| Bills DT Kyle Williams knows they have to do better stuffing the run. (US Presswire) |
The worst part of Buffalo’s 52-28 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday? It wasn’t as if the Patriots pulled out their bag of tricks and wowed the Bills with a unique game plan. Nope, they lined up, won the battles along the line of scrimmage and were more physical in the run game.
In other words, it was Football 101.
“The most discouraging thing about it is that they literally ran three running plays,” DT Kyle Williams said. “They ran the same thing over and over and over.”
In order to try and defend against Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski and WR Wes Welker, the Bills operated out of their nickel defense for almost the entire game. The move backfired. The Patriots countered with a heavy dose of the run game and had two RBs -- Brandon Bolden (137 yards, 1 TD) and Stevan Ridley (106 yards, 2 TDs) -- top the 100-yard mark in the blowout victory.
“They were really challenging us to run the ball,” Patriots QB Tom Brady said. “They had some little guys on the field with our big personnel groupings, so at that point you have to try and take advantage of it.”
The problems for Buffalo start up front with its revamped defensive line, which had little impact in the trenches against New England. Offseason acquisitions Mario Williams and Mark Anderson combined for just four tackles and zero sacks.
“We tried to play eight in the box and they were still running the football,” coach Chan Gailey said. “We’ve got to make sure that we play more on their side of the line of scrimmage. We played on our side of the line of scrimmage too much. We’ve got to create more penetration, linebackers more downhill, things like that. That’s the one thing you can do to create a difference.”
Buffalo’s nickel defense features two LBs that are under 230 pounds in Nick Barnett and Bryan Scott. The Patriots noticed and took advantage, which Gailey acknowledged is an issue moving forward for the Bills.
“That is a concern, and that’s where you have to weigh who’s going to play in there,” Gailey said. “How do you play your ends, how do you play your tackles, how much do you blitz to try to offset some of that?”
Gailey expressed confidence, however, in defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt on Monday. Wannstedt has come under fire after the Bills allowed a combined 100 points in their first two division losses.
“I’ve got complete confidence in Dave and what they’re trying to do and where we’ve got our people situated,” Gailey said. “And that’s the majority of it, where do you have your people situated? We’ve got our people in the right spots. We’re sound, we’ve just got to continue to get better. We got to be able to stop the run, which we did for two games and we didn’t for two games. I think we’re capable of doing that.”
For more updates on the Bills, follow correspondent Mark Ludwiczak on Twitter @CBSBills and @MarkLud12.