ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Even on paper it looked like a mélange of misdirected X's, a Chinese Fire Drill of a defensive game plan, a blueprint so convoluted in design that New England Patriots players scratched their heads when coach Bill Belichick and coordinator Romeo Crennel handed it out early last week.

"I couldn't remember," said defensive tackle Richard Seymour, "when I had seen something so wacky. I mean, it confused me for a while, so I can't see how any quarterback could figure it out. Not during a game."

	Belichick's defense once again kept Bledsoe and his offense in check.

The fact is, even if Buffalo quarterback Drew Bledsoe might have guessed his former team was plotting some sort of exotic scheme for its first meeting with him in another uniform, it would not have mattered. So overmatched and underprepared was the Bills youthful offensive line, addled by schemes capable of being fathomed only in Belichick's fertile and devious mind, that the blockers spent most of an ugly 38-7 defeat merely guessing about which defenders were their responsibility.

The loss, Buffalo's worst since a 47-6 drubbing by the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 4, 1987, was one in which every Bills player could assume culpability. It was particularly damaging, though, to a blocking unit that was thoroughly incapable of protecting its most prized commodity.

Bledsoe was officially sacked four times, knocked down on at least six other occasions, forced to scramble far too many times to count. It wasn't so much that New England defenders were physically superior to Bills counterparts, although they had a huge advantage in upfront quickness, but that they were working with yet the latest manifestation of Belichick's genius.

When the Patriots traded Bledsoe to Buffalo in April, a rare deal within the division, the suspicion was that Belichick didn't mind swapping him to a club he would face twice annually because he knew how to get to Bledsoe. If he wasn't in Bledsoe's head Sunday afternoon, his defense certainly was in the Buffalo backfield, early and often.

On the first Buffalo possession, Bledsoe was sacked by the nearly-forgotten linebacker Ted Johnson for an inexplicable 14-yard loss on which he should have thrown the ball away, and the breakdown cost the Bills a likely attempt at a field goal. The play also served notice that New England intended to do whatever it took to shred the confidence of Bledsoe's protection, to get near him in the pocket, to exert its will on the expatriate ex-Patriot.

How exotic was the New England scheme? Consider this: Crennel had not used it since an intrasquad scrimmage in training camp. He had previously used it against Bledsoe when Crennel was an assistant in Cleveland. Other than those two occasions, the scheme was in mothballs, just waiting to be unearthed at an opportune time.

That time arrived on Sunday afternoon, and so did the Patriots defenders, blitzing Bledsoe in hordes and never allowing him to find a rhythm.

For most of the game, the Patriots had four linebackers on the field, and they generally played in a two-point stance. There were times, in fact, when New England had every member of its front seven playing stand-up stances. On at least a couple occasions the Patriots had only one lineman, usually Seymour, in a three-point stance.

For a few snaps, there were six linebackers on the field, as the Pats sought to enhance the edge in team speed. There were times the linebackers were up and walking around, a few times when they were still moving when the ball was snapped, but always they seemed prepared for the Buffalo volleys.

	“	They were jumping all over the place but, if there was one (constant), it was that they definitely wanted to pressure Drew up inside. You always want to get pressure in the face of a quarterback, but they were really determined to do so. ”
		— Buffalo center Trey Teague

Typically the Patriots like to align in a scheme they call "The Big Nickel," because it puts three safeties on the field. If they have any kind of name for the scheme they visited upon the helpless Bledsoe on Sunday, no one was ready to divulge it. Then again, it's as tough to place a handle on a six-linebacker defense as it was for the Bills to get a grip on what they faced much of the contest.

"They were jumping all over the place but, if there was one (constant), it was that they definitely wanted to pressure Drew up inside," said Buffalo center Trey Teague, who was essentially steamrolled by Seymour on a player that resulted in a sack. "You always want to get pressure in the face of a quarterback, but they were really determined to do so."

For all their publicly professed admiration of Bledsoe, his former mates did not provide him any slack, and a few Patriots defenders seemed to gain a certain glee in physically punishing him. On one sack play, rush linebacker Willie McGinest slammed Bledsoe to the turf, then followed through and made sure he fell directly on top of him.

McGinest was flagged on the play for roughing the passer. As a team, the Patriots were guilty as charged all day for that infraction.

A candidate for most valuable player honors, Bledsoe completed 28 of 45 passes for 302 yards, with one touchdown pass and one interception. But his day could not be measured in statistics, but rather by the number of welts he wore, his body a red mess as he dressed.

"There's no doubt," Bledsoe said, "that the Patriots played really well. You have to give them credit, their players and their coaches, for what they did."

So in the Bledsoe-Belichick mind game, the first round definitely went to the coach, in a dominating TKO. The chance for payback comes on Dec. 8 in Foxboro and, as Bills wide receiver Peerless Price pointed out, "you can bet" Bledsoe will be prepared for the rematch.

But so will Belichick, likely with some new and deranged defense that could result in another mismatch. After what he pulled out of his bag of tricks Sunday afternoon there's no telling how devious the defense will be.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.