The New England Patriots seem to always pose a threat on the defensive side of the ball.
That’s what tends to happen with teams led by head coach Bill Belichick. Plus, that huge spending spree the Patriots did this offseason didn’t hurt.
But on offense, the Pats have overachieved a bit this season. Once perceived to be a bit of a rebuilding year on that side of the ball, the Patriots (8-4) have played well.
So much so that the Buffalo Bills (7-4) trail New England in the AFC East standings ahead of their massive Monday Night Football meeting in Week 13.
But the Patriots also know the Bills aren’t going to be an easy task, especially Buffalo’s defense.
The New England coaching staff has sung the praises on the Bills defense. So much so that Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels thinks it might be their biggest challenge to date.
“This is the best group we’ve played all year,” McDaniels said on Tuesday via video conference. “We don’t play a group that’s more connected than this one. Whatever the call is, all 11 guys know exactly what their role is on the call and they never make a mistake it seems.”
“They just don’t give up many easy plays and they’re one of the best teams we’ll play this year in terms of limiting big production. They force you to be disciplined, they force you to execute play after play, they force you to drive the football,” McDaniels added.
Belichick mentioned that the prowess Buffalo has defensively starts at the top.
“Buffalo’s a great team. [Bills head coach] Sean (McDermott) has done a great job with his team, being with the organization, team building, so forth. We have a lot of respect for Buffalo and what they’ve accomplished, what they are, how they play,” Belichick said via video conference. “We’re going to have to play our best game. We know that. That’s what we’re going to prepare to do.”
For the Bills heading into this matchup, the focus is likely on rookie quarterback Mac Jones. Specifically, Buffalo would be smart to try and make the QB beat them by taking away their rushing attack.
It sounds like McDaniels is already well aware that might be the case.
He said Jones will have to take care of the football and help his team win the turnover battle against the Bills.
“This week’s going to be another big challenge there and I think for Mac when he comes out of the game having generally taken care of the ball and made some good decisions, even if they resulted in an incomplete pass or a possession that ended in a punt or a field goal. To me, I don’t look at all those and say ‘wow, what a disaster that was.’ Sometimes you have to understand what could’ve been in terms of worse,” McDaniels said.
That turnover battle is always a spot to watch in every NFL game.
But even more so when two teams that are really good at it faceoff.
The Patriots enter Week 13 with the second-best turnover differential in the league (+10). The Bills are in third (+9).
In terms of taking it away, both teams are tied at the second-best spot at 25 total takeaways.
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