Buffalo Bills

Patriots reveal secret to immitating Tyrod Taylor in practice

Published Nov. 23, 2015 9:13 a.m. ET

foxsports

The New England Patriots take on the second-place Buffalo Bills to close out Week 11 on Monday night, their second matchup of the season.

The Patriots eked out a victory in Week 2, topping the Bills in a 40-32 shootout in Buffalo. Tyrod Taylor played a huge role in that game, piling up 285 yards of offense and four total touchdowns.

New England will certainly focus heavily on stopping him this time around, with an unlikely playing being their secret weapon.

“Jimmy [Garappolo] is a good athlete,” Belichick said of using Garoppolo to emulate Taylor in practice. “We’ve had several quarterbacks like that this year that we’ve played against that have run well -- [Blake] Bortles and obviously Taylor and you can go right down the line. So when those situations come up, teams that run those kinds of plays, bootlegs or quarterback keeps or even just loose scramble plays, he gives us a great look on those."

Garoppolo obviously isn't as athletic or elusive as Taylor -- few quarterbacks are -- but he does have more mobility than say, Tom Brady. And now with Sammy Watkins and LeSean McCoy completely healthy, Taylor is even more dangerous. Jamie Collins' absence will likely play a huge role.

In their first meeting with Collins on the field, the Bills rushed for 160 yards. With him not on the field Monday night, that number could be even higher -- especially when it comes to spying Taylor in the pocket.

“I think that’s really the key for us, if we have the player contained he’s probably not going to try to run too much,” Belichick said. “If we don’t, then we’re vulnerable and he’s going to get us. It’s having the guy who can make that right decision and really give you that realistic look of, we don’t really have it and he hurts us with it, whereas sometimes you’re coaching on the film in practice and you’re saying, ‘Well if we were playing against this guy and this happened, this is what he’s going to do.’ But we can’t really do that so the players never really get that."