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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The 2016 season is still in its first month, and so far nothing has been able to stop the New England Patriots.Not Tom Bradys four-game suspension.Not the injuries to both of Bradys backups.And certainly not the efforts of their first three opponents.Its their old buddy Rex Ryans turn to give it a try.Ryan is back in New England (3-0) Sunday for the second time since taking over as coach of the Buffalo Bills (1-2).But he, like the rest of the AFC East, hasnt had much luck against Bill Belichicks bunch.Including his six seasons as coach of the Jets, Ryan is just 4-11 against the Patriots, dropping nine of the past 10 matchups.After being swept in two meetings last season, Ryan isnt lamenting what the Patriots wont have during this latest clash.One thing I know for sure is that Tom Brady is not the quarterback and I feel good about that, Ryan said.Sunday marks the final game of Bradys four-game suspension for his role in the Deflategate saga.But just as it was when he began his suspension, the biggest question continues to focus on the quarterback position.Jimmy Garoppolo, who injured his throwing shoulder during New Englands win over the Dolphins in Week 2, began the week working his way back into game shape.The same was true for third-stringer Jacoby Brissett. He made his first career start in place of Garoppolo in last weeks win over Houston, but suffered a right thumb injury.Everyone in the Patriots camp has been mum about the plan at quarterback this week, prompting Ryan to take over a reporters conference call and ask receiver Julian Edelman -- New Englands emergency option- whether he might get a start there. Edelman told him to ask Belichick.Havent talked to him yet, Ryan said, but Im sure Ill call him later today and Bill will tell me.Good luck with that.What is certain is that a win even against a Brady-less Patriots team would go a long way for Ryan. Thats especially true after the Bills averted spiraling into crisis with their 33-18 win over Arizona last week.But having to make adjustments because of injuries is nothing new for this team, Garoppolo said.Its just football. I think everybody in this locker room is doing that.Here are some things to watch for in Sundays game:PATRIOT REIGN: Beating the Patriots wont be easy for the Bills. New England has won 28 of the past 32 games between the clubs going back to the 2000 season.MAKING IMPROVEMENTS: The Bills improved mightily on offense last week in new coordinator Anthony Lynns first time calling plays. They did so without top receiving threat Sammy Watkins (left foot) and starting LT Cordy Glenn, who missed his second straight game after aggravating an injury to his left ankle. Watkins is out Sunday which could put more of a workload on LeSean McCoy , who had 110 yards rushing and two scores against Arizona. This game will be big in the management of the ball, managing the ball, staying on the field, McCoy said. I think on defense theyll do a lot of different unique types of looks (and) blitzes. As an offense weve got to put points up.TYRODS PROGRESS: QB Tyrod Taylor also found his legs last week with 76 yards rushing and a score to match the single-game franchise record for quarterbacks he set last season. But the passing game remains an issue as Taylor went 14 of 25 for 119 yards. It was the second game this season hes been held under 120 yards passing. His most glaring deficiency is that hes still having trouble throwing over the middle and getting through his reads. The Patriots definitely do a good job of taking away what you do well and them forcing me to have to stay in the pocket is definitely something that we have in mind, Taylor said.BLOUNT FORCE: While New England has been forced to shuffle quarterbacks, RB LeGarrette Blount has been a constant on offense. He was selected as the AFC offensive player of the month and leads the NFL with 298 rushing yards. Hes also tied for the NFL lead with four rushing touchdowns. His 105 yards against Houston gave him back-to-back 100-yard games. His four touchdowns tied Marion Butts (1994) and Corey Dillon (2005) for the most for the Patriots in the first three games.MORE GRONK? Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski played sparingly during his regular-season debut last week. He was on the field for just 14 of 62 offensive snaps last week, or 23 percent of the time. Hes still nursing a tender hamstring, but should be more involved this week.---AP Sports Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo contributed to this report.---Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP-NFLPhiladelphia Flyers Jerseys . Burris threw two TD passes, including a key 15-yard fourth-quarter strike to Bakari Grant that effectively countered a Toronto comeback bid and led Hamilton to a 33-19 victory. Brian Propp Flyers Jersey . 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Claude Giroux Jersey .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury.One week had passed since a Chick Fil-A Peach Bowl win served as Houstons biggest bowl celebration in 35 years and doubled as the Cougars declaration as a future playoff revolutionary.Tom Herman, who days earlier stood overwhelmed atop a Georgia Dome stage, was clearing space. Not for two sterling trophies but for his family. The first-time head coach who went 13-1 in his inaugural season was cleaning his garage.The luster of a conference championship and New Years Six trophy for Houston didnt wear off after a week. It was wiped clean. It was time for Hermans 2016 to to-do list, which constituted a Saturday of housework.Winning the Peach Bowl does not help you at all with what youre trying to accomplish in 2016, Herman said. Youve probably heard we dont wear any Peach Bowl gear during team activities, we dont say the words.Its a formula adopted from Urban Meyer. If Meyers ketchup, Herman is catsup. The recipe is the same, just a repackaged style. With a clean garage, next on Hermans to-do list was to touch base with Meyer.Want to win a national championship in Year 2? Meyer has the blueprint, and it was Meyer who helped launch Hermans nascent coaching career with a three-year apprenticeship at Ohio State.At two of Meyers past three stops, Year 2 consisted of an undefeated regular season. The other was a national championship year. There have been three BCS bowls, and while Boise State and TCU are memorialized as the BCS busters, first there was Meyers 2004 Utah team.Now, Herman is hoping to similarly chart a landscape undefined for the Group of 5. In his second season at Houston, Herman has positioned the Cougars as a viable preseason playoff contender. In the first two years of the playoff, only one Group of 5 team has been ranked preseason: No. 23 Boise State in 2015.[Meyers] Year 2s are phenomenal, Herman said.Herman hopes to duplicate it, and there are striking similarities between how Meyer started his programs with what Herman is doing at Houston.1. Break entitlementMeyer blueprint:Wide receiver Dallas Baker enrolled at Florida in 2003 under Ron Zook but lived off past Florida glory. A nose-diving program still held itself in the same esteem as the SEC powerhouse of the 1990s.We were losing but still living the life. We were living off stuff that Steve Spurrier did, Baker said. That first [Meyer] year, 2005, was about breaking entitlement. Coach Meyer said the school owes you nothing.So Meyers first offseason consisted of midnight and weekend workouts to assess the players dedication to the program and one another. Stripped of their gear and given tattered workout clothes, players were shipped to nearby Lake Alice to carry weighted milk jugs the length of the field. Lifting logs, army crawls and sledgehammer slams followed as the rest of campus enjoyed the temperate winter weather.It taught us not to give up, no matter how hard, Baker said. It was about dedicating our time to one another.Herman model:Herman stripped Houston of any sense of comfort in his first offseason. Players had to earn the right to display the Houston insignia. The locker room was chained shut, and what followed were a series of consecutive pre-dawn workouts.Earn a place on the team, Herman demanded, and build equity with the staff.He told us that first-meeting things will be a meritocracy, senior defensive end Cameron Malveaux said. You get what you earn, all the way to the workout gear.... That first offseason, he was trying to make us realize he was the real deal. We did a lot of things to break you physically and mentally. Of course we had a couple teammates back out, weeded out.2. Change practice habitsMeyer blueprint:In the moments leading up to the 2006 national championship game, Meyer and Baker argued over the intricacies of a route. Early in the first quarter, a pass to Baker went for a touchdown rather than a costly red zone interception.There is no detail overlooked during practices with Meyer. No skills are taken for granted. Basics are perfected.Not taking anything away from Coach Zook because he coached at Florida in the early 90s and knows Florida football, but he wasnt about hitting on fundamentals. We didnt hit on them. It was supposed to be expected, Baker said. It was about bringing the juice like Florida had with Coach Spurrier. When Coach Meyer came, it was about