On The Beat: 5 questions with Buffalo writer Tim Graham

FOXBOROUGH -- This week's edition of "On The Beat" is with our friend Tim Graham of the Buffalo News. Check out his work here, and follow him on Twitter here. (And I'm not just saying this -- Tim is a dynamite writer and a great guy.)



1. Is there any level of concern that the Bills would be out for revenge on Rob Gronkowski on Sunday?

Probably not. Tre’Davious White really did a great job of settling things down by forgetting what he said what he did say or what he Tweeted after the game a few weeks ago. But he really took lot of the vitriol out of the situation. That was smart of him to do. And I’m sure he was coached on how to do it. Then, on Wednesday, reporters asked him about it again, and he was equally as diplomatic. I think the general vibe is that the Bills can’t afford to do anything stupid. But, that being said, this game, win or lose, has a minimal effect on their playoff chances. All the weight is on Week 17 at Miami. There’s even been some talk — musing about it more than actual conversation — that would it be smart for the Bills to not to want to risk injury. Almost like you need to prepare for the Dolphins so much, that you’d cut back on LeSean McCoy’s workload against the Patriots. Should this be like a JV game? The other thing too is Tom Brady. Of all the players who you can't afford to see get hit, it’s the quarterback. With the Patriots offensive line. And you have a guy like Jerry Hughes, who has 5,700 personal fouls in his career. Maybe the revenge isn’t on Rob Gronkowski. Maybe it’s on Brady? But I think that’s how fans think way more than organizations think. Let’s not say there’s nothing to it. I’m sure it’s in the backs of some guys somewhere. I think you could see, if the game gets out of hand, something happen one way or another. But the idea of resting guys for this game could be on both sides because of the way the Bills’ playoff situation is set up.

2. Is there an under-the-radar type who we might be talking about more when the game is done?

Zay Jones. He’s a rookie receiver and he had a lot of trouble with drops earlier in the season, but as the year has gone on, he’s gained a lot of confidence. He has been playing very well. Kelvin Benjamin is a guy who also might come to mind, because since he was traded from Carolina, he’s been dealing with a knee injury. It’s a cartilage issue thing. He’s one of those guys, who fans in Buffalo are saying “Maybe we should rest him against the Patriots so he’s healthy and we have him ready to go as a weapon against Miami.” But Benjamin is a bigger name. Jones is a rookie, plus, he was labeled pretty early as a bust. "Can’t catch the ball." He has a Dad who is active on Twitter, almost like a Lavar Ball situation, defending his son against these mean media types who were talking about drops and Tyrod Taylor not being able to throw the ball well enough. He couldn’t get out of his own head. But he seems to have shaken that off. So Zay Jones is probably that guy.

3. Is there a soft spot on the Buffalo offense where the Patriots might be inclined to attack?

The right side of the offensive line has been inconsistent, to be polite. They have way more talent on the left side. Richie Incognito, the left guard, is going to the Pro Bowl. The center, Eric Wood, has been a rock for them too for a long time. The right side of that line. The thing is, Tyrod Taylor is an escape artist. And it would be way more of an issue for Nathan Peterman who is more of a pocket passer than it would be for Taylor. Getting Taylor to run is usually the worse of the two possibilities for him. You’d rather him stay in the pocket and throw for a couple of reasons. One, he’s not as good a thrower as he is a runner. He also has a height issue. Sometimes, he can’t see the field as well as he’d like. That’s one of the reasons he tucks it as runs faster than most quarterbacks. Plays don’t develop for Taylor all the time.

4. Is there a soft spot on the Buffalo defense where the Patriots might be inclined to attack?

Right corner is going to be a problem for the Bills. E.J. Gaines is hurt and he’s pretty good, but White is on the left and he’s played very well. Some people think he should have gotten at least some Pro Bowl mention. He may be the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Gaines is hurt, and then, there’s a big drop-off to Shareece Wright and Leonard Johnson at that position. Otherwise, the Bills secondary has been very impressive. Gaines has had some big games. He had a big game in Kansas City where he made two really big tackles late in the game, including one where he tackled Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill simultaneously. He rode them both out of bounds — it was super-impressive.

Here’s the thing you’ll probably see — a lot of underneath stuff, because that’s what the Bills do. They don’t give up a lot of big plays. You wait for the Patriots to break serve, which, as you know, doesn’t happen all that often. That’s how the Bills got to playoff contention. They built some early wins by takeaways. They have maybe the best safety tandem in the NFL in Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde. White has four fours and a ton of passes defensed. The X-factor for the defense on Sunday might be Matt Milano, a kid from Boston College. He was recruited at BC to be a safety, so he’s an undersized linebacker. Milano is a linebacker in a smaller body, so you might see him used in some interesting ways. Last week was the first week he started on merit. We had seen him come in on certain passing situations, but in terms of the overall game plan, we haven’t seen too much of him. Here we are in Week 16, he could be used in a way the Patriots didn’t expect -- if that’s possible to do to the Patriots.

5. The Bills win Sunday if…

…Tom Brady keeps playing less than his standard. The Bills are not big sack artists anymore. The sack numbers are way down from what we’re used to. They don’t have a ton of quarterback hits. They got good pressure a few weeks ago. Just to get him slightly off the mark, because this Bills team, they’re opportunists when it comes to takeaways, and they’ve shown it. They’re one of the best teams in the league when it comes to turnover ratio. They have a lot of interceptions. They force fumbles. They might get a couple of big takeaways, and that’s how they’d win.

Tim’s Pick

Patriots 31, Bills 14