It’s not about limiting Welker’s catches
Likely forgotten by Bills fans in the first meeting between the Buffalo and New England, because the Bills finally won, was the fact that Wes Welker was virtually unstoppable with 16 catches for over 200 yards and a touchdown. But as Chan Gailey sees it the second time around, it’s not going to be about limiting Welker’s receptions.
“You’d like to say just cover him tighter, but you do that and it opens up something else,” Gailey told Buffalobills.com. “What you want to do is limit his number of yards. I’m not as worried about the number of catches as I am the yards. If you can tackle him when he catches it in that four-yard range then we’re okay. It’s the yards after the catch that really burn you with Wes Welker.”
Welker leads the league in yards after the catch this season with 665 after 15 games.
Hernandez missed 1st meeting
Tags: Aaron Hernandez, Bills-Patriots, Chan Gailey
One thing to remember for Sunday’s Bills-Pats season finale is that New England’s high-powered offense didn’t have a key member healthy for the first meeting in Buffalo back in Week 3.
The Patriots were without Aaron Hernandez in that game, who was out with an injury. It was one less passing weapon for the Bills to worry about. Since he’s been back in New England’s lineup Chan Gailey has seen a noticeable difference.
“When he came back they started hitting full stride,” Gailey told Buffalobills.com. “He is a big part of what they do. They’ve got the three-headed monster so to speak right now, but those other guys will make plays if you don’t watch out for them too.”
Gailey is referring to Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski as the other two-thirds of his three-headed monster.
Bills, Pats best at ball security
Though the Bills aren’t among the best in terms of avoiding the interception, they along with the Patriots are at the top of the league when it comes to recovering their own fumbles this season.
Buffalo and New England are tied for the league lead in fewest fumbles lost. Both clubs have lost just 5 through the first 15 games. A handful of other clubs have also lost just five fumbles this season. New Orleans, Green Bay, Carolina, San Francisco and Detroit all are tied for the top spot with Buffalo and New England for fewest fumbles lost.
San Fran and Carolina are perhaps the most impressive in this category because they have the most carries with 461 and 421 carries respectively.
The most impressive part about New England’s fumble totals is just two of their fumbles have been by rushers and neither of them were lost. In contrast 11 of Buffalo’s 15 fumbles this season were by Bills rushers and four of those were lost.
So the ball figures to not be on the turf all that much in Sunday’s season finale, and if it is seeing it recovered by the opposing defense would be a rarity.
Pats add FB Polite
Tags: Bills-Patriots
The New England Patriots added a familiar AFC East fullback to their roster Tuesday.
The Patriots signed veteran FB Lousaka Polite. Polite, 30, is a veteran of seven NFL seasons with Dallas (2004-06), Chicago (2007) and Miami (2008-10). He went to training camp with the Dolphins this past summer but was released on Sept. 3.
Polite, 6-0, 245 pounds, originally joined the NFL as a rookie free agent with Dallas out of Pittsburgh in 2004. He has played in 75 NFL games with 27 starts and has 95 rushing attempts for 296 yards with one touchdown and 41 receptions for 233 yards and one touchdown.
Last chance to re-live it
Tags: Bills-Patriots
The Bills players have moved on to preparing for Cincinnati, but here’s one last chance for you to re-live the end of New England’s 15-game winning streak against the Bills in Buffalo’s 34-31 win.
Bills again on NFL Replay
For the second straight week, Buffalo’s latest dramatic comeback to wipe out New England’s 15-game winning streak will be re-broadcast on the NFL Network.
The re-airing of the game will take place on Tuesday at 8 pm on NFL Network. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 369 yards and two touchdowns while Buffalo’s defense intercepted Patriots quarterback Tom Brady four times as the team overcame an early 21-0 deficit, with Rian Lindell putting the 28-yard game winner through as time expired in the 34-31 landmark win.
Bills get respect from Pats
Tags: Bills-Patriots
The Patriots certainly weren’t happy about their first loss at the hands of the Bills in 16 games, but they did give Buffalo their due after the 34-31 defeat.
