Inside The Bills

Beating Brady blueprint started by Pettine

Pittsburgh Steelers S Ryan Clark appeared on ESPN NFL Live in the ESPN studios in Bristol recently and talked about how defenses can successfully throw Patriots QB Tom Brady off his game.

Clark told ESPN NFL Live the following.

“In 2010, we saw it start with the Jets in the playoffs,” he said. “When Tom Brady gets pressure and when you’re man-to-man and bumping those guys and making it hard for him to throw, he sees ghosts.

“Even when guys aren’t around him, even when he’s not about to be sacked, when his clock goes off in his head that the ball should be out, we’ll see him duck, we’ll see him flinch. When you get Tom Brady doing that, the whole New England Patriots mystique goes away.”

Everyone knows that the Patriots offense is based largely on timing. That’s why it’s little surprise, as ESPN AFC East blogger James Walker points out, Brady’s completion percentage drops from 68.2 percent to 42.3 percent when he holds onto the ball three seconds or longer.

What’s most encouraging is Clark references the Jets approach in the 2010 playoffs. That approach was largely drawn up by Bills current defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.

Add in the fact that Wes Welker is gone and Rob Gronkowski coming off the arm injury and the season opener at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sept. 8th could be a very interesting matchup.

Brady stressing urgency for win

Sitting at 1-2 is an unfamiliar place for the New England Patriots. It’s the first time they’re under .500 since they fell to 0-1 in their season opening loss to Buffalo in 2003 (31-0). After two straight losses, New England’s quarterback knows playing at Ralph Wilson Stadium won’t make getting a win any easier. 

“Yeah, it’s a very tough place to play,” said Brady. ”I think we have to dig ourselves out of a bit of a hole that we kind of put ourselves into. We’re sitting here at 1-2 and looking up at Buffalo and the Jets. It’s a big, obviously, big game for us in terms of conference and division standings. Any time you play a division opponent on the road it’s a big game. We lost up there last year, so we have to go out there and try to play better than we’ve been playing.”

Brady and the Patriots blew a 21-point lead in Week 3 at Buffalo last season losing a 34-31 decision to the Bills.

Anderson on Brady’s work ethic

Bills DE Mark Anderson only played for one season in New England, but it was one that left an indelible impression on the pass rusher concerning Tom Brady and his approach to the game.

“Brady is a hard worker,” said Anderson in an appearance on WGR Sportsradio 550 Wednesday morning. ”On the plane rides I’d sit right next to him. Every away game after that game he’s studying film. He’s already on to the next opponent win or lose. A very professional guy. He works hard every day at practice and knows how to do the little things right. I kind of look up to the way he handles situations. A great professional and a good guy.”

Anderson also explained how Brady and Belichick work together during the course of the week leading up to a game.

“He knows just about everything that’s going on with the defense and takes control of the offense,” said Anderson. ”He and Belichick have meetings together. They work well with each other. Brady he gets all his information from Belichick and they work hard together. He really knows defenses and really knows where his players need to be.”

While Anderson wasn’t going to give details on Buffalo’s defensive game plan for Brady, he did stress mixing things up on Brady throughout the course of the game.

Dareus: Brady cries to refs

Bills DL Marcell Dareus has only played against Tom Brady and the Patriots twice in his young NFL career, but he already has a handle on how in his opinion Brady influences officials.

Appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio with Adam Schein and Rich Gannon, Dareus was asked how you stop Tom Brady with the Patriots poised to play the Giants in the Super Bowl. Dareus gave his opinion while also stating that as a defensive lineman you’ve got to stay cool knowing Brady is going to get some calls.

“You really have to find a way to isolate an offensive lineman and any way you can get a one-on-one that defensive lineman has to win and you have to get after Tom Brady some type of way,” Dareus said. ”Getting a hand in his face, knocking his arm down. Don’t go too crazy because Brady has the referees on his side. He cries to referees as soon as he gets a chance and it always goes his way. So don’t go too crazy, just play the game safe and just get in his face. Get him to throw bad passes, throw when he doesn’t want to.”

Dareus was in radio row at the Super Bowl in Indy Thursday pumping up his new affiliation with New Era for their new line of hats for the NFL draft, which will be released on April 2nd.

