FOXBOROUGH - Sunday’s game against the Bills won’t feature the best defense the Patriots have seen all year, but that doesn’t mean they won’t present a challenge.
Sean McDermott, who has gotten more hands-on this season after letting coordinator Bobby Babich do most of the heavy lifting last year, has long woven a spell against Josh McDaniels and his scheme, dating back to the tail end of Tom Brady’s time in New England.
The GOAT threw more interceptions than touchdowns during his final two seasons with the Pats, and even had a game where he completed just 18-of-39 throws for 150 yards. You would have to think long and hard about teams having repeated success against Brady during the latter stages of his career, when he famously said, “I have the answers to the test.”
Now we have this latest iteration of McDaniels in New England, and while Drake Maye truly announced his presence with authority that October night at Highmark Stadium in leading the Pats to a last-second win, he, too, couldn’t find the end zone with any of his passes. That’s not the be-all, end-all, but another example of McDermott’s Bills preventing or at least limiting the thing the Pats do the best.
“I think I said it the first time we played them, but really, as well-coordinated a group as we'll play all year, they do so many things to challenge you before the snap, and then there's a whole litany of things that happen once the ball is in the quarterback's hands,” McDaniels said on Thursday. “So really, really well coordinated at all three levels. Disguise. Show you one thing, do something else.
“There's a variety and a volume to what they play on defense. Some teams that play a lot of different things and use a lot of different schematic elements in their defense don't do a lot of them well. This is not the case. The Bills play a lot and do a lot well.”
Luckily for the Pats, Maye has excelled in a number of areas, and a big one leading into this hat-and-t-shirt tilt at Gillette is his performance against disguised looks. Per Sumer Sports, Maye has faced