“They did a good job,” said a stoic Bill Belichick. ”They’ve been doing a good job. Chan’s done a great job with the team, and they’re playing well.”
“They’re a good defense,” said Rob Gronkowski. ”The Bills have good players, they play hard and they go 100% every play. They’re a tough defense. They just have a good team overall, offense and defense, and they were just the better team (Sunday).”
“The Bills came out there and played hard and kept fighting and they were definitely a tougher team than us,” said Wes Welker. “They did a great job of making plays and their defense did a good job. You’ve got to give them all the credit in the world.”
“(Buffalo) made a lot of plays and they’ve got a good team,” said Tom Brady. “They’re a good coverage team. They made some good plays in the pass game. They took advantage of some opportunities that they got. George Wilson made a hell of a play on that one interception. It’s the way the ball bounces. That’s football.”
1st game vs. Pats always closer
During Buffalo’s 15-game losing streak to the Patriots, the first matchup with New England has always been closer than the second meeting. Here’s a look at just how close.
To give a look at the series recent history that could be applied to today’s game, in the last three seasons, Buffalo has lost to New England in the first meeting by an average of 6.3 points per game. In contrast the Patriots have won by an average of 17 points per game in the second meeting with the Bills the last three years.
In addition, those first meetings between the Bills and Patriots the past three seasons were all played at Gillette Stadium in New England. Not since 2004 has the first meeting between the two teams been played in Buffalo. Could home field advantage reduce that 6.3 point edge by the Patriots even more???
Pats swap young LBs
Tags: Bills-Patriots
The Patriots swap reserve linebackers between their practice squad and active roster Saturday signing S Ross Ventrone from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. New England subsequently announced the signing of LB A.J. Edds to the practice squad.
Ventrone, 5-8, 190 pounds, was originally signed by the Patriots as a rookie free agent out of Villanova last year. He was waived by the Patriots during final cuts and was then signed to the practice squad in mid-October last season. Ventrone went to camp with the Patriots this past summer before being released on August 10 and then re-signed on August 29. He was signed to the practice squad on Sept. 5.
Edds, 6-4, 246 pounds, was claimed off waivers and awarded to the Patriots from Miami on Sept. 7, and saw action in the first two games of the season for New England before being released on Sept. 22, 2011. He was originally drafted by Miami in the fourth round (199th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft.
30 is the magic number
Tags: 2011 regular season, Bill Belichick, Bills-Patriots
There are a lot of statistics that will be spewed on Sunday morning on all the pre-game radio shows leading up to the 1 pm kickoff between the Bills and Patriots, and I’ll be one of the many doing that spewing. But if there’s one magic figure for the Bills defense it’s 30.
That’s the point threshold the Patriots have hit in each of their last 10 games stretching back to last season with their 39-26 victory at Pittsburgh last Nov. 14th. Here’s the rundown of points per game in those 10 contests for New England.
11/14/10 – W – @ Pittsburgh 39-26
11/21/10 – W – vs. Indy 31-28
11/28/10 – W – @ Detroit 45-24
12/6/10 – W – vs. NY Jets 45-3
12/12/10 – W – @ Chicago 36-7
12/19/10 – W – vs. Green Bay 31-27
12/26/10 – W – @ Buffalo 34-3
1/2/11 – W - @ Miami 38-7
9/12/11- W - @ Miami 38-24
9/18/11 – W – vs. San Diego 35-21
This current 10-game streak of scoring 30 points or more is second only to the Rams ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ team that from 1999-2000 scored 30 points or more in 14 straight games.
As you might have noticed New England won each and every one of the 30-point games on this 10-game streak. Under head coach Bill Belichick the Patriots are 63-2 when they score 30 points or more. So holding them to less than 30 points is a must if you even want a shot at victory.
Bills-Pats officially a sell out
Tags: Bills-Patriots
The Buffalo Bills vs. New England Patriots game, sponsored by City Mattress, this Sunday, September 25, 2011 at Ralph Wilson Stadium, is sold out and will be televised locally.
