NFL – Patriots Current Strategy

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The Bills are first in the NFL in rushing yards (1,281) and are averaging 4.8 per carry. They’ve been held to less than 100 yards rushing as a team only once (55 against the Giants five games ago) and have averaged 153.6 on the ground the past five games.

The Patriots are second in team defense against the run, allowing 92.8 per game and that’s with the outlier 161 yards allowed to a losing Redskins team.

The closest geographically has been the rivalry with the New York Jets. The Patriots and Jets have been in the same division (what is now the AFC East) since both teams’ foundings in 1960, and have played each other at least twice a year since then. The rivalry between the Jets and Patriots has escalated since 1996, when Patriots head coach Bill Parcells left the Patriots under controversy to become the head coach of the Jets; he was replaced by former Jets coach Pete Carroll. Four years later Carroll was fired, and Parcells’ assistant, Bill Belichick, resigned the day he was named the Jets’ head coach to become the head coach of the Patriots. Six years after that, Eric Mangini, an assistant under Belichick, became the head coach of the Jets.

LeSean McCoy and Karlos Williams are that.

“They are definitely balanced with that ‘lightning and thunder package’ there,” Patriots linebacker Donta’ Hightower said, alluding to McCoy and Williams. “McCoy’s real quick and he’s real explosive but you really see both [styles] out of both guys. So I mean you can kind of plug either one of them in there and you don’t really see a big difference because they’re that elusive and have that big of an impact on that offense.”

McCoy’s gone for 112 yards in each of his past two games. Williams, a rookie, is back to full health this week after being dinged recently. He is averaging 6.2 yards per carry this year and has gone for five touchdowns.

Hightower understands how pivotal it will be for the Patriots to throw a net over McCoy and Williams.