Belichick on Brady’s status

Bill Belichick is never one to give much on the injury status of his players, but credit the Boston area reporters for trying. Here’s an excerpt of the Q&A courtesy of ESPNBoston.com.

Reporter: what is your level of confidence that he’ll be able to play at a high level with this recent injury?

Belichick: Anybody we put out on the field, I have confidence in or we wouldn’t put him out there. So if they’re out there, we have confidence in him. If they’re not out there, there is either another player ahead of him or we’re not confident they can go out there and do it [health-wise]. It’s as simple as that. We’re not going to put anybody out there on the field that we don’t have confidence in.”

Reporter: What is your confidence level in Tom this week?

Belichick: If he’s not out there, it won’t be because we don’t have confidence in him [from a playing perspective]. Whatever it is [injury-wise], we’ll list it as accurately as we can based on the information we have, which is what we always do. Sometimes that information changes, obviously, and we’ll do the best we can with the information we have, like we always do. It’s no different than anything else.”

Brady was limited in practice Thursday after not practicing on Wednesday with a left shoulder injury suffered last week against Miami.

Report: Brady throwing at practice

According to Patriots beat writer Ian Rappaport, Patriots QB Tom Brady is practicing despite reports earlier in the day that he would not.

RapSheet Ian R. Rapoport Not gonna believe this… But Patriots QB Tom Brady IS out at practice, working with the team. Ailing left shoulder and all…

ESPN’s Adam Schefter still maintains that Brady is more of a bystander than participator at practice today.

Brady attending practice

Patriots QB Tom Brady, who was widely reported will be a non-participant at practice Thursday to rest an ailing non-throwing shoulder, is in attendance per ESPNBoston.com.

Brady to miss practice again today

Patriots QB Tom Brady will miss his second straight practice today (Thursday).

That according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who says it’s his non-throwing shoulder that’s the problem.

Brady did not practice on Wednesday, but his non-participation was listed by the club as ‘not injury related.’

At this point Brady is still expected to start on Sunday against the Bills.

Brady’s issue is non-throwing shoulder

The reason for Tom Brady missing Wednesday’s Patriots’ practice is due to a non-throwing shoulder injury.

According to reports out of Boston, Brady had x-rays on his left shoulder, which apparently revealed no separation per Tom Curran of Comcast SportsNet New England.

tomecurran Brady dinged left shoulder late in Saturday’s game against Miami. Went for x-ray to check for separation. Was later told he was “all set”

Brady not at Pats practice

Patriots QB Tom Brady was not at practice Wednesday during the media viewing portion of the workout.

That according to ESPNBoston.com.

Kyle on the pass rush

While Buffalo’s offensive line has been great out of the gate ranking first in the league in sacks allowed per play, Buffalo’s defense is at the opposite end of the spectrum ranking 32nd in sacks per play as they have two on the season. However, as Kyle Williams explains facing a pair of top flight running teams followed by a quick throwing Tom Brady getting pressure on the quarterback hasn’t been the focus.

“We want to hit the guy and we want to disrupt the guy more,” said Williams. ”I think some of it is you have to look at what we are doing defensively and you have to look at what they’re doing offensively.  I’m not making excuses or anything like that, but the guy we just played (Tom Brady) he gets rid of the ball.  If you look at the game he’s hitting a lot of crossing routes and different things like that.  So, it’s a little bit above but it’s something we want to get more out of as we have opportunities to do it.  When guys get one-on-one you have to win. You have to get pressure, hit the quarterback and disrupt his lanes.”

Againsts New England Buffalo rushed just three and four a lot committing more players to coverage while the down linemen clogged passing lanes in an effort to deflect passes, which worked (See: Marcell Dareus tip).

Facing Cincinnati rookie QB Andy Dalton this week could present more opportunities.

“I think with something like that you have to be able to give him different looks,” said Williams. ”Maybe get him confused a little bit not knowing what he’s seeing. Maybe he holds the ball a half second longer and that’s lot of pass rush you know it’s holding the ball a half second longer where hits turn into the sacks, non pressure turns into pressure. But with them they are going to hang their hat on running the football. And if we can’t stop the run we aren’t going to be able to give him different looks and get after him throwing the ball.”

