Daboll's Play Calling -- The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

[HIT BY SPIKES]

I am just wondered what the thoughts are of how Brian Daboll's play calling is working in general and one some particular plays specifically.

 

Long time listener.  First time caller.

[Freddie's Dead]

Welcome, first-time caller.  It would be helpful if you gave examples of what you considered to be a good, bad, and ugly call, just to jump-start the discussion.  Here are my examples.

 

The Good - Screen pass to Motor for his 2nd TD.  Execution helps, but getting Motor on the edge is always a good idea.

 

Jet sweep to McKittrick.  We should run this play more than once every two games (that's the Bad part)

 

The Bad - Any RPO to Motor out of the shotgun.  They're rarely effective, and when in the red zone, it's a wasted down.

 

The Ugly - Motor in the Wildcat.  No threat to throw, it's only marginally better when they run Wildcat with McKittrick.  You can't take your best player off the field, even for one play.  JA17 is the best Wildcat RB in the league.

[Straight Hucklebuck]

My criticisms of the Bills this season have been their stubborn view that it must be Diggs, Sanders, Beasley at all times, and Davis, McKenzie can only

fill in.

 

The give up plays in the Red Zone also are not clear. Where we just dive into the middle of the line.

I also do not like plays in goal to go situations where the Bills don’t take shots into the End Zone, or when they try and throw out of tight formations because it worked once against the Colts in the Playoffs.

 

The Bills get static sometimes as well, where there is no pre-snap motion, they don’t move Diggs, there are no jet sweeps.

 

Among the changes they made that work: they finally got Zack Moss off the field, and this gave them a foundation in the run game.

 

Also, they have started using McKenzie in the Red Zone. He needs to be on the field more.

 

I think the Bills need to use the middle of the field more, it still feels like they don’t throw any slants or bubble screens, no crosses after New England. Nothing feels easy.
 

Everything still feels like Josh Allen miracle toe tapping routes on the sidelines with receivers having to dive out of bounds to grab footballs. 
 

Knox has to become part of this offense again.

[BuffalOhio]

20 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

Welcome, first-time caller.  It would be helpful if you gave examples of what you considered to be a good, bad, and ugly call, just to jump-start the discussion.  Here are my examples.

 

The Good - Screen pass to Motor for his 2nd TD.  Execution helps, but getting Motor on the edge is always a good idea.

 

Jet sweep to McKittrick.  We should run this play more than once every two games (that's the Bad part)

 

The Bad - Any RPO to Motor out of the shotgun.  They're rarely effective, and when in the red zone, it's a wasted down.

 

The Ugly - Motor in the Wildcat.  No threat to throw, it's only marginally better when they run Wildcat with McKittrick.  You can't take your best player off the field, even for one play.  JA17 is the best Wildcat RB in the league.

Why do you call him McKittrick?

[Straight Hucklebuck]

And maybe this has to do with pressure and Allen not standing in the pocket as much.

 

The Bills offense feels choppy because Allen has to/feels the need to escape, roll out of the pocket and throw, so naturally the routes are more towards the sidelines. 
 

Sanders was good on in-cut routes at the beginning of the season, my fear with him has been he has looked out of gas since Week 6 or so.

[Mango]

I would like to see Allen under center more. Singletary runs better there as well. I think it also helps Josh get the ball out quicker.

 

I am unsure if Daboll is really pass happy as a play caller, or if Josh Hs a tendency to be really hot/cold with a run game that’s struggled to produce for weeks at a time, so he pushes to get QB1 in rhythm. 

[GunnerBill]

My thoughts:

 

1. All offensive coordinators, every single one of them, get too much criticism from fans for playcalling whereas players get too little blame for poor execution. In general I think this is the case with this board's approach to Daboll and particularly this year. The Bills ended the regular season 5th in yards and 3rd in points and that is with only two elite talents on the entire offense and only 1 guy who was drafted in the first round. Their 3rd best offensive player (Dawkins has really only hit his straps the last month after being way below his best most of the year). 

 

2. However, there are legitimate grounds to criticise Brian Daboll's playcalling and, particularly, use of personnel. I think we have seen far too much reliance on the older guys - Sanders and Beasley - because Daboll trusts them to run the right routes and make the right route adjustments based on personnel. It was interesting that there was that series where Josh had miscommunications with Knox and Davis because they had read one thing off the coverage and Josh had read another. That is the thing with the E-P offense. It puts a lot of responsibility on your receivers to make the same read and adjustment as your Quarterback. People talk about how rookie receivers always bust in New England - some of that is the same thing. 

