Why is the run game is so important?

[ProcessTruster]

IMO the run game will be critical in a night game at Arrowhead with 80k screaming fans.   Has Josh ever played in a circus environment like that?   Not sure.   If he is forced to throw it 40+ times it will be a supreme test.  Not sure one he can pass.  We will see.   

[NewEra]

1 hour ago, Big Turk said:

 

Great answer...but slow down...let the man finish the first year and then see how he does in year 2 and 3. Plenty of great coaches in year one didn't have many answers after that. 

 

But...it makes it easier to have answers when you have someone like Herbert at QB

It’s my prediction…I’m not stating it as fact.  Sorry, I should’ve known to have put “in my opinion” in every post as not to put people panties in a bunch.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

8 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

Love that clip. I wish other coaches would answer questions like that. We are not dumb fans but we are not experts either.  I can explain how the heart works to a lay person and not dumb it down. Coaches can do the same and we would all have a better understanding and appreciation for the game.  

I wonder if He’ll stop answering like that when he loses a game and he media thought he threw too much. They’ll bring this up and say why didn’t you follow your own philosophy??  
 

I feel like the press pushes these guys into their shell with the approach of trying to generate sensationalism… 

[Royale with Cheese]

21 minutes ago, ProcessTruster said:

IMO the run game will be critical in a night game at Arrowhead with 80k screaming fans.   Has Josh ever played in a circus environment like that?   Not sure.   If he is forced to throw it 40+ times it will be a supreme test.  Not sure one he can pass.  We will see.   

 

It will be.  We got abused in the trenches in two games against them, both offense and defense.

 

We need to set a tone against the DL and need to be nastier this time.  If we can't run it, I don't like our chances.

[BillsFan4]

Brandon Staley has been winning my respect so far this season.

 

I wasn’t initially impressed with the hire. I didn’t think Staley had enough experience to be a head coach. He only had 1 year of experience as a NFL coordinator and only 4 years total experience as an NFL coach.

 

I wondered if they settled for Staley because they got tired of waiting for Daboll.

 

I probably even joked about how anyone that ever got Sean McVay a cup of coffee could get a head coaching job right now.

 

But so far he’s been impressing me. I can see what the Chargers saw in him.

[BBills_88]

I am glad the BILLS have decided to incorporate the Run game with more seriousness this season. 
I was happy to see Gilliam lined up in the backfield, 

I was happy to see the JUMBO packages. 

Allow the OLINE to wear down the opposing team's Dline. 

We ran 4 straight run plays against the Texans which is rear with DABOL, you could see the souls being taken out of the TEXANS player because of it. 

 

Let Josh Chef the Chiefs, but also let the Oline impose their will with M&M incorporated running. 

[NewEra]

3 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Yes, Staley is right.

 

No, that was absolutely not our problem against KC last year. We absolutely got them to fight blocks and tackle. They were in fact very good at it in both games. They were damn good at stopping our run game by fighting blocks and tackling.

 

You don't have to run in every game. We had a great game against Seattle last year practically without running till the last few drives to burn clock. We didn't run but we still passed extremely well. Our troubles in passing at KC weren't caused by run problems. We just weren't very good at either, in either game.

 

Your team will absolutely have a hard time though, if teams all know you can't run and so you won't. That makes it a lot easier on defenses. But if game planning says it's better to run very little against some teams, that can be a very reasonable decision.

No what?  Where did I say that that was our problem vs KC last year.  I said that it hurt us big time last year.  We had more than one problem.  I’m not saying that this was THE issue.  Merely AN issue.  
 

The fact that the chiefs stopped the run just shows how truly bad our run game was.  They sold out to stop the pass……and they still had zero problems stopping the run.  If they had any worries about the run game, we may had

more success in the pass game.  
 

You’re certainly entitled to you opinion- but if you don’t think that our lack of a run game all season had any affect on the KC defensive game plan, play calling and eventually the outcome of the season, well than I think your opinion is wrong.  
 

agree to disagree.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

41 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

It will be.  We got abused in the trenches in two games against them, both offense and defense.

