Being a top 3 team in scoring. Does it matter how we do it?

[Maine-iac]

On 3/29/2025 at 8:04 AM, Chandler#81 said:

I don’t think we can effectively replicate last year’s offense. Of course, Mack is gone but we’ll be facing much more dime defense and too much of our success is based on Josh being total magic. I’d love it! But everyone has a year to study it and NE* & KC figured a lot out about it.

Last years success, of all the years you could pick, had the least amount to do with Josh being Superman.  It might be the one year where he actually sat back and watched the running game take over.  There were games where his only job was to make the right read and get the ball out on time instead of forcing it down field to Gabe or Diggs.  He could make easier throws to guys who make a higher percentage of catches and are better at YAC.  If anything last years success is more likely to be reproduced and all Josh has to do is continue to make good decisions.  Hell the current offense would love nothing more than for teams to sit back in cover 2 that's what it's designed to beat.   KC has a great DC they are always going to play teams tough. We called a bad protection and Kincaid dropped one.   That's all it takes in the playoffs.  Just ask Lamar and Andrews.

[NewEra]

21 hours ago, NewEra said:

Elite players will improve our chances of winning a Super Bowl.  I don’t think the lack of elite players is the reason we lost to KC last season.  Or the year before.  Or in 2021. 

 

20 hours ago, FireChans said:

Nothing and no one is a lock to make clutch plays.

 

Josh Allen isn’t a lock to make clutch plays, but I would take him over the field, wouldn’t you? Doesn’t that make him the next best thing?

 

I find this take very odd tbh. Do you have a method for “locks” to make clutch plays? Or a method to improve our luck? If so, can you please tell One Bills Drive before I die?

The bold is my stance in this conversation.  So it shouldn’t be odd.   If that’s the reason we didn’t win SBs those years, it only makes sense that those players were locks to make plays. 

Edited yesterday at 08:51 AM by NewEra

[harmonkillebrew]

Beating up on inferior opponents is no longer our goal.

Being a top team in scoring reflects your ability to perform against the league, but not necessarily against the best of the best.

That is the only standard we measure against now.

The Bills and Josh Allen haven't reached a Super Bowl. It's fair to ask why. I think the main reason is bad coaching, but I think talent could overcome that as I don't think the coaches are going anywhere.  And one area where we need to improve against the top teams, is playmakers. Closers. Beane saw that when he brought in Von. And we need it on the offensive side as well. The margins are so thin against the top teams, we need a few more guys that can overcome scheme and pressure and rise the occasion to win a game. 

[GunnerBill]

9 hours ago, Maine-iac said:

Last years success, of all the years you could pick, had the least amount to do with Josh being Superman.  It might be the one year where he actually sat back and watched the running game take over.  There were games where his only job was to make the right read and get the ball out on time instead of forcing it down field to Gabe or Diggs.  He could make easier throws to guys who make a higher percentage of catches and are better at YAC.  If anything last years success is more likely to be reproduced and all Josh has to do is continue to make good decisions.  Hell the current offense would love nothing more than for teams to sit back in cover 2 that's what it's designed to beat.   KC has a great DC they are always going to play teams tough. We called a bad protection and Kincaid dropped one.   That's all it takes in the playoffs.  Just ask Lamar and Andrews.

 

I sort of agree and at the same time disagree. Where I think you are right is Josh made more plays last year within the structure of the offense than any year since 2020. And the run game was really reliable all year whereas in 2023 it was spotty. Where I have a slight reservation though is that a lot of our bigger plays, our explosives, did come from Josh creating. And that is my worry. It's fine nickel and diming your way down the field but that is a hard way to live drive in and drive out and when Brady called shot plays within the strucutre of the offense they were rarely there because our guys couldn't get open down the field. The explosives that worked were largely scramble drill situations.

[Pete]

SEPARATION

Edited yesterday at 12:52 PM by Pete

[SoTier]

16 hours ago, bigK14094 said:

McD and Bean have a deep seated distrust of burner receivers.  They always like the big target, who usually can't run.  Witness the Coleman selection.  Wasn't Josh's idea...he just went along.

 

What proof do you have that this is true?

[ddaryl]

we do not need a WR1...  Our offense is running quite nicely without one. Fix the damn DL

[C.Biscuit97]

To a point. But at some point, having a bunch of meh threats at WR catches up to you. It caught up to us in the title game. It caught up the Chiefs in the SB.

 

james Cook is the only player besides Allen teams worry about. I love Shakir but he shouldn’t be your number 1. Really would like to see another legit fast guy added in the draft (Golden or the Stanford guy). 
 

[ColoradoBills]

26 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

What proof do you have that this is true?

 

Beane just needs to draft a young speedy guy instead of acquiring older or 2nd tier ones through FA.

Brown, McKenzie, Sanders, Harty and Samuel are my examples.

 

For some reason these guys (with exception of Brown) have not clicked with Josh.

FTR I am so hoping Samuel stays healthy all year.

[bigK14094]

55 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

What proof do you have that this is true?

Lets see....well...Kelvin Benjamin is a case in point.

[corta765]

Just want to note while they were top 3 (2 actually) in scoring on offense they were really more a top 10 offense as overall ypg, passing ypg, and running ypg where around the top 10 range.

 

So I actually would like to see the offense move up top 5 in yards per game and be a little more diversified. How they do that? I don't care, Palmer looks to be the best deep guy they've had in a long timer but I still think their pass catching group is middle of the road and would take a bigger name to eat targets.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

I think if you play in buffalo, for at the very least about half of your games including playoffs - you have to be able to run the ball, and pass the ball short.  That really isn't up for debate.  