 

3. I think his redzone playcalling at times this year is confusing. He clearly (and understandably) doesn't trust the offensive line to hold up in the redzone where the defense can use the extra defender of the lines in coverage and throw an extra guy at the pass rush. That is why he tries to back them off with the threat of the run and RPO looks. The problem is that despite them trying to force it the Bills are just bad at executing those plays when Josh does anything other than keep it. Singletary isn't really that type of back and our offensive line isn't great at run blocking where it can't just get a head of steam up and barrel into the defenders in front of it. I am less bothered than most fans by the gimmick plays.... but I was concerned especially early in the season by the lack of plays being called down there where the ball was thrown into the endzone. That has got marginally better as we have gone along. 

 

4. On redzone efficiency - most surprising stat of the day? The Bills were more efficient scoring touchdowns in the redzone in 2021 than in 2020 (62.3% vs 61.04%).

 

5. As the season has gone on they have clearly made more of an effort to establish the run. I am all but convinced that comes from the Head Coach who is fine being pass heavy when the passing game is humming but gets instinctively nervous about it when the passing game stalls. The problem is Josh Allen is not the same Quarterback in a run heavy scheme as he in a pass heavy scheme. Josh is a rhythm guy. He gets in his rhythm and dialled in and he is borderline unstoppable. When you are running the ball a lot and asking him to make 2 or 3 throws per drive he isn't the same player. Run, run, 3rd down pass, is normally followed by a punt. Daboll has struggled trying to face both ways - on the one hand his boss's desire to run the ball more and on the other his Quarterback's need to get into rhythm. 

 

6. And to follow on from the end of point 5, yesterday was the nadir of that confusion. The playcalling yesterday was a mess. Disjointed, lacking in clarity of thought and process. There is no path to the Superbowl for the Bills this way. They have to get back to their identity on offense and that is the ball in Josh Allen's hands. I am fine giving Motor 15 or so carries. Yesterday we had 15 passes to 14 running back carries at one point. That is not the way this team wins. It wins on Josh Allen's right arm and, at times, Josh Allen's legs. I am fine with trying to diversify but not if it limits the impact of Josh Allen. That is akin to taking your best player off the field. 

 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

5 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

My thoughts:

 

1. All offensive coordinators, every single one of them, get too much criticism from fans for playcalling whereas players get too little blame for poor execution. In general I think this is the case with this board's approach to Daboll and particularly this year. The Bills ended the regular season 5th in yards and 3rd in points and that is with only two elite talents on the entire offense and only 1 guy who was drafted in the first round. Their 3rd best offensive player (Dawkins has really only hit his straps the last month after being way below his best most of the year). 

 

2. However, there are legitimate grounds to criticise Brian Daboll's playcalling and, particularly, use of personnel. I think we have seen far too much reliance on the older guys - Sanders and Beasley - because Daboll trusts them to run the right routes and make the right route adjustments based on personnel. It was interesting that there was that series where Josh had miscommunications with Knox and Davis because they had read one thing off the coverage and Josh had read another. That is the thing with the E-P offense. It puts a lot of responsibility on your receivers to make the same read and adjustment as your Quarterback. People talk about how rookie receivers always bust in New England - some of that is the same thing. 

 

3. I think his redzone playcalling at times this year is confusing. He clearly (and understandably) doesn't trust the offensive line to hold up in the redzone where the defense can use the extra defender of the lines in coverage and throw an extra guy at the pass rush. That is why he tries to back them off with the threat of the run and RPO looks. The problem is that despite them trying to force it the Bills are just bad at executing those plays when Josh does anything other than keep it. Singletary isn't really that type of back and our offensive line isn't great at run blocking where it can't just get a head of steam up and barrel into the defenders in front of it. I am less bothered than most fans by the gimmick plays.... but I was concerned especially early in the season by the lack of plays being called down there where the ball was thrown into the endzone. That has got marginally better as we have gone along. 

 

4. On redzone efficiency - most surprising stat of the day? The Bills were more efficient scoring touchdowns in the redzone in 2021 than in 2020 (62.3% vs 61.04%).