competing, learning how to run, basically taking a robot apart and putting it back together.Once Meyer built them back up, he put his players through the most physically taxing practices. He would set up the offense against the defense first-and-goal from the 1-yard line, and the loser had to run sprints. It fostered such a competitive environment that fights would sometimes break out, creating an edge which former players said the coach liked.My second year in the NFL, I went back to Florida and how intense it was, in the NFL you didnt practice nearly as hard or strenuous, 2006 linebacker Brandon Siler said. It comes from the tempo and amount of stress he puts on competition.Herman method:At Houston, dont dare walk onto the practice field with even a slight deviance from the equipment that players were asked to wear. Dont finish a route even a half-inch past its intended point.That tremendous attention to detail came from Urban, said Houston co-defensive coordinator Craig Naivar.After beating Vanderbilt last season, Herman offered a break from those heavily scrutinized practices. He asked his players whether they wanted a light day early next week. Theyd watch film instead of slopping in the downpour outside.They declined.And this spring, Houston suffered through more live hitting in practice than ever before. Malveaux estimates there were far more than 1,000 live repetitions, exceeding any previous spring.It was a feel for hard-nosed football, he said. The main thing is we have to impose our will on teams.3. Proper alignmentMeyer blueprint:Alignment is a word rooted in Meyers programs, and it doesnt always take hold in the first year. Not much changes in Year 2 to spark a championship run, but after a full year, theres an alignment within the program. Its an all-encompassing term stretching to every corner of the program.In Year 1, I dont care where you go. Youre trying as best you can to get as much buy-in, but theres never 100 percent. There cant be. Guys have been involved in another program, said Steve Addazio, who is the coach for Boston College and former Meyer assistant. In Year 2, everyone knows the offseason program, understands accountability, bought into the principles, the way we practice, run Fridays, train. Everyone is in alignment.Thats really what it is. I know it intimately. Theres nothing else thats different.Herman model:At Houston, everyone in the building is aligned. It starts with Herman and extends to his coaching, strength, academic, equipment and nutrition staff.Everyone that plays a role in the development of thhe student-athletes all have the same messages, beliefs and passion, Naivar said.dddddddddddd.The players, who thought they were signing with an ascending program that reached No. 6 in 2011, were ready to buy in to a new program. Arriving on the heels of a national title, Herman already held clout. A Week 2 win at Louisville and fast start had the entire roster on board.You can tell hes trying to be like Coach Meyer, said Baker, who has met Herman. He talks and its like Thats something Coach Meyer would say. It helps recruit and get the most out of guys. Coach Meyer makes you feel like you could run through a wall, and Herman does the same.4. Develop a QBMeyer blueprint:?Meyer inherited Alex Smith, Chris Leak and Braxton Miller in his past three coaching jobs. Smith was a future No. 1 pick. Leak was Rivals No. 2 quarterback in the 2003 recruiting class. And Miller was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year when Meyer arrived.You dont win in college football if you dont have a trigger man, Addazio said. The quarterback is so critically important at any level of football; having the right guy with the right it factor and right chemistry is critical. Youre in a foot race to find that guy, and teams with those guys usually have success.In their second years under Meyer, Leak, Miller and Smith all completed at least 63.5 percent of their passes and combined to throw for 7,988 yards, 79 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. They rushed for another 1,729 yards.Herman method:Greg Ward Jr. was a part-time receiver and returner in 2013, but Herman identified him as the future at quarterback. In Hermans first season, he developed Ward into an All-AAC selection and the conferences top big-play threat. Only Ward and Deshaun Watson threw for more than 2,000 yards and rushed for more than 1,000 in 2015.Of the BCS busters and 2014 Fiesta Bowl winner Boise State, only two teams returned their signal-caller the following year: 2010 TCU (Andy Dalton; went 13-0 and won the Rose Bowl) and 2010 Boise State (Kellen Moore; 12-1 and lost as the No. 4-ranked team in overtime).5. Family