If you thought the Bills’ offense would struggle, what are your thoughts now?

[Ballhawk]

The scary thing is the offense looks like it has another gear. The 'break glass in case of emergency' play of Allen with his legs probably gets us another 7-10 points against the Jags. As for the WR's I'm not worried at all. We all watched the patriot years with two gifted tight ends and very mediocre WR's. The test of this offense (IMO) is whether they will be able to run the ball when their opponent commit to stopping the run. In Dec, Jan (and hopefully Feb) if we can do that, I believe our pass catching group is good enough to play off of that strength.

Overall a great start, but big leads in the last two games played right into this teams strength (I've always felt like with the base Nickel defense we run, that if the Bills get a sizeable lead and force opponents to pass into the teeth of it; they are virtually unbeatable). This is why (for this team) I hate choosing to kick the ball to start the game (even though the double dip is sweet when it works).

Edited Wednesday at 03:13 PM by Ballhawk

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

16 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

I was more optimistic than most on Brady. I had zero concerns over McGovern. I was worried about the receiver situation. I think our OC has schemed around a weakness brilliantly so far. But I still think it is a weakness. I need to see them succeed in a shoot out where they get forced into pure drop back passing where their shifts and motion etc counts for less. That is the remaining hurdle for me. If I can see them pass and pass successfully when everyone in the stadium know they have to and is playing to take it away then I will relax over the receiver room. As it is, win one of the next two and they are all but guaranteed the playoffs IMO.

 

The counter to that is as the season goes on, the passing game will improve, particularly Coleman and Kincaid.   Even Samuel likely haven't seen the best of him yet either.

 

As to my overall thoughts "as usually the armchair coaches and GM's here on this site no very little and about 10X less than many think they know!"

[TheWeatherMan]

17 hours ago, eball said:

We heard a whole lot of this during the offseason:

 

”How can they trade away Diggs and not bring in a true #1?”

”We have a bottom-three WR room in the NFL!”

”McGovern can’t switch to C; he hasn’t played there since college!”

”Brady can’t design an NFL offense that doesn’t rely upon Josh being Superman every game!”

”McDermott doesn’t understand modern NFL football.”

 

So after three weeks and 112 points, and two 2nd halves spent just running out the clock, is it still “too soon” to say that perhaps Beane and McDermott know what they are doing?

 

 

Nobody thought the offense would struggle, they just didn’t expect it to be elite.  I for one, thought the defense would struggle with the injuries and off season turnover.  Pleasantly surprised with both through 3 weeks.  Bills lead the league with a +64 point differential or an average victory of 21.33 points per game.  That’s complimentary football at an elite level.

[Alphadawg7]

17 hours ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

I mean I was optimistic and curious about the new scheme but I'm not going to pretend that I thought it would be "highest offensive PPG in the league by 3 points" good. I don't think ANYONE here expected that much .

 

I still think someone will find a counter, but we know Josh can turn it on when he needs to.

 

I did  I posted a lot that I felt this may be Josh's best season overall yet in this style of offense throughout this offseason.  

 

Where I am more floored is the defense.  I had concerns about the defense and "perceived" lack of depth, the dangers of smaller LB's getting hurt, new pieces, etc.  Then when Milano went down and Taron followed first quarter of week 1, I was quite concerned heading into half time against the Cardinals.  But then, suddenly everything switched and this D has been dominant, the "lack of depth" concerns I had have been blown out of the water with unheralded guys stepping all over the field, Von has bounced back, the pass rush has been great, etc.  

 

Its been a masterclass in coaching across the board for the Bills and massive kudos to all the people who had to step up and done so very well thus far.

[stevewin]

4 hours ago, Simon said:

 

I'm not convinced Samuel is 100% yet. He showed some flashes this week but I'll be surprised if he doesn't show more and become the component we both are thinking of.

 

Agree - the question is "when".  As others have noted who knows how close his turf toe is to being fully healed (if it even ever will be this season).  To be listed on injury report it is supposed to be "significant or noteworthy injury" - so even if it isn't considered 'significant' now, it may still be limiting (on related note I also wonder about Smoot who was out with 'toe' for weeks - not sure it ever was explicitly reported by the team as turf toe but think that is the assumption)

[The Firebaugh Kid]

Oline ❤️

[BigAl2526]

I thought it might take a bit of time for the offense to get cranked up this season.  It's funny.  It didn't feel like Buffalo was an offensive juggernaut in the first two games, but the still ended up with 30+ points.  That did include a defensive pick six in one game.  The game against Jacksonville demonstrated that an explosive passing offense has not disappeared from Buffalo's arsenal.  What it all means is that Buffalo can be effective against pretty much any defense that focusses on stopping either the run or the past.  Defenses have to respect both against Buffalo.  Defensive coordinators are going to have to engage in a guessing game from one play to the next and hope they can confuse Buffalo about where their focus is.  I like Buffalo's chances against just about anybody in any guessing game.  Josh Allen has become really proficient at reading defenses.

