Archives for September 25, 2024

‘“I think Joe has done a really good job. He understands the players that he has and their strengths and that’s a big piece of it week to week,” head coach Sean McDermott said following Monday’s 47-10 victory over the Jaguars at Highmark Stadium. “He’s shown, which I think is important, that he’s willing to do whatever it takes, run, pass, throw a deep, throw it short, in order to win. I think that’s a strength as well.”‘

‘Valdes-Scantling was the beneficiary of the Bills benching rookie receiver Keon Coleman for the first quarter because he was late. Valdes-Scantling ended up playing 49 offensive snaps, which was 77% of the offensive total and led all wide receivers. He finished with one catch for 7 yards on 2 targets. Coleman, meanwhile, ended up playing just 20 offensive snaps – 31% of the team total.’

‘We watched a run-first Bills offense the first two weeks. Not Monday night. In the first half, the Bills had 29 called pass plays and 10 called runs. On first down in the first half, it was 18 passes and four runs. The Bills were confident they could skewer the Jaguars’ man coverage, so they ran three-receiver sets (11 personnel) or four-receiver sets (01 personnel) on 30 of 39 first-half plays. Josh Allen is completing 71.2% of his passes out of 11 personnel this season, according to News charting. Last year, his rate was 65.1%.’

‘Good pass protection helped Josh Allen kill the blitz. On 11 blitz plays (rushes of five or more men), the Bills averaged 11.2 yards a play. Against the blitz, Allen was 6 of 9 for 106 yards with two TD passes, plus two scrambles for 17 yards. On a third-and-11 blitz, the Jaguars left the middle of the field wide open with no spy and Allen ran straight ahead for 11 yards. The pass-offs on stunts by the interior of the line were excellent.’

‘Barely 100 individuals took advantage of the Bills bonds offer. But those who did invested pretty deep. The county raised $2.71 million in orders from people as part of the retail sale on Monday.’