Commitment to the run

[JMM]

I will continue to beat this dead horse. Did you see the Commanders last night? 50 carries, only averaged 3.7 yds, they continued to run. They committed to it. Yes, it was part of a strategy to keep an explosive Philly offense off the field.  Yes they don't have a Josh Allen. It doesn't matter. You need a commitment to the run. I know this will bring out the " it's a passing league,  you have Allen, you don't need to run!" comments. 

I watched the best pure passer ever his whole career, Marino. He never had a good run game. He got to one SB, never sniffed another one. I watched Elway. He never won a SB to late in his career.  What was the key those 2 years? The run game! I see McDermott for 3 years state we need to run more, we need to commit it to it, yet we don't. Who is the HC?? Is he in charge overall of what the team does or not. RUN THE DAMN BALL!

 

[YoloinOhio]

Might as well do it this week with the weather and the Browns cannot stop the run. 

[SoCal Deek]

And when it doesn’t work and the Bills repeatedly go three and out….then what? This is not a running football team, and our offensive line cannot move a pile to save their lives! Now that doesn’t mean you pass every down, but the late developing runs off the shotgun are very inconsistent and predictable. 

[Greg S]

We just don't have a good enough OL to do that. Josh covers up a lot of their poor play with his ability to run and escape the rush. That is the main problem I have with Beane. I hope that he makes it a priority this offseason with the draft and FA. 

[JMM]

10 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

And when it doesn’t work and the Bills repeatedly go three and out….then what? This is not a running football team, and our offensive line cannot move a pile to save their lives! Now that doesn’t mean you pass every down, but the late developing runs off the shotgun are very inconsistent and predictable. 

I don't think you understand what COMITTMENT to the run means. And how we end up in the same predicament for the last several years. What I give to have a Parcells in his prime coaching this team!! He understood.

[LabattBlue]

Where is the Chiefs commitment to the run?  The Rams last year?   Almost all of Brady’s years with the Pats?

 

This notion that there has to be a commitment to the run game in order to succeed is nonsense. 

[SoCal Deek]

3 minutes ago, JMM said:

I don't think you understand what COMITTMENT to the run means. And how we end up in the same predicament for the last several years. What I give to have a Parcells in his prime coaching this team!! He understood.

We each have a different interpretation of COMMITMENT. You’re free to have yours. I won’t take it from you. 

[JMM]

10 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

We each have a different interpretation of COMMITMENT. You’re free to have yours. I won’t take it from you. 

Your interpretation is try it, if it doesn't work much you give up on it. That is NOT a commitment to the run by definition. You don't have to have a great running game to be committed to it. It doesn't even have to be successful most of the time. I don't understand why people can't UNDERSTAND  that.

[SoCal Deek]

1 minute ago, JMM said:

Your interpretation is try it, if it doesn't work much you give up on it. That is NOT a commitment to the run by definition. You don't have to have a great running game to be committed to it. It doesn't even have to be successful most of the time. I don't understand why people can't UNDERSTAND  that.

I can see you’re very committed to your idea of commitment. 😉 Again… not trying to take that from you. I just don’t think that’s how this roster was built. 

[JMM]

15 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Where is the Chiefs commitment to the run?  The Rams last year?   Almost all of Brady’s years with the Pats?

 

This notion that there has to be a commitment to the run game in order to succeed is nonsense. 

Really? This is what I mean. You might want to check the  Chiefs run stats vs pass this year. Educate yourself. Pat's had a tremendous commitment to the run beginning of their dynasty then switched to short passing game which was almost like extended handoffs with the accuracy of the goat.

[HoofHearted]

22 minutes ago, JMM said:

I will continue to beat this dead horse. Did you see the Commanders last night? 50 carries, only averaged 3.7 yds, they continued to run. They committed to it. Yes, it was part of a strategy to keep an explosive Philly offense off the field.  Yes they don't have a Josh Allen. It doesn't matter. You need a commitment to the run. I know this will bring out the " it's a passing league,  you have Allen, you don't need to run!" comments. 

I watched the best pure passer ever his whole career, Marino. He never had a good run game. He got to one SB, never sniffed another one. I watched Elway. He never won a SB to late in his career.  What was the key those 2 years? The run game! I see McDermott for 3 years state we need to run more, we need to commit it to it, yet we don't. Who is the HC?? Is he in charge overall of what the team does or not. RUN THE DAMN BALL!