[NewEra]

Should’ve had the offensive player of the week all 3 weeks.  Rousseau’s dominance vs Az stripped it from Allen.  They weren’t going to give it to 2 Bills

[JP51]

I felt and said, there are a lot of ifs.... including all of the things that you mentioned in the post... so far the vast majority of the ifs are on the positive side, some even better than I really expected. But, we have 3 games in, its a long season... we will certainly see teams adjust to the offense and we will need to be able to adjust right back. So I am in the so far so great category... lets see how the next 6 weeks play out, especially if we start getting some injured folks back. 

[stevestojan]

Cautiously pessimistic. 

[Freddie's Dead]

I already ate my crow in the "We quietly got better" thread.  I'm full thanks.  Couldn't eat another bite.

[Jauronimo]

13 hours ago, djp14150 said:

 

this was the issue with Diggs. He wanted the ball so Josh felt forced to feed it to him over other players.  
 

what Josh did was pass the ball around to different receivers. The issue will be where Allen gets confidence with the newer receivers. He has it with Shakir, Kincaid and cooks. 

Dorsey's offense was everyone line up and win your matchup.  When no one was open, Allen was basically throwing the ball away somewhere in the vicinity of Diggs or Davis and giving them a really low percentage chance to make a big play.  For whatever reason, Josh would not accept anything under 7 yards in that offense but I think forcing the ball to Diggs was more a function of our scheme and lack of open guys deep down the field.

[Captain Hindsight]

I was never super worried. They have exceeded my expectations thus far. I am a little concerned about the depth of the WR room. Shakir, Samual and Coleman are all good players, but after that... Hollins and VDS? a little concerning

 

But with a good RB room and a very good TE room, they have a lot of good players and of course with 17, all things are possible

[Captain Hindsight]

28 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

I already ate my crow in the "We quietly got better" thread.  I'm full thanks.  Couldn't eat another bite.

[oldmanfan]

I said a number of times success this year would depend on Brady.  So far so good.

[HappyDays]

Like I've said Brady isn't changing the game or innovating. He doesn't have to. He's just layering play calls and putting his players in position to succeed.

[Kornfed]

On 9/24/2024 at 8:33 PM, SCBills said:

Elite OL, led by Coach Kromer is putting opposing defenses in a body bag. 
 

Josh Allen is an absolute monster who has seemed to elevate his game even further.

 

Brady is doing an incredible job deploying our weapons.   Cook, Kincaid and Shakir are the stars of the Offense, but everyone else has a unique skillset that can be used game to game to attack weaknesses.   
 

We literally have Ty Johnson dunking on Jalen Ramsey down the field and then catching a deep throw TD in the next game.   Perfectly exemplifies how this Offense can hit you with anyone, anywhere, at any time. 

My biggest question is what would this offense look like with a legit WR1?.. and will a game arise where that shows itself.  I honestly don’t that it will.  Especially if we can increasingly get more out of Coleman and Samuel as the season goes on. 

 

Was listening to someone the other day asking “what is the Bills offensive identity “ … My response was that they don’t have one. That’s the beauty of it. Totally diversified and unpredictable. .. This is a much different offense than has been seen around here during the Josh era. 
 

[eball]

19 hours ago, TheWeatherMan said:

Nobody thought the offense would struggle

 

Au contraire, mon frere.  The sentiment was along the lines of “they’ll be ok because of Josh, but he will have to be Superman each week for us to have a chance and that isn’t sustainable.”

 

We’re three weeks in and only really two quarters (out of twelve) where Josh had to “take over” and do Josh things.  Monday night he was barely touched.

 

[Sweats]

 

 

........our running game this year.

 

Superbowl!!!

[amprov56]

2 minutes ago, eball said:

 

Au contraire, mon frere.  The sentiment was along the lines of “they’ll be ok because of Josh, but he will have to be Superman each week for us to have a chance and that isn’t sustainable.”

 

We’re three weeks in and only really two quarters (out of twelve) where Josh had to “take over” and do Josh things.  Monday night he was barely touched.

 

"Nobody thought the offense would struggle,"  what planet has "TheWeatherMan" been living on the last year?