5 Keyz: Patriots vs. Bills

From BostonSportz.com:

 A week from right now we’ll know a whole lot about who exactly the 2008 Patriots are. With two division games in five days it's time for the Patriots to show what they’ve got.

They came within a dropped pass and a penalty from beating a desperate Colts team on their home turf. Many pundits still have the Pats ranked over the Colts in their Power Rankings despite the loss.

It's pretty clear that the Patriots have been playing solid football the last three weeks. They may not be the explosive team of 2007 but they have looked far better than their performance in San Diego led us to believe.

The Bills started off the season on fire but have slowly fallen back to earth by losing three of their last four. They’ve also been hit again hard by the injury bug losing top safety Donte Whitner and pass rush nightmare Aaron Schobel. But this is still a dangerous team and who are faced with falling to 0-3 in the division. They will play desperate.

 The road to the playoffs starts with your division and the Patriots are already well aware that they will need to bring their best game. The Keyz…

 Secondary Concern – With both Terrence Wheatley and Lewis Sanders out with injuries and Jonathan Wilhite looking like the rookie that he is against the Colts, the Patriots brought back Jason Webster this week. Webster was cut at the end of training camp and should add another veteran presence, specifically in the slot, where the Pats need the most help. The rest of the Pats defensive backfield did a solid job against the vaunted but slowly aging Colts offense. That will have to continue this week as the Bills have the ability to make the big play, especially with Lee Evans. This might be considered the Pats weak link at the moment, if they can continue to tighten up it should translate to Matt Cassel ripping it up ala Tom Brady (circa 2005).

Cassel Time – For the first time this season Cassel was not sacked against the Colts. Nick Kaczur returned to the lineup and as a group the fat bodies did a good job of keeping the quick pass rushers off of Cassel. We are slowly seeing that if Cassel has that extra second or two he’s able to make plays. Maybe the line is getting used to him. Maybe he’s getting the ball out quicker. Either way, if he has time this week he should be able to pick on a banged up Bills secondary, especially without Schobel or Whitner in the lineup.

 Special Teams – The first thing out of Bill Belichick’s mouth when talking about the Bills is how good they are on special teams. For the most part this year the Patriots have been fairly solid on Special Teams. Nothing can change the game like a punt or kick return for a touchdown so the Pats special teamers will have to be ready to go. With the way Belichick praises this part of the Bills I would bet they are prepared for the challenge.

Get the Lead – With a young team like the Bills you cannot allow them even a sniff of victory. The Patriots must put up an early touchdown and never look back. If they let the Bills take an early lead it could get interesting. The Bills have been losing in New England for so long an early score will remind them that this year is no different. Of course the Pats have to start getting more touchdown's in the red zone. This is the final area of Matt Cassel's game that needs to show improvement and as I like to say, you can't bring knives to a gunfight.

 Win – I feel fairly confident that the Pats will be able to pull this one out. The combination of solid play from New England and shaky play from Buffalo over the past couple weeks will hopefully continue. A win would put a severe damper on Buffalo’s division title hopes and set up a battle against the Jets next Thursday that will go a long way toward determining who wins the AFC East.