 

We need to set a tone against the DL and need to be nastier this time.  If we can't run it, I don't like our chances.

 

Physical on both sides of the ball honestly.  The defense needs to bring the pain.

[Mat68]

10 hours ago, Warcodered said:

I think the main thing is you have to be able to make the defense respect it, which comes down not only being able to run the ball but also that you show if they don't defend it you'll punish them for it.

 

Running is such a different style than the passing game that the defense not having to worry about is much more significant I think than them not having to worry about a certain aspect of the passing game. Like if your short game is good but the deep ball is off them not having to worry about defending deep passes isn't as significant a change as them not having to defend the run.

Make the defense think.  Everything that does that is important for an offense.  Motion, tempo, play action are all components of the best offenses.  

[BuffaloBill]

11 hours ago, Einstein said:

Saw that earlier. It was absolutely perfectly said.

 

 

This^^^^^^

[GoBills808]

Justin Herbert has the 4th most pass attempts in the NFL currently.

[Rubes]

2 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

It will be.  We got abused in the trenches in two games against them, both offense and defense.

 

We need to set a tone against the DL and need to be nastier this time.  If we can't run it, I don't like our chances.

 

Yep, the main reason we got bounced in KC last year is because our O-line couldn't block for the run *or* the pass. It was horrific.

 

The main reason we lost in BUF last year is essentially because their O-line beat up our D-line, primarily on running plays. We basically invited them to run it, and we didn't do a good enough job stopping it. I think we'll use the same strategy this time, and we'll see if the rejuvenated D-line (especially with Star) can hold up this time.

 

[K-9]

All due respect to Staley, but this is nothing new. 

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

One word

 

Balance

 

you have to be able to do both to be successful 

 

SB successful 

 

[WideNine]

13 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I don’t think Daboll would disagree with this. 
 

I suspect the times we have abandoned the run game or excessively run empty sets is due to the fact that it seems to Allow

josh to read the defense a lot easier. 

 

I think that worked early when teams were all following the same formula of blitzing Allen with 5 (or more) and playing simple man or simple zones or one safety high. Allen could use the pre-snap motion to see who was covering whom or whether they were going to use zone or a mix of zone and man.

 

When teams began to pin their ears back rushing 4 they found there are a lot of ways to confuse Allen and make him hold the ball longer using 7 defenders off the ball. Not only that, but DL player did not have to respect their gap assignments and could just go all out on their pass rush.

 

I like Dabs, but I think he was a bit slow to digest the data that clearly showed we played our best ball and had the best completion percentages when operating out of the 11 personnel and incorporate that into more balanced game plans. He clearly loves to be creative with his offensive play calls, but there are times you have to accept what the data is telling you and be creative within that structure. There is a lot he can still do out of that 11 personnel package and he has even thrown in some 12 personnel with a fullback.

 

I like what he has done this year and I think it will help Allen stay upright, gets our offensive line off its heels from time to time so they can pound on a DL instead of just getting punched in the mouth, and will help limit the jailbreaks.

 

 

[John from Riverside]

The running game can slow down a high potent office by keeping them off the field and messing with their timing.

 

Take this weekend for instance......if we can get first downs on the ground (and scoring 7 on our drives) and we do long time consuming drives we keep Mahommes and his merry band from putting up huge points.

 

By controlling time of possession.....you also keep your defense fresh.

 

 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

14 hours ago, NewEra said:

It sucks when we run for 1-2 yards, but that’s the trade off when attempting to take a defenses soul by running the ball down their throat.  

 

I just loved this clip and thought everyone should hear this.  Feel free to merge with another thread if it’s not thread worthy.  

Agree. Great find. 

 

I listened to Staley's entire interview and it was awesome. He broke a lot of football down with specifics. 

