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Bills vs. Patriots All-22 breakdown: Tom Brady and the play-action pass

Don't sleep on a Patriots offense that has struggled more than it has thrived early in the 2014 season; they are still very capable of masking their weaknesses and keeping opposing defenses off-balance.

By Brian Galliford
  • Coming off a play fake, the Patriots have two receivers running seam routes against four Bengals defenders. Brandon LaFell runs an excellent route on the dig (top route) for an easy 20-yard gain.
  • On this touchdown toss from Tom Brady to Tim Wright, the play-fake sucks the Bengals' linebacker (circled in red) into no-man's land and opens up a huge seam for Brady and Wright to work in.
  • This was the one play-fake call that yielded a sack. Brady did not pull the trigger on the open, short throw to Julian Edelman for some reason, giving the Bengals' right end time to beat Nate Solder for the takedown.
  • Working out of the shotgun, Brady executes a poor play fake - aided by Stevan Ridley not even feigning the run - yet still sucks a streaking safety into the backfield, opening up Shane Vereen on the flare pattern (in yellow).
  • This became a go-to strategy for the Patriots in the second and third quarters: play fake, wait for Rob Gronkowski to clear the underneath zone defender, and then throw to him underneath the safety.
  • This is another play in which Brady targets Gronkowski between top and intermediate zone coverage, but he also had Edelman with inside leverage on the fly pattern on this play. (He has another clean pocket, too.)
  • On the first play of the third quarter, a simple run fake pulls the linebacker up to the line of scrimmage, leaving the fullback open behind him.
  • Yet again: Gronkowski clears the underneath defender, then turns in, where he can easily box out the top safety thanks to his tremendous size.
  • Building off of their read-option flare from earlier, Brady fakes, pumps to the flare, and then has Wright wide open up the seam (yellow route) for another big gainer.
  • Once more, we see this concept of clearing the zone defender and then working leverage on the safety. Nearly every time a play-fake was called, the Bengals yielded a ton of territory in the middle of their defense.
  • Even in the red zone, a quick read-option play fake was effective in clearing out a defender to open up a throwing lane. (Cincinnati's corner made a great play to force an incompletion.)
  • Again, note the huge amount of free green space in the middle of the field after the play fake. Cincinnati's linebackers simply aren't agile enough to make up ground after being sucked this far forward. This was another easy pitch-and-catch on the hitch route.

Let's get one thing straight about the New England Patriots heading into this Sunday's ultra-important game against the Buffalo Bills: reports of their offensive demise, and particularly of a decline in the play of quarterback Tom Brady, are greatly exaggerated.

No, this Patriots offense is not as potent as it once was, nor are they nearly as efficient at protecting Brady as they once were. But this is still an offense that can keep defenses off-balance and find ways to mask weaknesses and exploit their opponents', which they did with marvelous efficiency in their 43-17 thumping of the Cincinnati Bengals this past Sunday night.

Having trouble protecting the passer? Notice that the Bengals' linebackers, without star Vontaze Burfict, are a point of vulnerability? Why not base your game plan around manipulating those linebackers, and beefing up your protection in the process, with some play-action passing?

Aided by early success on the ground, Brady and the Patriots wound up calling 13 passing plays with built-in play fakes against the Bengals. Most of those were traditional play fakes, run with Brady under center, while a handful were read-option fakes. The result? Brady took just one sack on those plays - and he missed an open receiver on that play - while completing 9-of-12 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown. It's all broken down in the gallery above (and if you're reading on mobile, make sure you're doing so in landscape).

You can bet that the Patriots will try this philosophy out against the Bills, who in the absence of Kiko Alonso - and with Nigel Bradham potentially less than 100 percent - suffer from a notable lack of elite speed and agility with Brandon Spikes, Preston Brown, and Keith Rivers on the field. It will also help the Pats deal with a Bills defensive line that is playing tremendous football right now, and that has accumulated 14.5 sacks in the team's first five games.

Add in the fact that the Pats can still switch in and out of a no-huddle approach at a moment's notice, and the Patriots are still a force to be reckoned with on offense, despite their well-documented issues on that side of the ball through five games.

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