The Buffalo Bills defense was receiving a lot of attention, and rightly so, entering its Week 2 matchup against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.
The Bills have one of the NFL’s most talented defensive fronts, in addition to a talented secondary. They dominated Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck in Week 1 and were determined to do the same against Brady on Sunday.
Instead, the Bills defense struggled mightily. They gave up 40 points and allowed Brady to complete 38 of 59 passes for 466 yards and three touchdowns.
Brady couldn’t have done it without an impressive performance from his offensive line, which allowed just two sacks against a Buffalo defense that led the league in that category last season. The quarterback singled out the unit for praise Monday morning.
“They’re doing a great job. The offensive line has been the strength of our team for a long time,” Brady said during his weekly appearance on WEEI morning show “Dennis & Callahan.”
“With the way Sebastian (Vollmer) and Nate (Solder) play, and Marcus (Cannon) at tackle, and then the guys who have rotated in at guard and center this season. We’re missing Bryan Stork and (Ryan Wendell), who are both great players for us. We have a lot of confidence in our line. I think those guys are all smart, they’re physical, they’re up to the challenge physically, mentally. And they’re really well-coached.
“(Dante Scarnecchia) was our coach for a long time, and was the best O-line coach in the league for as long as he was here. (Dave DeGuglielmo) stepped in and has done an incredible job. It’s a position of strength for us, we’ve got to continue to use it that way. We’ve got to continue to find different ways to win and be balanced. I’d love to put together a great week of practice this week and then go and have a great game against Jacksonville, and then we have our bye, which is pretty early. But if we get this win — it was a huge win yesterday, it will be a huge win to get one on Sunday.”
Brady’s performance against the Bills has put him on an impressive pace to start the season. He’s actually thrown for more yards and touchdowns through two games than he did in 2007, the year in which he set an NFL record with 50 passing touchdowns while leading New England to a perfect regular-season record.
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Brady and the Patriots offense should have another strong showing in Week 3 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, whose defense ranks 20th in pass yards allowed. Brady also has never lost to the Jaguars in his NFL career.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Hoffman/USA TODAY Sports Images