Only Brady’s 6th 4-INT game

Sunday marked only the sixth time in his career that Tom Brady has thrown four interceptions in a game. Here’s the list, which includes the 2003 opener when Buffalo posted a 31-0 win over the Patriots courtesy of STATSPASS.

CBS’ Gannon on Bills-Pats

CBS color analyst Rich Gannon, who will be doing the television broadcast with Marv Albert on Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium, had some noteworthy comments on this weekend’s AFC East matchup.

Gannon was dead on with his assessment of how Buffalo has to approach this game. 

“Every offensive series for the Buffalo Bills is absolutely critical. When you’re up against Tom Brady and the Patriots you almost have to assume that they’re going to score on every offensive possession,” Gannon said. ”That’s why you have to almost match them score-for-score. You can’t really count on your defense to come up with a lot of big plays, negative plays, turnovers.  This is a team that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, particularly in the quarterback position. Defensively, the Patriots thrive on creating negative plays.”

Gannon believes a sound three-phases effort is what’s needed for the Bills to pull of a victory.

“I’m not suggesting that Buffalo has to play flawless, but in order for them to win they have to have a very clean performance in every phase of the game – offensively, defensively and the kicking game,” he said. ”They’re a good team, but they’re not as deep and talented right now as the Patriots. In order for them to win, the quarterback and Fred Jackson have to have big days offensively.  And that can happen. Look at the Patriots the first two weeks: the Dolphins got after them and put up some big numbers. Philip Rivers and the Chargers put up 477 yards of offense against this defense. The way they beat you is Brady and a couple of turnovers.  Typically that’s how it gets done. In order for the Bills to win they have to score on defense and score with the kicking game. It will take that type of effort to beat the Patriots.”

Gannon has an affinity for Ryan Fitzpatrick and can probably relate to him as well after spending the first half of his career as a backup. 

“I’ve been in the same situation; a quarterback waits his turn, he always wants to have his own team, and when he finally gets the opportunity, he never looks back,” Gannon said. ”Last year really wasn’t his team from the beginning.  Now I think that the organization has shown some confidence in him.  They didn’t draft a quarterback.  This is his team.  He’s got his thumb print all over it.  The thing that hurt him a year ago was he was a little careless with the ball.  They had the worst turnover differential and a lot of that can be traced back to him being a little bit too aggressive at times.”

As far as the approach Buffalo’s defense should take with Brady is force long down and distance situations come third down. 

“What’s the best way to defend Tom Brady? Do you pressure him? Do you play coverage? Do you rush three or four?  Nobody really has any answers and you’re not going to stop him,” Gannon said. ”They’re going to get their big plays.  He’s going to throw a lot of completions, and put up big numbers. You have to try and win on first down. 

“In other words, if you can hold them to a two-yard completion on first down and force them to have third-and-sevens, third-and-eights, and live in that world a little bit, then you have a chance. The other thing is you have to win in the red zone. You have to hold them to field goals down there and not give up the big explosive plays.

“Brady is a special player.  He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.  He’s got a quick release – the ball comes out and he’s very accurate.  He has a lot of talent around him and they are a well-coached team.  It’s kind of like going up against Peyton Manning. You know you’re going to give up points, but can you still be standing in the fourth quarter with a chance to win? That’s really the challenge for the Bills.”

Great stat on Fitz

Ryan Fitzpatrick’s Week 1 performance was the third four-touchdown game for him since he became the full-time starter in Week 3 of the 2010 season. Only one other quarterback has had as many four-touchdown passing games as Fitz over that span.

According to the NY Times Fifth Down Blog, Tom Brady is the only other NFL QB with as many four-touchdown games.

Since the start of last season, Fitzpatrick and Tom Brady are the only quarterbacks with three games with four passing touchdowns or more.

The two four-touchdown games for Fitzpatrick last year came against Baltimore and Cincinnati and just like Sunday’s game at Kansas City, both of those were on the road as well.

Pats hosting Locker

The New England Patriots are viewed by most to have primary needs at defensive end, outside linebacker and wide receiver. So why are they hosting Washington QB Jake Locker on a pre-draft visit?