atmosphereMeyer blueprint:Every Thursday during the season, the coaches wives and kids met the players as they walked off the practice field. Hugs, high fives and candy awaited the Gators after a final practice before a Friday walk-through and Saturdays game.Coaches and players families joined the team for dinner on Thursdays. A player could invite anyone from his family. Meyer wanted to foster an iron-clad link among his team.It continued Friday during walk-through with 20 minutes of free time. Linemen, never in favor of much running, played touch football on a truncated field. Skill players shuffled through games of hot potato.The camaraderie carried over to the field.When youre around people more, you form a bond. You understand what now makes a guy tick, Siler said. My defensive linemen, theyre lazy in their natural state. If you challenge them, though, theyre huffing it and killing it. So I knew what made them go, and if I didnt, Ive never be able to get them to move.Herman model:How Meyers Fridays began are how Hermans end. The last part of practice might turn into a Wiffle ball game. The defensive backs will take part of the field and bring out the ball and bat in what turns out to be a competitive affair.Then theres a team meal and chapel service before players, coaches and families are shuttled into a big room on the eve of game day. There are movies, video games, TVs, cards and dominoes to occupy time. No one can leave until late into the evening.Everyone is in that team setting, and theyre there until 9 or 10 oclock, Naivar said.6. Motivate/avoid complacency in Year 2Meyer blueprint:Fans were upset, taking to sports radio to voice their anger. Meyer, in his second season after a 9-3 first year, was keeping players from dressing in the locker room. It was an unacceptable stunt at Florida, according to fans who grumbled on a local station that players listened to occasionally.The summer of 2006, players were removed from the home team dressing room, and invites back came only a few at a time.Everybody said theyd do whatever it takes to get back in there, Baker said.The team, which finished No. 12 in 2005, fell prey to the ploy. There was a motivation and edge created just before the 2006 season. Any lingering complacency ceased among the team.In the spring, Herman called Meyer about avoiding complacency, and so Meyer cited another coach he is close with to help relay his message.Its an adage that Ive heard [Bill] Belichick and great coaches say: guys wake up on third base, but they never hit the triple. Thats a pretty good way of thinking about it, Meyer said. [Herman has] got guys walking into the program, guys who are going to play for him who have had nothing to do with nothing and theyre getting patted on the back. You guys beat Florida State. Yeah, but they had nothing to do with it. That happens when you have success.Herman model:A two-touchdown win over Florida State in the Peach Bowl should give Houston preseason credibility, which Herman believes will make it easier to potentially crash the Power 5 playoff party. But Herman wants this Houston roster to move past its rockin New Years Eve in Atlanta.I wanted to pick [Meyers] brain a little bit on the fine line of referring to those examples and teaching moments from last year without living in the past. What he told me was that Its absolutely OK to celebrate the examples and the process, but you certainly never want to dwell on the result, Herman said. You dont want to sit there and gloat about how fun it was to stand on the stage in the Georgia Dome or out here in our stadium when we won the conference championship.So no pats on the back this offseason from Herman. Its question marks instead. Peach Bowl gear was traded in for shirts bearing a large question mark on the back.People say we have hype, but that was last years team and not this one, Malveaux said. That team won the Peach Bowl. This is a whole other team.Exhaustive Big 12 expansion discussions doubled as motivation for the Cougars.The outside world thinks were a fluke, Naivar said. The conference expansion and whos worthy and whos not, our kids dont care and will play in a Wal-Mart parking lot. When people talk down to them because theyre not in the Big 12 or SEC, they get a chip on their shoulder.Meyer protégés have spent weeks at No. 1, finished No. 2 and won major bowls and coach of the year awards. None have won a national championship.Herman is aiming to be the first, relying on Meyers blueprint to do it. He called his three years under Meyer like head-coaching school, and now Herman is looking to duplicate Meyers Year 2 successes.Hes a smart guy, Meyer said. Hes obviously done a great job. ' ' '