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The Bills’ Offense, and the Limits of Spreading It Around
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This came to mind recently when I heard multiple comments during Buffalo Bills broadcasts regarding how Turk Schonert’s offensive philosophy was helping the team’s passing game. Schonert is a proponent of spreading the ball around and getting everyone involved, and the players said it was a key reason the team was improved early in the 2008 season.
When I first heard this, I thought of something Dr. Z said in his book “The New Thinking Man’s Guide To Pro Football” about the early 1980s Steelers defenses. Their defensive coach at the time said that his new system was more efficient than the old Steel Curtain unit because all of the players could make a contribution. When Dr. Z told his son Michael about this, he made a terrific retort - “Makes a contribution?! What is this, the March of Dimes?”
The same indignant comment could be made about the idea of finding ways to spread the ball around more, and my scouting eye wondered why Schonert would do this. That’s when I decided to check with the metric eye to see what it said about this.
It turns out the metrics say there were times when Schonert’s plan actually worked rather well. For example, Lee Evans is rightfully thought of as a great vertical threat, but Schonert decided to get him more involved in the offense as a slot receiver. This tactic worked like a charm; Evans caught 14 of the 18 passes thrown to him in the slot and gained 198 yards. That equates to 11.0 yards per attempt, which is tremendous when you consider that the best wideouts in the league will normally average around 10.0 YPA in a season.
It also worked to a lesser extent when the Bills lined up tight ends and running backs as wide receivers and threw them the ball. Buffalo was 20 for 33 for 262 yards when doing this. While that 7.9 YPA isn’t spectacular, it certainly is solid and evidence that the tactic is worth repeating for the most part.
The one glaring exception to this philosophy was when the Bills threw passes to tight end Robert Royal when he was lined up as a wideout. Buffalo was for 7 for 15 for 108 yards on those aerials, but one of those receptions was a 19-yard gain against a very soft prevent defense. Take that pass out and Royal’s flex YPA was a meager 6.4 yards, but his performance was actually a lot worse than the YPA shows. Three of the throws to Royal were picked off, and two others were nearly intercepted. If that weren’t enough, Royal also dropped two of the throws and the 19-yard gain mentioned previously ended with a lost fumble.
What this shows is that while it is a great concept to get everyone involved in all areas of the offense, there are certain players who simply aren’t cut out to do everything on every play. The key for Schonert’s future success as an offensive coordinator will be if he can discern which of his troops can and cannot do this and adjusts his approach according to their talent and limitations.
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This came to mind recently when I heard multiple comments during Buffalo Bills broadcasts regarding how Turk Schonert’s offensive philosophy was helping the team’s passing game. Schonert is a proponent of spreading the ball around and getting everyone involved, and the players said it was a key reason the team was improved early in the 2008 season.
When I first heard this, I thought of something Dr. Z said in his book “The New Thinking Man’s Guide To Pro Football” about the early 1980s Steelers defenses. Their defensive coach at the time said that his new system was more efficient than the old Steel Curtain unit because all of the players could make a contribution. When Dr. Z told his son Michael about this, he made a terrific retort - “Makes a contribution?! What is this, the March of Dimes?”
The same indignant comment could be made about the idea of finding ways to spread the ball around more, and my scouting eye wondered why Schonert would do this. That’s when I decided to check with the metric eye to see what it said about this.
It turns out the metrics say there were times when Schonert’s plan actually worked rather well. For example, Lee Evans is rightfully thought of as a great vertical threat, but Schonert decided to get him more involved in the offense as a slot receiver. This tactic worked like a charm; Evans caught 14 of the 18 passes thrown to him in the slot and gained 198 yards. That equates to 11.0 yards per attempt, which is tremendous when you consider that the best wideouts in the league will normally average around 10.0 YPA in a season.
It also worked to a lesser extent when the Bills lined up tight ends and running backs as wide receivers and threw them the ball. Buffalo was 20 for 33 for 262 yards when doing this. While that 7.9 YPA isn’t spectacular, it certainly is solid and evidence that the tactic is worth repeating for the most part.
The one glaring exception to this philosophy was when the Bills threw passes to tight end Robert Royal when he was lined up as a wideout. Buffalo was for 7 for 15 for 108 yards on those aerials, but one of those receptions was a 19-yard gain against a very soft prevent defense. Take that pass out and Royal’s flex YPA was a meager 6.4 yards, but his performance was actually a lot worse than the YPA shows. Three of the throws to Royal were picked off, and two others were nearly intercepted. If that weren’t enough, Royal also dropped two of the throws and the 19-yard gain mentioned previously ended with a lost fumble.
What this shows is that while it is a great concept to get everyone involved in all areas of the offense, there are certain players who simply aren’t cut out to do everything on every play. The key for Schonert’s future success as an offensive coordinator will be if he can discern which of his troops can and cannot do this and adjusts his approach according to their talent and limitations.
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