 

5. As the season has gone on they have clearly made more of an effort to establish the run. I am all but convinced that comes from the Head Coach who is fine being pass heavy when the passing game is humming but gets instinctively nervous about it when the passing game stalls. The problem is Josh Allen is not the same Quarterback in a run heavy scheme as he in a pass heavy scheme. Josh is a rhythm guy. He gets in his rhythm and dialled in and he is borderline unstoppable. When you are running the ball a lot and asking him to make 2 or 3 throws per drive he isn't the same player. Run, run, 3rd down pass, is normally followed by a punt. Daboll has struggled trying to face both ways - on the one hand his boss's desire to run the ball more and on the other his Quarterback's need to get into rhythm. 

 

6. And to follow on from the end of point 5, yesterday was the nadir of that confusion. The playcalling yesterday was a mess. Disjointed, lacking in clarity of thought and process. There is no path to the Superbowl for the Bills this way. They have to get back to their identity on offense and that is the ball in Josh Allen's hands. I am fine giving Motor 15 or so carries. Yesterday we had 15 passes to 14 running back carries at one point. That is not the way this team wins. It wins on Josh Allen's right arm and, at times, Josh Allen's legs. I am fine with trying to diversify but not if it limits the impact of Josh Allen. That is akin to taking your best player off the field. 

 

The Bills have largely abandoned their 4-wide and 5-wide formations after Pittsburgh.

 

I did not like McDermott’s halftime comment where he remarked about how the Bills got into a rhythm somehow on the last drive of the first half?
 

Oh you mean when you decided to throw the ball your offense started moving? What a shock. 
 

I agree with you on McDermott, running and punting is his safe space. 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

7 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

My thoughts:

 

1. All offensive coordinators, every single one of them, get too much criticism from fans for playcalling whereas players get too little blame for poor execution. In general I think this is the case with this board's approach to Daboll and particularly this year. The Bills ended the regular season 5th in yards and 3rd in points and that is with only two elite talents on the entire offense and only 1 guy who was drafted in the first round. Their 3rd best offensive player (Dawkins has really only hit his straps the last month after being way below his best most of the year). 

 

2. However, there are legitimate grounds to criticise Brian Daboll's playcalling and, particularly, use of personnel. I think we have seen far too much reliance on the older guys - Sanders and Beasley - because Daboll trusts them to run the right routes and make the right route adjustments based on personnel. It was interesting that there was that series where Josh had miscommunications with Knox and Davis because they had read one thing off the coverage and Josh had read another. That is the thing with the E-P offense. It puts a lot of responsibility on your receivers to make the same read and adjustment as your Quarterback. People talk about how rookie receivers always bust in New England - some of that is the same thing. 

 

3. I think his redzone playcalling at times this year is confusing. He clearly (and understandably) doesn't trust the offensive line to hold up in the redzone where the defense can use the extra defender of the lines in coverage and throw an extra guy at the pass rush. That is why he tries to back them off with the threat of the run and RPO looks. The problem is that despite them trying to force it the Bills are just bad at executing those plays when Josh does anything other than keep it. Singletary isn't really that type of back and our offensive line isn't great at run blocking where it can't just get a head of steam up and barrel into the defenders in front of it. I am less bothered than most fans by the gimmick plays.... but I was concerned especially early in the season by the lack of plays being called down there where the ball was thrown into the endzone. That has got marginally better as we have gone along. 

 

4. On redzone efficiency - most surprising stat of the day? The Bills were more efficient scoring touchdowns in the redzone in 2021 than in 2020 (62.3% vs 61.04%).

 

5. As the season has gone on they have clearly made more of an effort to establish the run. I am all but convinced that comes from the Head Coach who is fine being pass heavy when the passing game is humming but gets instinctively nervous about it when the passing game stalls. The problem is Josh Allen is not the same Quarterback in a run heavy scheme as he in a pass heavy scheme. Josh is a rhythm guy. He gets in his rhythm and dialled in and he is borderline unstoppable. When you are running the ball a lot and asking him to make 2 or 3 throws per drive he isn't the same player. Run, run, 3rd down pass, is normally followed by a punt. Daboll has struggled trying to face both ways - on the one hand his boss's desire to run the ball more and on the other his Quarterback's need to get into rhythm. 

 

6. And to follow on from the end of point 5, yesterday was the nadir of that confusion. The playcalling yesterday was a mess. Disjointed, lacking in clarity of thought and process. There is no path to the Superbowl for the Bills this way. They have to get back to their identity on offense and that is the ball in Josh Allen's hands. I am fine giving Motor 15 or so carries. Yesterday we had 15 passes to 14 running back carries at one point. That is not the way this team wins. It wins on Josh Allen's right arm and, at times, Josh Allen's legs. I am fine with trying to diversify but not if it limits the impact of Josh Allen. That is akin to taking your best player off the field. 