New England did this last year as well hosting Tim Tebow on a pre-draft visit, but ESPN is reporting that the Patriots may very well be looking for an eventual successor to Tom Brady. Locker figures to still be on the board in the bottom half of round one. Brady, who turns 34 later this summer, is signed through 2014.

What the Patriots do have is a pair of first-round picks at 17 and 28. They can address an immediate need at 17 and possibly make a luxury pick at 28 in the form of a top-rated QB. Earlier in the offseason there was a lot of talk that the Patriots were taking inquiries into the availability of the 28th overall pick via trade, knowing they had the first pick in round two just five selections later.

But as the ESPN report points out, New England has no bona fide proven QB talent behind Brady on the roster, with former undrafted rookie Brian Hoyer (2009) currently the backup.

Brady ready to roll

Tom Brady was bit by the flu bug earlier in the week, but apparently is full speed ahead now.

Brady addressed the Boston media Friday morning, two days later than usual in the week and said his preparation for Sunday’s game was unaffected after practicing some on Thursday. He was officially listed as limited.

Brady limited

Patriots QB Tom Brady was limited Thursday as he’s listed with right shoulder, foot. What’s interesting is he was also battling flu-like symptoms according to the Patriots injury report on Wednesday when he didn’t practice at all. That flu designation was removed Thursday.

There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of concern with respect to Brady’s status for Sunday. In fact when WR Deion Branch was asked if Brady was at a point in his career where he could miss most of the week of practice and still play effectively on Sunday, Branch submitted the following response.

“Yeah, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do, whatever it takes to get Tom up to full strength,” said Branch. ”If he needs to rest two or three days, that’s what he’s got to do.”

It all seems a bit cryptic with respect to Brady’s health in terms of illness. Obviously we’ll know more Friday when players are designated with a likelihood status to play in Sunday’s game.

Brady practicing

After taking his normal Wednesday off Tom Brady was back practicing with his teammates on Thursday.

That according to ESPNBoston’s Mike Reiss who tweeted the following from Patriots practice.

MikeReiss Tom Brady present at start of practice. Branch, Hernandez, Connolly, Banta-Cain, Cunningham & Wright are players not spotted at practice.

Brady had an additional injury designation of the flu. He’s had a right shoulder and foot listed on the injury report for weeks. The flu put some level of doubt out there as to whether Brady would practice on Thursday, but apparently he’s out there. We’ll pass along the full Patriots injury status update when it’s released late this afternoon.

With Hernandez not practicing for a second straight day with a hip injury that could be a loss for the Pats passing game as well as Deion Branch who was not spotted at practice.

Brady vs. Bills blitz

Earlier this week NFL.com’s Pat Kirwan presented some impressive stats on Tom Brady’s success against defensive pressure packages, so we figured we’d break down Brady’s numbers against Buffalo specifically in this area.

In figures compiled by StatsPass, in Brady’s 17 career games against the Bills he has faced what is considered blitz pressure (five rushers or more) 156 times. In those instances the Patriots QB has completed 62.2 percent of his passes for 1,205 yards with eight TDs and two interceptions. He’s also been sacked 11 times leading to a passer rating of 97.8.

Against the rest of the league’s blitz pressure he’s been pretty much the same completing 61 percent of his passes with 74 TDs and 24 INTs (a 3:1 TD to INT ratio – instead of 4:1) and 75 sacks. His passer rating against the 31 other teams combined in those blitz situations is 94.6.

Buffalo has sacked Brady on seven percent of their blitzes, while the rest of the league takes him down 5.6 percent of the time.

Brady has flu?

According to the Patriots injury report QB Tom Brady has flu-like symptoms and did not practice today (Wednesday).

In addition to the flu the Patriots QB also has his right shoulder and foot listed as injuries. Thursday’s practice will obviously reveal a lot more about Brady’s status for Sunday.

Other Patriots of note not practicing Wednesday were as follows

OLB Tully Banta-Cain (groin)
WR Deion Branch (knee)
G Dan Connolly (concussion)
TE Aaron Hernandez (hip)
DL Mike Wright (concussion)