Halting Gronk not solo effort
Ryan’s Bills defense to focus on containing Patriots tight end
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. Sorry, Rex Ryan.
There are no fictional movie monsters on your roster, so strength in numbers will have to do.
As the head coach of the Buffalo Bills prepares for Sunday’s showdown against the New England Patriots, Ryan will have one daunting question to answer: How do you stop all-pro tight end Rob Gronkowski?
“We’re not going to ask just one guy, ‘ Hey, this is your guy,’ ” Ryan said Wednesday at the team’s facility. “I mean, shoot, he’d have to look like King Kong or something. Like, ‘ Go, you got him. They’ve got the Gronk, but we’re putting Kong on him.’
“There will probably be some snaps where three guys are on him.”
When the Bills (1-0) host the Patriots (1-0) on Sunday afternoon at Ralph Wilson Stadium, how Buffalo defends Gronkowski, 6-6 and 265 pounds, could be the difference between Ryan’s squad staying undefeated or going down in an early hole in the AFC East. It’s truly one of the most challenging tasks in the NFL.
If the Bills can at least contain Gronkowski, the defending Super Bowl champs can be defeated. He is their most dominant option,
and limiting his success, especially in the red zone, would give Buffalo its best chance to win.
“You’ve got to put your hands on him,” linebacker Nigel Bradham told USA TODAY Sports. “You’ve got to disrupt their timing. If you just go out there and let them guys throw all day, that’s what they’ll do. They’ll treat it as a seven-on-seven. You’ve got to jam him or press the pocket. You’ve got to do anything you can. You’ve got to alter your defense to this type of player, especially when he has a quarterback like Tom Brady.”
Safety Aaron Williams added: “There’s really no secret. You just have to find his weak points and do whatever you can to attack them.”
It’s safe to assume the Bills will be more aggressive in defending Gronkowski than the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1. Pittsburgh left him uncovered during several plays in a five-catch, 94-yard, three-touchdown performance.
“It’s better to put one guy on him than nobody on him,” Ryan said. “We’ll try to have somebody on him at least.”
But Ryan cautioned against being too physical, mainly because of Gronkowski’s speed.
“Here’s a common theme that you’ll see,” said Ryan, who coached the New York Jets from 2009 to 2014. “Most secondary coaches I’ve ever been around, they’ll say (the week before the game), ‘Hey, let’s get on him. We’ll press these guys. We’ll do this and that.’ Then, as the week goes on: ‘Ah, let’s back them off a little bit.’ Then all you hear on game day (on the sideline) is, ‘ Get your ass back!’ ”
In nine career games against Ryan’s defenses, Gronkowski has recorded 43 receptions, 526 yards and five touchdowns.
Those are pretty modest numbers by Gronkowski’s standards. But if you eliminate the sixthyear pro’s rookie regular season — in which he caught two passes for 26 yards against the Jets — his average against Ryan’s squads increases to a more Gronk-like 5.6 catches, 71.4 yards and 0.71 touchdowns a game.
Ryan said Monday that he would stand by his record against Gronkowski.
But the Bills are counting on an unlikely source to help them along the way.
The impossible task of imitating Gronkowski on the scout team falls to rookie practice squad tight end Nick O’Leary, who is 3 inches shorter and 13 pounds lighter than Gronkowski.
“Nick did a good job,” safety Corey Graham said. “He used his body really well. Pushed off every now and then. He looked like Gronk to me.”
That’s definitely hyperbole. But O’Leary, who told USA TODAY Sports he couldn’t repeat what Gronkowski did, is just one of many crucial pieces the Bills need to work on to have success against Gronkowski on Sunday.
But perhaps more important than any scheme Buffalo can draw up, more than any exotic look Ryan will throw at the Patriots, the Bills might need to focus most of their attention internally.
“We really have to worry about what we do,” defensive tackle Kyle Willams said. “We can’t worry about their shifts, their motions, their checks at the line. We have to be really good about what we’re doing from front to back on our defense.
“After that, if we can get in the right positions, know what we’re doing, play fast and play physical, I like our matchup.”