 

Totally agree with this, especially numbers 5 and 6. I can only hope that Daboll didn't want to show much yesterday. The playcalling seemed to be a mess yesterday. Put the ball in #17s hands for hopefully the whole playoffs and supplement it with Singletary. Please, please, please don't try to balance them!

[Beerball]

46 minutes ago, HIT BY SPIKES said:

I am just wondered what the thoughts are of how Brian Daboll's play calling is working in general and one some particular plays specifically.

 

Long time listener.  First time caller.

Two screens in the first quarter, good.

 

No screens the rest of the way (that I can recall), bad.

 

Singletary in wildcat formation, ugly.

[eball]

21 minutes ago, BuffalOhio said:

Why do you call him McKittrick?

 

It’s an old inside joke at TBD.  When McKenzie was acquired there was another similar player named McKittrick that some folks thought was obtained (maybe he even was, briefly, I don’t remember).  It went back and forth for a bit, but some of us get a kick out of still calling Lil Dirty McKittrick.

 

[Nuncha]

Quick passes to the LOS keep being called with a success rate of 0.003%.  Real head scratcher.

[Niagara Dude]

49 minutes ago, HIT BY SPIKES said:

I am just wondered what the thoughts are of how Brian Daboll's play calling is working in general and one some particular plays specifically.

 

Long time listener.  First time caller.

I think Dabol's lack of feel for the game cost us in our first match-up against the Pats.  We have the better QB and we need to show it on Saturday, I also believe Sean needs to drop his loyalty towards Beasley and play Mackenzie more.  Until the Pats show they can defend him with one guy you keep running plays for him. They tried covering him with one player in our last match-up and he torched them.  

[Straight Hucklebuck]

4 minutes ago, Niagara Dude said:

I think Dabol's lack of feel for the game cost us in our first match-up against the Pats.  We have the better QB and we need to show it on Saturday, I also believe Sean needs to drop his loyalty towards Beasley and play Mackenzie more.  Until the Pats show they can defend him with one guy you keep running plays for him. They tried covering him with one player in our last match-up and he torched them.  

Yeah and that’s my question.

 

After the @ New England game, how does that not become a bigger part of the game plan.

 

Greg Cosell said it was opponent specific routes for McKenzie. 
 

But how can that approach work against New England, but it’s back to the same old 30% snaps against the Falcons and Jets? 
 

Beasley creates no separation. He’s lost 1-2 steps.

[bmur66]

The Bills need to station someone next to Coach Daboll for the entire game. When the Bills jump out to an early 10 point lead and Coach Daboll starts to think about getting cute and calling up fancy plays, this person will slap him (gingerly) in the face and remind him to keep doing what got them here. When Coach Daboll starts feeling a little anxious this person will again slap him and remind him that they do have a running game too. When the Bills are lighting up the other team and things are looking good this person will also be available to get Coach Daboll hot dogs, burgers, beverages etc.....

Edited January 10, 2022 by bmur66

[offsides#76FredSmerlas]

49 minutes ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

My criticisms of the Bills this season have been their stubborn view that it must be Diggs, Sanders, Beasley at all times, and Davis, McKenzie can only

fill in.

 

The give up plays in the Red Zone also are not clear. Where we just dive into the middle of the line.

I also do not like plays in goal to go situations where the Bills don’t take shots into the End Zone, or when they try and throw out of tight formations because it worked once against the Colts in the Playoffs.

 

The Bills get static sometimes as well, where there is no pre-snap motion, they don’t move Diggs, there are no jet sweeps.

 

Among the changes they made that work: they finally got Zack Moss off the field, and this gave them a foundation in the run game.

 

Also, they have started using McKenzie in the Red Zone. He needs to be on the field more.

 

I think the Bills need to use the middle of the field more, it still feels like they don’t throw any slants or bubble screens, no crosses after New England. Nothing feels easy.
 

Everything still feels like Josh Allen miracle toe tapping routes on the sidelines with receivers having to dive out of bounds to grab footballs. 
 

Knox has to become part of this offense again.

I will say this about yesterday, Davis was way more than a fill in.  Gabe had 14 targets but came away with only 3 catches; not good at all.  They need to get on the same page. It seems like Allen and the wideouts were not at all on the same page yesterday.  Is that Allen's fault, the receivers fault, or Daboll's fault, not sure but they better clean that up because it is way too late in the season to be as way off as they were.

