Written by Chris Burke at SI.com
Almost to his own detriment at times, Rex Ryan is unapologetic for how he wants his team to play: physical, mean, aggressive. In short, he wants Buffalo to be a bully.
That doesn’t always work when the opposition can punch back, but Ryan and the Bills clearly saw an opportunity in Week 4, in Tom Brady’s final game out of the Patriots lineup. As soon as Buffalo closed out its Week 3 upset of Arizona, Ryan turned his focus to the reigning kings of the AFC East.
“I don’t care who plays quarterback,” Ryan said last Sunday. “Steve Grogan can play quarterback. If [Bill] Belichick’s playing quarterback, we’re coming after him, I promise you that.”
It wasn’t Grogan or Belichick under center, but rather rookie Jacoby Brissett who felt the full force of Buffalo’s attack Sunday. The Bills controlled the line on both sides of the ball and clobbered Brissett numerous times, en route to an emphatic 16-0 win that might reestablish them as an AFC playoff threat—if not a challenger to the Patriots in the East. Tom Brady’s return and the Patriots’ 3-1 record without him still make them the team to beat, but the Bills at least kept the conversation open for another week or two.
Already, the Bills are about as far removed from their Week 2 selves as possible.
On Sept. 15, the Bills fell to 0-2 with a miserable Thursday night effort against the Jets, allowing 493 yards. They fired their offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, shortly thereafter, firmly placing Ryan under the microscope for the remainder of the season. With a difficult scheduling awaiting, including the back-to-back against Arizona and New England, Ryan was running short on time to get his house in order.
Be it the Roman firing or sheer desperation, though, the Bills have spent the two weeks since looking like world-beaters. They got the job done Sunday in Foxborough by outmuscling the Patriots, who responded in turn with an uncharacteristic series of mistakes.
Buffalo actually fired the opening salvo before the game even started. As Brissett and Malcolm Mitchell jogged off the field following warm-ups, Buffalo’s Robert Blanton initiated a scuffle that also featured his teammate Aaron Williams twice shoving the head of Patriots assistant Chad O’Shea.
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