Belichick Already Looking Ahead to Denver
The Pats' big win over the Bills is just a distant memory
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Quarterback Tom Brady #12 of the New England Patriots talks with head coach Bill Belichick before playing against the Green Bay Packers at Gillette Stadium on December 19, 2010 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The Patriots won the game 31-27. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Tom Brady
In a shocking development, Patriots coach Bill Belichick has already turned the page on Sunday's blowout win over the Bills and is looking ahead to the Week 5 matchup with … Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. But we're not quite ready to turn the page, so we'll briefly revisit the 52-28 beatdown New England administered in Buffalo before turning our attention to the latest iteration of the Brady-Manning Bowl.
One of the themes coming out of the lopsided win was that the Bills gave up. We've mentioned our theory on Buffalo: they're a good team when no one's paying attention, but as soon as people start talking about them as playoff contenders, they fold. During Brady's weekly radio appearance, he was asked about that.
"I don't think they (quit)," he said (via ESPNBoston.com). "I have a lot of respect for that team. They play hard. They're very well coached. They're good in all phases. I thought we really took advantage of some opportunities we got in the second half that we didn't take advantage of in the first half. In the first half, we were very much up and down. We've yet to really play a 60-minute game. We played 30 pretty good minutes yesterday, offensively, defensively, and on special teams. We covered kicks, we ran the ball well, we were efficient in passing game. We got a lot of turnovers on defense.That's the winning formula. That's obviously been lacking the last few weeks, our abilities to take advantage when we get the opportunities from the opposing team. I thought we did a great job of that yesterday."
The thing is, on paper, the Bills are good. It's just that they either have a mental block or terrible luck when it comes to playing in meaningful games. Whatever, the New England and Buffalo are two 2-2 teams going in different directions.
And this Sunday, the Pats will face and old nemesis on another 2-2 team. In Monday's press conference, Belichick was his usually laconic self: "Obviously, they're (Denver) a real good football team. Quarterback is good, it's an offense we're familiar with, they're good on defense, they're good in all three phases of the game. As good as the Buffalo game was, we just have to get past it here and get on to the Broncos."
So that's that. Next up: Denver.