 

This is thing that people who never played on WGR (Howard Simon, Jeremy White, Mike Schopp) don't understand when they say things like, just pass the entire game with no regard for the run. Howard for instance, is talking about how his pant size is way larger than 34 and laughing about it. 

 

In their minds the game is simple, pass = aggressive = scoring, running = conservative = bad. And that's it. 

 

After the first two weeks, callers who said that it heaps all of the pressure on Allen (and the offensive line to block) when you're calling 4-wide and 5-wide sets all day, were immediately run off the air because "it's not the Bills identity" or "you just paid Allen $200M to be that guy". 

 

As long as Daboll is not getting cute with the run game (running of shotgun, running delayed handoffs, trying to sweep with Zach Moss with this crappy OLine), I think it makes sense to mix in straight runs out of Pro Set with Moss and Singletary. They are averaging 4.2 ypc and 5.3 ypc, respectively. So trust that. 

 

And Staley is 100% right, it gives your QB a break. 

 

Schopp talks about how Allen can be our leading rusher too. And I don't think that's smart. He can scramble, he can make plays with his legs. But it's a lot on Allen to expect 300-yard games passing, him being our leading rusher, and running for touchdowns in the Red Zone. Staley is 100% right to point out the team aspect here. 

4 hours ago, NewEra said:

No what?  Where did I say that that was our problem vs KC last year.  I said that it hurt us big time last year.  We had more than one problem.  I’m not saying that this was THE issue.  Merely AN issue.  
 

The fact that the chiefs stopped the run just shows how truly bad our run game was.  They sold out to stop the pass……and they still had zero problems stopping the run.  If they had any worries about the run game, we may had

more success in the pass game.  
 

You’re certainly entitled to you opinion- but if you don’t think that our lack of a run game all season had any affect on the KC defensive game plan, play calling and eventually the outcome of the season, well than I think your opinion is wrong.  
 

agree to disagree.

Our line got destroyed last year AND our none of our receivers were a physical mismatch for their corners. 

 

We didn't have a DK Metcalf on our team that could muscle their corners. 

 

They got hit, held, pushed, grabbed, and it worked, they got no separation. 

 

This is where running can help, and Dawson Knox. 

[WideNine]

2 hours ago, Rubes said:

 

Yep, the main reason we got bounced in KC last year is because our O-line couldn't block for the run *or* the pass. It was horrific.

 

The main reason we lost in BUF last year is essentially because their O-line beat up our D-line, primarily on running plays. We basically invited them to run it, and we didn't do a good enough job stopping it. I think we'll use the same strategy this time, and we'll see if the rejuvenated D-line (especially with Star) can hold up this time.

 

 

That is part of it - our defense was pretty porous last year against the run so either we tried to stop the run and still give up 1st downs just a bit more slowly, or defend against the chunk plays through the air. Either resulted in a "L" after the game.

 

I am not sure why so many fans get their undies in a bunch as soon as someone mentions running the ball and miss the point when they say we were not successful running the ball. As the clip indicated, you do not necessarily have to be successful running the ball, it just has to be effective enough to force defenses to not ignore it as an option on any particular play so it slows down the pass rush and opens up routes by freezing safeties.

 

Sure we tried to run the ball, but anyone that looked at our run/pass balance would see how heavily slanted it was last season. Not only that, but by using so many empty set pass plays as soon as we went away from that and trotted out our personnel used on running plays we signaled to defenses to cheat their efforts to stopping the run.

 

So some of the issues with running were certainly on the OL, but some was how predictable we were being with our personnel packages.

 

 

 

[GETTOTHE50]

The run game loosens up the defense. That’s what made Brady look better than he was all those years (asides from cheating) was the patties running game.

 

they always ran efficiently, partly bc of monstrous holds, but they did 

[WhoTom]

4 hours ago, K-9 said:

All due respect to Staley, but this is nothing new. 

 

Agreed. Who doesn't know the reason for a running game in a pass-heavy offense? And frankly, his explanation wasn't all that great either. I don't see anything profound or noteworthy about his comment.