Dion Lewis Shines Again in Patriots Win

In many ways, it was.

In their 40-32 dismantling of the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, the New England Patriots outmanned and out-schemed a Bills pass defense that, just a week prior, shut down Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. Asked about the offensive line, he said, “I thought they did a pretty good job”. Buffalo went three and out and was forced to punt. “Belichick outcoached me. No question about it”.

Even former Bills QB Jim Kelly fell prey to the hucksterism of Ryan this week.

New England was the only team in the National Football League that could generate that much excitement and hostility leading into Week Two.

With the departure of cornerbacks Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner, Kyle Arrington and Alfonzo Dennard, analysts, fans and pundits predicted a step back from the Patriots defense. It’s a string of dominance that began in 2001, when Gregg Williams was coaching the Bills.

Buffalo had too many breakdowns, too many meltdowns and gave up too many touchdowns against the defending Super Bowl champs. He’s a football genius.

It’s always personal with Ryan.

As the New York Times reported, it was the defense that struggled against Tom Brady’s relentless throwing ability that sealed the game win.

Ah, those were the days.

NEXT STOP 400: Brady is one touchdown passing short of becoming the fourth player to reach 400. When Brady and the Patriots took the field, loud chants of CHEAT-ERS gave way to general screaming designed to drown out communication for New England.

Gronkowski is a matchup problem for every team.

Slowing Gronk? Edelman Not So Much: Ryan spoke this week about being able to slow Rob Gronkowski down. Williams was hurt while diving to his right in a bid to tackle Edelman before he scored on a 22-yard catch late in the third quarter.

Considering how easy Ben Roethlisberger and company made finding the end zone look on Sunday against overmatched San Francisco, there may be no going back. You can see how this gets on a spin cycle. The other an overthrow that was intended for Sammy Watkins at the end of the second quarter.

Here’s another number: 2.

They chanted “we want Brady” in Buffalo last Sunday. This is an offense I’d rather have in January and February than that one.

Q: How important were the quick passes and no huddle offense today? Hey, at least the Bills had gotten close enough to make it interesting, he said, then heard what he was saying. Just another impressive performance out of a unit going through a huge turnover. That’s what happened Sunday. For most of the day, he was average. He was 38-59 for 466 yards and three touchdowns. There were designed screens that didn’t work. The Bills scored four plays later, when Tyrod Taylor hit Charles Clay for a 9-yard TD.

Last week, the Bills accumulated 195.0 yards in passing and 147.0 yards in rushing. The Bills took dumb penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct. The teams combined for 25 penalties for 259 yards. He most likely has three or four plays dialed up, he reads the personnel, and calls accordingly. There were billboards mocking Tom Brady and signs on lawns. If the Patriots had scored again on that drive, that might have been the ballgame. The Patriots then had a 9-play drive resulting in a field goal with a little less than 3 minutes to go in the second quarter to widen the lead to 24-13. Instead, the team let the pressure of the game and the spotlight spoil the moment. But Randall Johnson was called for a penalty, which wiped out most of the yardage gained.

Even though the Bills kept shrinking their lead, New England continued to throw. He was also interfered with on another deep pattern as Jerry Hughes tomahawked his arm well before the ball arrived which may have been a big gainer.

“Yeah, that’s the reason we lost”, Ryan replied.