New England Patriots, Matt Patricia Aim to Slow LeSean McCoy

New England Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia is focused on slowing Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy.

The New England Patriots have to stop the Buffalo Bills running attack and short passing game plain and simple. That starts with Bills running back LeSean McCoy who played a big part in Buffalo’s 16-0 victory in the first matchup between the AFC East rivals.

McCoy is hampered with a hamstring injury, but Patriots defensive coordinator is not letting the possibility that he may not play hinder how he prepares his defense for a player he has tremendous respect for.

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"“Obviously, an outstanding, outstanding running back,” Patricia said in Tuesday’s press conference. “Someone that is extremely quick, fast and versatile. They’re doing a good job of using him in a bunch of different runs and run packages. I would say overall with him this year [he’s] much more of an inside threat in the run game. He’s obviously always been an outside threat. He does a good job with the bounce-out runs or some of the scheme runs where they get him outside on the edge and he can use his speed. He does a real good job with the C-gap runs, which are a lot of the runs that Buffalo likes to run kind of in their core aspect of the run game.”"

The first time around

In the first game, the Patriots’ defense had a tough time with McCoy although he only rushed for a total of 70 yards on 19 carries. In the passing game he had 6 receptions for 38 yards and a touchdown. That is where the Patriots need to contain him, especially with a mobile quarterback like Tyrod Taylor. But still, Patricia emphasized that the team cannot underestimate his running skills between the tackles.

"“The downhill runs,” Patricia continued. “I would say out of him now, are much more dangerous and really once he breaks, he’s into the secondary or into the safeties a lot quicker. Now he has an opportunity to get open field, kind of uses his skill level in the open field to get guys to miss tackles or get an angle on a defender where he can run away or make him miss and then push it vertical. So you definitely see that recently in the last several weeks where he had some of those really explosive runs right through the middle of the line of scrimmage. So those are a little bit of a different kind of issue for us and we’ve got to make sure we can defend along with everything he can do on the perimeter and on the edge.”"

A player who was not there for the first game and could help contain McCoy is defensive end Rob Ninkovich. He has a good recognition of runs that go to the edge and therefore does a good job at setting the edge. His experience alone could go a long way in helping the overall defense lime what McCoy and the Bills’ offense is able to do.

"“Rob [Ninkovich] has a lot of experience for us,” Patricia said. “He’s been in the position for a while. Experience is a big factor in helping you kind of be able to recognize and decipher those types of plays and scenarios that come up. It’s certainly something that he can go back on in his years of playing in our system and understanding of how we need to play those particular plays and fit it the way we need it to fit.”"

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Matt Patricia and the Patriots’ defense will also rely on run stoppers Alan Branch and Malcolm Brown to be forces. Linebackers Jamie Collins, Elandon Roberts and Dont’a Hightower will also be huge in this game, especially in containing the scrambling capabilities of Taylor.

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