAY (4-2) AT ATLANTA (4-3) 1 P.M., KVVU-5
The Packers go for five straight wins over the Falcons, and to do so they must slow down Julio Jones. Atlanta’s dynamic offense could be hamstrung a bit because of running back Tevin Coleman’s, uh, hamstring injury.
And the Packers have the NFL’s stingiest run defense.
But Jones has 40 receptions for 830 yards, more than twice as many catches as anyone else on Atlanta.
The Pack is struggling to run, with injuries to Eddie Lacy and James Starks, but the team found a weapon out of the backfield in versatile Ty Montgomery in a win over the Bears.
PHILADELPHIA (4-2) AT DALLAS (5-1) 5:20 P.M., KSNV-3
A prime-timer that seems worthy of the spotlight between two surprise contenders.
The Eagles have won three in a row at the Cowboys, and they could really scramble the NFC East race with another victory.
Their defense has come on and will test Dallas’ rookie standouts, quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Prescott and Philadelphia’s No. 2 overall draft pick, Carson Wentz, have looked like anything but newcomers. Wentz leads NFL rookies with eight passing TDs, while Prescott has a passer rating of at least 100 in five straight games, all wins.
Elliott, coming off a career-high 157 yards rushing against Green Bay, is the first rookie with four straight games of at least 130 yards.