A limited number of premium seats remain available for the game. Fans may purchase tickets by going online at buffalobills.com or ticketmaster.com, by visiting the Ralph Wilson Stadium ticket office, or by calling 1-877-BB-TICKS (228-4257).
Donate & get Bills-Pats tix
Here’s a great way to help someone else’s holiday season and get rewarded with Bills-Patriots tickets for Dec. 26th. “The Buffalo Bills Season of Wishes Week” is running from Tuesday (today 11/29) through Friday, Dec. 3rd.
For every $20 you donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Western New York the Buffalo Bills will give you (1) ticket to the Bills Vs Patriots game on Sunday, December 26th.
Just call 810-9474 or stop into the Make-A-Wish Foundation of WNY offices at 3901 Genesee Street, Suite 110, Buffalo, NY 14226. This offer is good for one week only and supplies are limited so don’t miss out!
For more information visit www.wny.wish.org . Share in the the magic of the season and give a gift that will help make wishes come true. Thanks for supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation of WNY and go Bills!
Week 1 still fresh for Bills
Tags: Bills-Patriots, Chris Kelsay, Terrell Owens, Week 1
Though Week 1 seems like ages ago for a lot of Bills players, the stinging loss hasn’t lost much of its bite.
Many of Buffalo’s players admit it will be hard not to think about that game when they take the field on Sunday.
“That was a game we let slip away and we had that game until about four or five minutes left in the game,” said Terrell Owens. ”We gave that game away due to some bone headed plays. Just not being smart in certain situations. We as a team we know that. They’re going to come up here fired up especially after last week with a couple of players getting called out like Randy. I’m sure they’re going to try to feed him the ball. We’ve just got to be fundamentally sound on both sides of the ball.”
“Obviously we feel like we gave it away,” said Chris Kelsay. ”We gave it to them. We’ve had a bitter taste in our mouth ever since that week and it’s been a long time ago, Week 1. But we realize that it was a game we should have won. We played with them, played well with them and should have won the game, so we know we have our work cut out for us, but we also know we can play well against them. We’ve shown it and done it so we have that in the back of our minds as well.”
Granted the Patriots are still the Patriots, but they’ve gone 1-3 this year in games decided by three points or less. That’s uncharacteristic of New England teams. Of course their only win in those four games was against the Bills in Week 1, but any added motivation for Buffalo helps. Lop on the 12-game losing streak and a chance to even their record at 3-3 in the division after going winless last year and you hope the Bills play their most inspired game in a while.
The reason the Pats aren’t as dominant as they have been in recent years is because their defense has experienced a good deal of turnover and with more youth there is less consistency in their play than there has been. Unfortunately I’m not convinced the Bills will be able to take advantage of those Patriot defensive deficiencies because Buffalo’s offense struggles so much. They’re going to need a special teams touchdown or defensive touchdown to hang in this one.
Bills won’t be thinking about streak
Tags: Bills-Patriots, Brian Moorman, Chris Kelsay, Donte Whitner, losing streak
The Bills losing streak to the Patriots is well documented. It’s at 12 games and counting and is the longest in Patriots franchise history over another opponent. But the players won’t be thinking about the streak at all when they take the field Sunday.
“I don’t think you can go out there and think about the streak,” said Donte Whitner. ”We have to focus on that one football game. If you’re thinking about the streak it can discourage you if you think about that. I think we have an opportunity to go out and do something special especially in light of the things that have happened this season. If we can go out and win this football game it will say a lot about our coaching staff and our players and where we want to go.”
“Every game is a new game and I think they’re a different team than we played at the beginning of the season,” said Brian Moorman. ”It’s just a matter of going out and playing our game and stick to our game plan that coach Fewell and the other coaches have put together and hopefully come out victorious.”
“You take the field Sunday with one purpose and one purpose only and that’s to win that game,” said Chris Kelsay. ”We know what (the streak) is, there’s no doubt about it, but Sunday is all business. We’ll go out there try to play our best football and get a win doing it.”
The only people that will be thinking about it at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday will be the Bills fans, who will no doubt be hoping against hope that this awful streak can come to an end.
