The Repeatable Experience

Remember where we started.

Brady was going to be on the sidelines for the first four games. The Pats were going to miss Darrelle Revis in a "Super Bowl? Fuggedaboutit!" kind of way. Malcolm Butler was more likely a one-hit wonder than he was a poor man's Revis. They were going to miss Shane Vereen, too.

Flash forward to today.

 

Brady fought the law and just like he always does, Brady won. The Revis-less Pats are 9-0-0 while Da-Da-Da-Darrelle and the Jetssss are 5-5-0 (after their loss in Houston to the Texans) and Malcolm Butler is looking just fine at LCB. It hasn't been easy, of course. Nate Solder and Dion Lewis – who looked even better than Shane Vereen as the passing back – are done for the season. New England has played with rookies and practice squad call ups on the offensive line for a month (more?) and without their most dynamic defensive player, Jamie Collins, for three games (already counting Monday's game). Last week, leading receiver/heart and soul/paradigmatic Patriot Julian Edelman was felled by a foot injury that will cost him the remainder of the regular season.

The Bills have improved since their Week 2 loss to the Pats and certainly Rex Ryan's jealous desire to defeat Bill Belichick burns without surcease. Buffalo's roster is chock-a-block with talented football players. Healthy football players. New England is favored at home but this is going to be a tough, hard-fought, divisional game. And yet, I feel… eerily calm.

Eerily calm. I hear you, Ghost. Why do I feel good about this thing even knowing the Patriots will be without Dion Lewis until 2016 and Julian Edelman won't be available for 6-8 weeks?

Have I seen this movie before? The one that stars Troy Brown as a defensive back? Yes, I have.

I love this movie!

Maybe the Patriots will come out tonight with a run-heavy game plan. The Bills are supposed to be good against the run but the offensive line is getting healthy. It also seems so Belichickian somehow. (They think we can't run it against them. They saw what we did against the Jets. Fuck it. Let's run LG right down their throats.) How about starting the game with Gronk, Marcus Cannon, Bryan Stork, David Andrews, Josh Kline, Sebastian Vollmer and Michael Williams on the offensive line, OG Shaq Mason at fullback in front of LeGarrette Blount and Danny Amendola or Brandon LaFell at flanker. Gronk steps back and the wide receiver moves up to the line of scrimmage. Gronk in motion. And after a heavy dose of Blount force trauma, Brady goes play action to Gronk up the seam or deep down the sidelines to – is that Aaron Dobson? When did he enter the game?

Or despite the loss of Julian Edelman, maybe the Pats come out all no huddle/empty backfield/pass whacky. Gronk, Amendola, JoJo, Dobson (if his back allows) and the kid from Cali, Chris Harper. Let Brady be Brady. Maybe Dobson has that game we've all been waiting for him to have. Maybe Harper is the latest undrafted free agent to become a folk hero for New England. Let's not sleep on James White. He may not be Dion Lewis but it may not matter if that's a match up the Patriots like. Maybe Gronk, Amendola and JoJo just do what they do. I get the feeling if the Bills choose to double- and triple-team Gronk that Brady and Josh McDaniels will find a way to use it against them.

It could be a little bit of this and a little bit of that, of course.

The defense will need to do their jobs, too, of course. They've also had to pick each other up with the absences of Collins, Jabaal Sheard and Dont'a Hightower. Sheard and Hightower are back and Chandler Jones is playing at an All-Pro level while the seemingly endless supply of defensive tackles – Dominique Easley, Malcom Brown, Sealver Siliga, Alan Branch and Akiem Hicks – have been the key to an outstanding rush defense. New England's defense is #2 in rush yards per game – and #4 in scoring.

Maybe Monday night will be all about the defense. Maybe they shut down LeSean McCoy and dress up Tyrod Taylor in a Chandler Jones suit. Maybe Rob Ninkovich will have one of those "How did I forgot about Rob Ninkovich?" games. McCourty will be looking to put that OBJ touchdown from last week in the "It will never happen again" folder while Malcolm Butler will be working on his shutdown corner resume working across from Sammy Watkins. I stocked up on popcorn for that match up. Also frozen pizza. And beer.

16-0-0 would be nice but it isn't essential. Would you have taken 13-3-0 when the season kicked off? That one falls under the "In a Heartbeat" column for me. New England would only need to go 4-3-0 down the stretch. Hard to believe that wouldn't be enough for a first round bye and an extra week of rehab for Edelman.

Not that I think the Patriots will go 4-3-0 or that I think they'll lose tonight.

Like I said. I've seen this movie before.