OK, armchair analysts: How do we fix this offense?

[Just in Atlanta]

No. 1 in least yards allowed. No. 1 for least points against. No. 4 in turnovers.

 

Despite the whining about this defense being soft, we just held the Patriots to one touchdown. That one TD was a run in which Poyer overcommitted to one side. This defense is actually historically good in a number of ways, with a penchant for getting pushed a bit by power run teams. 

We should have smacked the Patriots by 14 points easily. Mac Jones threw three passes. The Bills are simply way more talented. And, yet, we got whipped by a team we knew was going to run and we couldn't score in the redone save one time. 

The problem clearly is the offense. 

 

I watch Josh in the pocket and he amazes. Stands tall. Solid mechanics. Makes any throw. Escapability. Grit. Passion. Size. And physical toughness. He literally has it all. 

 

We have a tendency to romanticize last year. There were rough spots for sure. But most games this offense was a damn video game. It was historic. This was at least in part thanks to the now-maligned Daboll. 

 

This year, we have: A top 3 WR1 in Diggs - such an instinctive natural receiver. He's Randy Moss-esque. 

 

A top 3 slot receiver: Beasley just gets open. He catches everything. And he fights for the YAC. 

 

But, yes, watching McDaniels/Belichick call runs compared to us is night and day. And we have no rhythm, no push, we struggle in the red zone, and I have no faith we'll find any magic when we're down in the 4th. That last one is the biggest bummer. 

So, what's changed? And how can we improve this so we can at least make a Wild Card?

 

---

 

PS: Please no vapid "Fire Daboll / McD sucks" comments and please offer an actual fix. 

 

(EDIT)

Edited December 7, 2021 by Just in Atlanta

[ClemsonBills]

Can’t run the ball. Balance is crucial. Makes it harder to game plan 

[BuffaloRebound]

NFL defenses seem to have figured out the pass happy offenses.  The answer is clearly to have a better running game.  Bills invested nothing in the off-season to improve the running game other than a minimum contract deal to Breida.  

[BuffaloBillies]

Play-calling. Especially in the red zone. I could write a lot about but don't want to.

[Straight Hucklebuck]

1 minute ago, Just in Atlanta said:

No. 1 in least yards allowed. No. 1 for least points against. No. 4 in turnovers.

 

Despite the whining about this defense being soft, we just held the Patriots to one touchdown. That one TD was a run in which Poyer overcommitted to one side. This defense is actually historically good in a number of ways, with a penchant for getting pushed a bit by power run teams. 

We should have smacked the Patriots by 14 points easily. Mac Jones threw three passes. The Bills are simply way more talented. And, yet, we got whipped by a team we knew was going to run and we couldn't score in the redone save one time. 

The problem clearly is the offense. 

 

I watch Josh in the pocket and he amazes. Stands tall. Solid mechanics. Makes any throw. Escapability. Grit. Passion. Size. And physical toughness. He literally has it all. 

 

We have a tendency to romanticize last year. There were rough spots for sure. But most games this offense was a damn video game. It was historic. 

 

This year, we have: A top 3 WR1 in Diggs - such an instinctive natural receiver. He's Randy Moss-esque. 

 

A top 3 slot receiver: Beasley just gets open. He catches everything. And he fights for the YAC. 

 

But, we have no rhythm, no push, we struggle in the red zone, and I have no faith we'll find any magic when we're down in the 4th. That last one is the biggest bummer. 

So, what's changed? And how can we improve this so we can at least make a Wild Card?

 

---

 

PS: Please no vapid "Fire Daboll / McD sucks" comments and please offer an actual fix. 

 

 

I think we’re too reverent to Beasley and Sanders.

 

I think those two have faded down the stretch here, and need Davis and McKenzie rotating in half the time and taking snaps away from them.

 

We have no presnap motion, no jet sweeps, no misdirection, no two backs in the backfield, we don’t roll the pocket.

 

We don’t seem to have a good hot read for blitzes. There is never a dump off available. 

 

We can’t call a slant to save our lives even with Diggs. 
 

