There is a long line of quarterbacks who have endured some of their most miserable performances against the defenses coached by Bill Belichick.

At one point in his career, Peyton Manning was 2-10 with nine touchdown passes and 17 interceptions against Belichick's Patriots.

Drew Bledsoe was 5-10 in his career against Belichick-coached defenses with 15 touchdowns and 26 interceptions. Dan Marino was 4-5 and Doug Flutie 2-5 against Belichick defenses.

Trent Edwards will try to succeed where so many other Bills quarterbacks have failed against the Wizard from Wesleyan today when he leads the Bills into their House of Horrors — Gillette Stadium.

The Bills have lost nine straight to the Patriots and 14 of their last 15 overall.

"The MO of their defense is that they can effectively switch in and out of different schemes, different fronts, different coverages, and not a lot of teams in this league can do that," Edwards said this week. "The Patriots do it the best of anyone in this league, and that's going to confuse a first-year quarterback or a 15th-year quarterback."

Edwards' ability to avoid confusion figures to be a big factor in what is a critical AFC East meeting. Both teams stand 5-3, but the Bills are 0-2 in the division and don't want to fall to 0-3. New England is 1-1 in the division.

While the Patriots' defense is famous for using varying tactics from week to week, one thing is constant: It will focus on containing the Bills' No. 1 passing weapon, receiver Lee Evans.

In the past seven games against the Pats, Evans has just 14 catches with no touchdowns and just one reception of more than 20 yards.

"They have a very talented front seven, so one person is not going to beat that team either way," Evans said. "It takes everybody to make your offense run. You have to be able to run effectively. Especially if they want to double me and play two [safeties] high, you have to be able to run the football and do some things underneath."

That's essentially the treatment the Bills received from division rivals Miami and the New York Jets the past two weeks. Both play a 3-4 scheme and both focused on making Edwards execute piece-by-piece marches down the field.

"I'm pretty sure they're going to try and find what has worked against our offense the last two weeks, and I would probably bet they're going to do that again on Sunday," Edwards said.

The Bills had some success moving the chains the past two weeks. Edwards went on 14- and 13-play marches against the Jets. He had four scoring drives of eight or more plays against Miami.

However, too often the past two weeks, something has gone wrong on the long trek down the field.

"It's frustrating because you kind of want to open it up a little bit and try to get it down the field, but you have to take what the defense gives you," Edwards said. "These last two weeks we've been facing some deep safeties and playing a lot of man [coverage] to Lee's side and we've kind of had to get our other weapons going a little bit."

Using an "umbrella" approach probably suits the Pats' current defense, because their defensive secondary is playing at far less than full strength. Safety Rodney Harrison is out for the year with an injury. Rookie corner Terrence Wheatley, who started last week, has a wrist injury. That means Deltha O'Neal, who started six games but was benched last week, may go back in the starting lineup.

The Pats' front seven remains strong, anchored by defensive linemen Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren, all veteran former first-round draft picks.

Bills offensive coordinator Turk Schonert said that while the Jets played a lot of bend-but-don't-break defense last week, they did give the Bills chances to make big plays. The Patriots will likely do the same.

"That's what our division is — matchup zone defenses that mix in some man coverage," Schonert said. "The Jets pressured us. We were open downfield. We had some opportunities to get some big plays downfield. We missed. We missed some throws. We ran the wrong route. We were pressured, the protection didn't hold up a couple times when guys were open downfield for big plays. So it's a combination of all of us."

Edwards' play the past two weeks would look a lot better if not for two ill-timed turnovers. One came in Miami when he tried to hold the ball over the line of scrimmage on a quarterback sneak. Joey Porter snatched it away for a turnover. That was an error of inexperience by Edwards that is not likely to happen again. The other came last week, when Edwards tried to force a pass in a bad situation — third-and-goal from the 14. It was picked off and returned 92 yards for a touchdown.

Schonert is very happy with Edwards' play overall. The Bills' QB ranks 11th in the NFL in passer rating (90.8) and fifth in completion percentage (68.0). Schonert just wants to see fewer turnovers by the offense as a whole.

"We're turning the ball over too much," Schonert said. "We're making mental errors and turning guys free on the quarterback and he's getting hit. I think we lead the league in fumbles [lost]. (They do, with 10.) And we've just got to stop doing that. We can't turn guys free on the quarterback. When he's expecting them to be blocked, we've got to block them. That's the bottom line."

Pass protection always seems to be an issue for the Bills against the Patriots. It was last year, when the Pats drubbed the Bills, 56-10, in Buffalo. J.P. Losman was sacked four times.

That was another case in which the Pats threw a wrinkle at the Bills that worked brilliantly.

"The thing that they did to us last year is that they switched into a 4-3 the second game ... and beat us 56-10 on Sunday night," Edwards said. "We didn't practice all week against a 4-3. We weren't really expecting that and that's tough to do defensively, to switch into a brand-new scheme and beat a team like that. I have a lot of respect for the way they can jump into and out of different schemes like that. ... I'm expecting that and I'm going to have to spend a little more time on that."

"I just finished watching last year's film again," Schonert said Wednesday. "They went to a four-man line and we didn't execute hot reads. They just brought one guy. It wasn't anything we hadn't seen before, but we fell asleep."

The Bills can't afford any sleeping on the job today.