Week 8: New England Patriots @ Buffalo Bills
Sean McDermott and the Buffalo Bills might have failed to climb the mountaintop that was the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots over the past few seasons, but it was not without giving it their best shot. During his final years in Foxborough, Brady tended to struggle against the Bills more than any other defense. Take last year for example. In his two games against Buffalo his quarterback rating was just 76.2. It was only lower in games against the Dallas Cowboys (70.8, played in poor weather conditions), the Kansas City Chiefs (63.3) and the Philadelphia Eagles (67.3). In their Super Bowl season of 2018, his quarterback rating of 72.7 in the two games against Buffalo – both victories – bested only his game against the Detroit Lions early in the year (65.1) and his game midseason against the Tenneseee Titans (70.6).
New England lost both those games.
The point? Buffalo seemed to give Brady fits. Why? Because of their ability to spin their safeties and cause confusion in the Patriots’ offense. So much of New England’s playbook is dependent on timing, and also routes converting based on the coverage. If the rotation in the secondary can confuse just one player, whether Brady or a receiver, then the offense will not be as efficient.
For an example of this, you can watch this video breakdown from Erik Turner, who covers the Bills:
Another well-disguised coverage by the Bills pic.twitter.com/9lf6r0IjCp
— Erik Turner (@ErikJTurner) May 4, 2020
What happens in Week 8? Jarrett Stidham gets a chance to try and decipher these looks for the first time.
That will be fascinating to watch, and it will be a great way to measure Stidham’s progress as a starting quarterback.