 

From a top offense standpoint: 

• Passing will get you more yards per play, and more points.  Buffalo passes more than they run, and that number is skewed even further when you factor in that allen did not run 100x on run calls. 
• Buffalo does still run the ball a lot, and they use that to control time of possession.  They also did a tremendous job limiting negative plays.  Fewest sacks, and turnovers.  10th in offensive penalties, but Allen gives you a chance when given another down.  
• Running the ball is how you close out games.  Beef on beef, a couple first downs win.  Buffalo was pretty consistent in holding leads because of this, and even scoring on these drives.  It's also why i felt the Bengals cap strategy is so puzzling, because it's already shown to be a real team weakness.  

[Gregg]

I hope the Bills can add a legit #1 receiver in this draft with speed who can stretch the field but priority #1 should be fixing the defense. Until that gets fixed the Lombardi will never come to Buffalo.

[WNYFAN1]

On 3/28/2025 at 8:05 PM, PrimeTime101 said:

So last year scoring, the Lions, Bill and Ravens were top 3. 

https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/nfl-top-scoring-teams-2024

 

Did it feel hard to score for us last year to you guys? We basically did it without a field stretcher. How will it feel to you all if we did it again, TOP 3. Without a true viable field stretcher on the team? How do we continue moving forward with THIS team on offense with the WR/HB/TE combination we have on the team now, or do we still need a EDGE WR to stretch this field this year?

 

Just a question to you folks. This may of been covered in other topics... just wanted to read more direct answers to this topic.

 

Thanks. 

I suspect we benefited from having the best starting field position in football last year.

[PrimeTime101]

49 minutes ago, WNYFAN1 said:

I suspect we benefited from having the best starting field position in football last year.

I actually did not know this.  Thanks for the info! 

 

top 3 defenses in this league or.. for the sake of arguement lets say top 10 defense is all in #'s yes? But Field position IS about 2 factors, Kick/punt returns and where our defense leaves them on the field to do so yea? So that is a really really interesting fact. Thanks for sharing!

 

PS:

Am I going way off my own friggen topic(my topic lol) here.. yea.. but It was a thought but I wanted to share with ya. again.. cheers. 

[Jrb1979]

1 hour ago, WNYFAN1 said:

I suspect we benefited from having the best starting field position in football last year.

They also benefited on being a top team in turnovers on defense. That is likely to regress.  

 

One thing many over look is that since 2017 only 1 team didn't have either a TE or WR have more than 1000 yards receiving. Teams need a dominant receiver to win a Super Bowl 

[PrimeTime101]

1 minute ago, Jrb1979 said:

They also benefited on being a top team in turnovers on defense. That is likely to regress.  

 

One thing many over look is that since 2017 only 1 team didn't have either a TE or WR have more than 1000 yards receiving. Teams need a dominant receiver to win a Super Bowl 

This is another great point.. Thanks for adding this this question where I think the answer is easy... We need to find a MID ROUND #2 WR that stretches the field plug and play. 

[SoTier]

4 hours ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

Beane just needs to draft a young speedy guy instead of acquiring older or 2nd tier ones through FA.

Brown, McKenzie, Sanders, Harty and Samuel are my examples.

 

For some reason these guys (with exception of Brown) have not clicked with Josh.

FTR I am so hoping Samuel stays healthy all year.

 

I think finding another vertical threat via the draft is probably the best strategy, too.  I take issue with the poster who claimed that Beane and McDermott have some kind of psychological issue with speedy receivers.  There's no evidence of that.  

 

3 hours ago, bigK14094 said:

Lets see....well...Kelvin Benjamin is a case in point.

 

You claimed that Beane and McDermott have a "deep seated distrust of burner receivers".   In what universe was Kelvin Benjamin ever a "burner receiver"? 

[Maine-iac]

10 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I sort of agree and at the same time disagree. Where I think you are right is Josh made more plays last year within the structure of the offense than any year since 2020. And the run game was really reliable all year whereas in 2023 it was spotty. Where I have a slight reservation though is that a lot of our bigger plays, our explosives, did come from Josh creating. And that is my worry. It's fine nickel and diming your way down the field but that is a hard way to live drive in and drive out and when Brady called shot plays within the strucutre of the offense they were rarely there because our guys couldn't get open down the field. The explosives that worked were largely scramble drill situations.

I don't disagree with what you are saying here.  We have not had any of our WR's have much success at getting behind defenses.  I think defenses play a part in that by not giving us much but even when teams come out of cover 2 we don't have a guy who makes one on one man coverage impossible to play against us.  When it comes to splash plays Josh creating is still usually how it gets done.  One silver lining I guess and a tip of the hat to Brady is that despite our WR's being what they were, in terms of man beaters, Brady really did a good job of creating big plays passing to our RB's.  Allen's rating throwing to the RB's was 112 (Cook), 147 (Davis), and 149 (Johnson).  I think this is a very RB centric offense and that's probably not a bad thing.  Hopefully either Coleman or Kincaid take a noticeably step forward and really solidify their pass catching role.

[Buffalo716]

3 hours ago, Jrb1979 said:

They also benefited on being a top team in turnovers on defense. That is likely to regress.  

 

One thing many over look is that since 2017 only 1 team didn't have either a TE or WR have more than 1000 yards receiving. Teams need a dominant receiver to win a Super Bowl 

McDermott has been a HC or DC for 16 seasons 

 

He has 14 top 10 seasons in turnovers out of 16... Including 8 in the top 5

 

That's as consistent as Bill belichick lol it's not regressing outside the top 10

 

EDIT::: Bill belichick only has 15 top 10 turnover defenses in 38 years as a defensive coordinator or head coach 

 

Sean McDermott is the best modern day coach at producing consistent turnovers statistically

Edited 23 hours ago by Buffalo716