Scouting the Buffalo Bills
Rex Ryan’s rivalry with Bill Belichick lives on in different colors.
Ryan, now the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, got his team off to a great start with a 27-14 beatdown of the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1. Now, the Patriots must travel to Ralph Wilson Stadium to take on an aggressive Bills defense that looks the same as last year in its personnel but much different in its scheme.
The Bills offense, meanwhile, is much the same as any New York Jets offense was under Ryan. They will rely on an efficient and constant ground-and-pound rushing attack to complement a young quarterback who is capable of making big plays with his arm and legs.
The AFC East could get very interesting this year, and it all starts with this Week 2 showdown between familiar foes.
Record: 1-0
How they got here: The Bills showed a lot of bravado headed into their matchup with Andrew Luck — though that should come as no surprise, given their head coach. Safety Aaron Williams proclaimed that Luck is “just another NFL quarterback,’’ and the Bills made him look like one. Luck completed just 26 of his 49 passes for 243 yards (5 YPA), two touchdowns, two picks and a 63.6 passer rating. Meanwhile, the Bills ran the ball down the Colts’ throats (sound familiar) for 147 yards and two touchdowns on 36 attempts.
Key cog, offense — LeSean McCoy, RB: Three different running backs had an opportunity to carry the ball for the Bills on Sunday, but none had as many opportunities as LeSean McCoy. The former Philadelphia Eagles back and 2013’s leading rusher finished with 17 carries for 41 yards and three receptions for 46 yards, highlighting the dual-threat nature of his style of play. McCoy is always at his most effective in the open field, where his quickness allows him to elude linebackers and safeties and where he has enough toughness to stiff-arm cornerbacks that get close to him.
Key cog, defense — Kyle Williams, DT: The 6-foot-1, 303-pound monster in the middle is one of the Bills’ best defensive linemen and hardest to block. He lines up all over the place: defensive end or nose tackle in a 3-4 front, defensive tackle in a 4-3, over the center or guard when he needs to control his man or shaded into a gap to help him get into the backfield. He was wreaking havoc against the Colts, namely center Khaled Holmes, and he did it all without the help of his running mate Marcell Dareus. Williams will be a major test for the Patriots’ young interior offensive linemen.
X-factor — Percy Harvin, WR: The Bills were in a deadlock with the Colts until Percy Harvin turned on the burners for a 51-yard touchdown catch. That’s his skill set: speed and quickness. Defenses have to respect his ability to change a game with one play, so the Patriots will probably give him a lot of cushion at the line of scrimmage. The Patriots haven’t seen a lot of Harvin over the years, but when they have, he’s made his presence felt. Harvin caught four passes for 44 yards against the Patriots last year with the Jets, and six passes for 104 yards with the Minnesota Vikings in 2010.
Stats and notes:
Andrew Luck dropped back to pass 53 times against the Bills. Rex Ryan sent a blitz after the Colts quarterback on 27 different occasions, more than 50 percent of the time according to Pro Football Focus. Eighteen defensive players participated, and 13 of them had at least one opportunity to rush the passer.
Containment will be a huge coaching point for the Patriots this week. Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor rushed nine times for 41 yards, with three of those rushes on plays where he had initially dropped back to throw. Linebacker Jamie Collins might spend some time as a spy, mirroring Taylor’s movements in the backfield to prevent him from scrambling into the secondary.
Ryan has kept his quarterbacks on a leash in the past, preferring the game-manager style of play to the game-breaking style. Taylor’s 51-yard bomb to Harvin might be an indication that Ryan will let his quarterback play loose and will fit the game plan to his quarterback’s style of play. Bills offensive coordinator Greg Roman was the man who helped groom San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in his early years, so expect to see a similar style of play from Taylor to what Kaepernick has done over the years.
The Bills defense starts off fast. In the past 17 games spanning back to Week 1 of 2014, the Bills have allowed just four first-quarter touchdowns and seven first-quarter field goals. That’s an average of 2.9 points per game in the first quarter. They did not allow a single point to be scored against them by the Colts in Week 1. On the flip side, the Patriots have scored eight first-quarter touchdowns and five first-quarter field goals in the same span of time. That’s an average of 4.2 points per game in the first quarter.
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