 

 

50 carries a game isn't what you want either, though I understand your point. Our problem is we have no balance - and when I say balance I mean from a touches standpoint from our skill players. Our offense runs through Josh and Diggs - that's it. If we spread the ball around more it would alleviate a lot of the pressure on those two guys and make us a hell of a lot more efficient as an offense and forces defenses to defend the entire field. We will never be a dominant run offense - we're not built for it - so game plan around that. Use the screen game as an extension of the run game. It seems we're extremely reluctant to do so even though we have two guys who should be really good at it in Diggs and McKenzie with how twitchy they are.

 

One of my favorite Mike Leach quotes about balanced football:

"Now, what is balanced is when you have five skill positions ... if all five of them are contributing to the offensive effort in a somewhat equal fashion, then that's balanced, but this notion that, if you hand it to one guy 50 percent of the time and then you throw it to a combination of two guys the other 50 percent, that you're really balanced ... you probably pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that, and people have been doing that for decades. Well, you're delusional."  

[zow2]

If we had Nick Chubb and he got a couple 2-yard carries, the Bills would abandon the run.  

 

The Commander last night has 40+ runs and the longest one was like 11 yards.  Sometimes you just gotta commit,,,and don't turn it over! 

[LabattBlue]

1 minute ago, JMM said:

Really? This is what I mean. You might want to check the  Chiefs run stats vs pass this year. Educate yourself. Pat's had a tremendous commitment to the run beginning of their dynasty then switched to short passing game which was almost like extended handoffs with the accuracy of the goat.

So now a short passing game equals commitment to the run?  Keep on moving the goalposts.  I’m done with this ridiculous thread. 

[Solomon Grundy]

32 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

And when it doesn’t work and the Bills repeatedly go three and out….then what? This is not a running football team, and our offensive line cannot move a pile to save their lives! Now that doesn’t mean you pass every down, but the late developing runs off the shotgun are very inconsistent and predictable. 

I don't believe the OP meant to run the ball 3 downs consecutively. What he's saying, probably, is that you don't have to throw the ball to gain 2 yards on consecutive downs. The offensive line doesn't need to push a pile. Sometimes it just needs to open a crease for the RB to sliver through. I think we saw some of those types of runs in the Commanders game. Balance is needed when you open up a 14 point lead and all your team has to do is move the football and burn some clock. Incomplete passes stop the clock involuntarily. There's too much onus, IMO, for Josh Allen to carry the offense. I say they should spread the wealth

[JMM]

2 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

I don't believe the OP meant to run the ball 3 downs consecutively. What he's saying, probably, is that you don't have to throw the ball to gain 2 yards on consecutive downs. The offensive line doesn't need to push a pile. Sometimes it just needs to open a crease for the RB to sliver through. I think we saw some of those types of runs in the Commanders game. Balance is needed when you open up a 14 point lead and all your team has to do is move the football and burn some clock. Incomplete passes stop the clock involuntarily. There's too much onus, IMO, for Josh Allen to carry the offense. I say they should spread the wealth

Again commitment to the run is just that. It doesn't even mean short term success. 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

I don't want to commit to it - between the 20s we have mostly shredded teams.  We suck in the red zone, and we're dead last in turnovers.  Figuring out how to run the ball would do wonders for getting 7 instead of... 3 or 0.  

[All_Pro_Bills]

Commitment to the run needs to be combined with capability which means when you need it you can do it.  Can the Bills run the ball effectively?  Sometimes they can and other times they can't like the delays out of shotgun which should be torn out of the play book.  The run game is inconsistent and ultimately unreliable.  But an effective run game when you need it can control the ball and the clock along with opening up the passing game by forcing the D to respect the run, bring down the safeties, keep the pass rush honest, and freeze the linebackers a split second from dropping into their zones.  Right now the defense is thinking pass all the way on every play and based on tendencies and stats they're guessing right the majority of the time.  You make them think and that's when they make mistakes in coverage and reaction.  But the Bills make it way too easy on every opponent.

Edited November 15, 2022 by All_Pro_Bills

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

33 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

Where is the Chiefs commitment to the run?  The Rams last year?   Almost all of Brady’s years with the Pats?

 

This notion that there has to be a commitment to the run game in order to succeed is nonsense. 

Brady more often than not had a strong running game and defense.

[LABILLBACKER]

The whole idea of increasing our currently mediocre run game is not about commitment. It's about taking pressure off Josh Allen. It's about removing the ideal that Josh Allen has to be 100% of the offense.  It's about making teams guess whether it's a pass or run play.  No one is asking the offense to run 40-50 times per game.  But until Sean & Brandon lock themselves in a meeting room and decide the value of a better run blocking OL and speed RB's, nothing will change. It's time for Brandon Beane to stand up to McDermott and say enough is enough. 

[JoshAllin]

You don't destroy 4 years of dominating offense by committing to something that will slow it down