We don’t run the ball straight forward, instead it’s always some delayed handoff or gimmick formation.

 

We have no NFL caliber Tight End outside of Knox. 
 

Allen presses a lot and he took a horrible sack in the red zone that cost the Bills. He had time tonight.

 

We don’t control the tempo at all, speed up or slow down. How are we getting plays off with 0-1 seconds left on the play clock?

 

Why is Zack Moss STILL GETTING red zone work? Why the hell is he still on this team? 

 

 

[Simon]

Williams, Feliciano and Dawkins all regressed badly, Ford didn't progress and Beane didn't keep enough rabbits in the hat to overcome all 4 setbacks.

[Mrbojanglezs]

I would like to see some more quick passing and misdirection. All our passing plays are long developing

 

 

[Bferra13]

3 minutes ago, BuffaloBillies said:

Play-calling. Especially in the red zone. I could write a lot about but don't want to.

This times a million. Please. Brutal this year. 

[JoshAllin]

Nothing, you just tell them not to drop balls and fumble and stop wasting downs on 1 yrd runs up the middle

Edited December 7, 2021 by motorj

[Roundybout]

We can do literally one thing with Moss - run up the middle for two yards. If he bounces outside, he's got a TD there. He needs to go. 

 

Singletary isn't great but he has shown he can rip off decent runs. 

 

Daboll needs to be fired. There's no reason to be running out this bland, vanilla offense every single week and expecting to get by on sheer talent. No motion, no sweeps, no play action, nothing. 

[Bferra13]

Just now, motorj said:

Nothing, you just tell them not to drop balls and fumble

No. It's not this. Last years offense was so much better than dumb luck. 

[letsgoteam]

Did the Bills even try a jet sweep or even the jet sweep motion? *Not the super slow Diggs stuff they did a game or two ago*

 

EDIT: Also, when thinking about it, did they even run a toss sweep tonight?

Edited December 7, 2021 by letsgoteam

[Mattymafia]

Fire Daboll. The guy calls jet sweeps every 5 games. Completely abandons the QB runs for multiple games at a time. Doesnt ever design a game plan to get his QB in a rhythm to start the game. You have Beasley, Diggs and Sanders; why cant Daboll design a drive or two to get Josh into rhythm. He truly sucks. 

[Virgil]

We were successful running with McCoy out of the shotgun.  Either adapt that or throw out the line and get some big agile guys for a zone run scheme. 
 

If Daboll can’t do that, fire him.  Josh is good enough to win without him 

[78thealltimegreat]

The league is going in reverse with more run heavy offenses going back in vogue…I have no problem with them being pass first but quite frankly we need a bigger back a mauling guard and more TE depth..as for now you might as well run Josh like crazy inside the 10 since Miss and Singletary just get no push 

[Nitro]

Bad offensive line.  Need better talent.   They can not open up holes to run through.  Get beat by speed rushers.  Are not physical.   Reliving the Pittsburgh game.   Quicker patterns.  More drag routes.  Speed runs to the outside.

[Dopey]

Until we fix the line this off-season, my thoughts on our run game is that we should run more with pulling guards. We cannot really move a dline and run it up the gut ,but I've seen us do better when we pull and run a little wider. I know our RB aren't the fastest,but Devin and Brieta should be able to do better if we utilize pulling by our guards. 

 

[Billznut]

The Bills will have a new offensive OC next year.  McD wants to be able to run the ball decently next year.  I don’t blame him. Short of reaching the Super Bowl which right now looks impossible, Daboll won’t be back. 

[Nextmanup]

Tonight, having a different OC would have been a good start.

 

We didn't throw it nearly as much as we should have (even with 30 passes) and Daboll's play calling all night long, in all kinds of situations, seemed off.

 

 

[Southern_Bills]

Just now, Nextmanup said:

Tonight, having a different OC would have been a good start.

 

We didn't throw it nearly as much as we should have (even with 30 passes) and Daboll's play calling all night long, in all kinds of situations, seemed off.

 

 

 

With Allen at QB1 I agree, Jones was obviously limited, but Allen could have played semi normal.