In early December, the New England Patriots ran over, through, and around the Buffalo Bills to the tune of 222 rushing yards, including one long rushing TD. In late December, the two teams met again three weeks later but the story was different? What changed?
In the second game against the Patriots, the Bills deployed a new set of defenders to stop the run. While they didn’t switch all the way to the base 4-3 defense, they subbed in a third linebacker for the second-most snaps on the season. A.J. Klein was in for 30% of the snaps while Taron Johnson saw just 70%.