 

[pigpen65]

Not enough screens. Not enough misdirection runs. Not enough McKenzie at WR

[GunnerBill]

2 minutes ago, Offside#76FredSmerlas said:

I will say this about yesterday, Davis was way more than a fill in.  Gabe had 14 targets but came away with only 3 catches; not good at all.  They need to get on the same page. It seems like Allen and the wideouts were not at all on the same page yesterday.  Is that Allen's fault, the receivers fault, or Daboll's fault, not sure but they better clean that up because it is way too late in the season to be as way off as they were.

 

 

Gabe had a rough game yesterday. 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

33 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

My thoughts:

 

1. All offensive coordinators, every single one of them, get too much criticism from fans for playcalling whereas players get too little blame for poor execution. In general I think this is the case with this board's approach to Daboll and particularly this year. The Bills ended the regular season 5th in yards and 3rd in points and that is with only two elite talents on the entire offense and only 1 guy who was drafted in the first round. Their 3rd best offensive player (Dawkins has really only hit his straps the last month after being way below his best most of the year). 

 

2. However, there are legitimate grounds to criticise Brian Daboll's playcalling and, particularly, use of personnel. I think we have seen far too much reliance on the older guys - Sanders and Beasley - because Daboll trusts them to run the right routes and make the right route adjustments based on personnel. It was interesting that there was that series where Josh had miscommunications with Knox and Davis because they had read one thing off the coverage and Josh had read another. That is the thing with the E-P offense. It puts a lot of responsibility on your receivers to make the same read and adjustment as your Quarterback. People talk about how rookie receivers always bust in New England - some of that is the same thing. 

 

3. I think his redzone playcalling at times this year is confusing. He clearly (and understandably) doesn't trust the offensive line to hold up in the redzone where the defense can use the extra defender of the lines in coverage and throw an extra guy at the pass rush. That is why he tries to back them off with the threat of the run and RPO looks. The problem is that despite them trying to force it the Bills are just bad at executing those plays when Josh does anything other than keep it. Singletary isn't really that type of back and our offensive line isn't great at run blocking where it can't just get a head of steam up and barrel into the defenders in front of it. I am less bothered than most fans by the gimmick plays.... but I was concerned especially early in the season by the lack of plays being called down there where the ball was thrown into the endzone. That has got marginally better as we have gone along. 

 

4. On redzone efficiency - most surprising stat of the day? The Bills were more efficient scoring touchdowns in the redzone in 2021 than in 2020 (62.3% vs 61.04%).

 

5. As the season has gone on they have clearly made more of an effort to establish the run. I am all but convinced that comes from the Head Coach who is fine being pass heavy when the passing game is humming but gets instinctively nervous about it when the passing game stalls. The problem is Josh Allen is not the same Quarterback in a run heavy scheme as he in a pass heavy scheme. Josh is a rhythm guy. He gets in his rhythm and dialled in and he is borderline unstoppable. When you are running the ball a lot and asking him to make 2 or 3 throws per drive he isn't the same player. Run, run, 3rd down pass, is normally followed by a punt. Daboll has struggled trying to face both ways - on the one hand his boss's desire to run the ball more and on the other his Quarterback's need to get into rhythm. 

 

6. And to follow on from the end of point 5, yesterday was the nadir of that confusion. The playcalling yesterday was a mess. Disjointed, lacking in clarity of thought and process. There is no path to the Superbowl for the Bills this way. They have to get back to their identity on offense and that is the ball in Josh Allen's hands. I am fine giving Motor 15 or so carries. Yesterday we had 15 passes to 14 running back carries at one point. That is not the way this team wins. It wins on Josh Allen's right arm and, at times, Josh Allen's legs. I am fine with trying to diversify but not if it limits the impact of Josh Allen. That is akin to taking your best player off the field. 

 

 

Agree with most of what you said.  I'll add though WRT #5.  Particularly yesterday, almost constantly running on 1st down really is dump.  Let Allen throw, just a short 5 to 6 yard pass so now we have 2md and 4.  Then can easily run or pass and keeps the defense on it's toes.  The problem with that strategy is Allen rather than taking the 5 to 6 yard pass will tend to look for the 15 yard pass and often not complete, so now we have 2nd and 10 instead.  I'll blame Allen there for not taking the check downs enough this year.  Well actually last season, he didn't have to take them as the 15 yarders were working at a very high rate.

 

And yes am rather surprised at #4

[ALLEN1QB]

Yesterday was a bad day at the office