Nothing new here
Brady & Co. still own Buffalo
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — This was supposed to be the start of something new for the Bills. This game was supposed to launch a different chapter in their longstanding run of futility against the Patriots.
But what’s changed? Nothing. The way it looked after 60 minutes of football, it’s the same old Bills.
PATRIOTS BEAT Karen Guregian
Yes, Rex Ryan is now at the helm and bringing more credibility to the sideline, not to mention bluster. And the crowd at Ralph Wilson is obliging with bids for Guinness World Recordsetting noise levels.
But guess what? The Bills still haven’t discovered the one thing the league was apparently dying for them to find yesterday.
They still can’t beat the Patriots. No can do. It’s just not happening. Not on Bill Belichick and Tom Brady’s watch, that’s for sure.
They can brag and boast and talk smack all they want with their fancy new coach. When they get on the field, the Patriots still own them. That was the resounding message sent during yesterday’s 40-32 win. And it was a message the rest of the so-called other improved members of the AFC East can take to the bank as well.
As Devin McCourty said after the game, everyone’s going to be like the Bills. They’re going to come after the Patriots and think they have the riddle solved. Or at least, that’s what the world wants to have happen.
“We feel like every week, I don’t care who we play, I’m probably betting the whole league’s rooting for them to beat us, too, so it was nothing new,” said McCourty. “We knew coming here, it was going to be hostile. This isn’t the first game we came here and it was a crazy environment, fans going crazy, so we knew what to expect. And I thought the older guys and the leaders prepared everyone else to come in here and get a win.”
While everyone wants to take down the Pats, it’s not so easy, even when you boast the most expensive defensive line in football as the Bills do. It’s not so easy, especially when you have no composure and no discipline whatsoever.
The Bills hyped this as their Super Bowl, and then went out and committed 14 penalties, surrendering 140 yards to the defending champs.
And they call themselves legitimate threats to the Pats? Are you kidding?
For those who didn’t watch the game, don’t let the score fool you. The Pats imposed their will for three quarters, holding a 37-13 lead before having a brain freeze in the fourth. But even then, the Bills kept shooting themselves in the foot, and couldn’t stop the inevitable.
This was really a man among boys, particularly on offense, where Tom Brady ultimately picked them apart for 38 completions, 466 yards, and three touchdowns. Ryan’s vaunted defense could not defend Julian Edelman (11 catches, 97 yards), Rob Gronkowski (seven, 113) nor Dion Lewis (six, 98), just to name a few.
No surprise when the Steelers defense couldn’t stop them on opening night. But Ryan’s killer crew? After all their yapping? What happened to all that talk about stopping Gronk?
Same old Bills. Paper tigers. All talk, no substance. Even with Ryan at the helm.
And he knew it. After the game, the Bills coach tried to deflect the loss, taking it off his players and putting it squarely on himself.
“First off, this loss is squarely on one man’s shoulders. It’s on my shoulders,” said Ryan. “You know, yeah, we gotta get better as a team, there’s no question. But I have to get better.
“You know, Belichick outcoached me. No question about it and that’s where the game . . . that’s how it ended up unfortunately. The plan has to be better on defense. Can’t give up 500 yards and beat anybody, and then we turn it over three times . . . we did a (expletive) job and it’s my responsibility.”
His defense is his bread and butter, and it got torched. Brady carved it up worse than he did the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Think the Jets will fare any better? How about the Dolphins’ vaunted defense?
As for Ryan’s offense, well, quarterback Tyrod Taylor looked woefully overmatched much of the game, as he was picked off three times, and sacked eight times. He did throw three touchdown passes, and had a few moments, but he didn’t look like the type of quarterback who would ultimately take down the Patriots.
Let’s just say he has a ways to go.
“We killed ourselves. We have to protect the ball more, or better,” said Taylor. “And penalties, we can’t have as many penalties as a team and on the offensive side.”
They have to stop being the Bills, losers of 23 of the last 25 games to the Pats. They may seem better on paper, and they may talk a good game.
But the champs still have their number.