YardRat
06-14-2012, 05:12 PM
http://blogs.buffalonews.com/press-coverage/2012/06/bills-call-play-action-less-often-than-any-other-team.html
No team used play-action less than the Buffalo Bills last season, and that's OK.
Football Outsiders data shows the Bills called play-action 11 percent (http://footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2012/2011-play-action-offense) of the time, or more than twice as much as Ryan Fitzpatrick would have guessed.
Football Outsiders assistant editor Rivers McCown broke down the numbers, showing the Bills trailed the NFL and came in well under the league average of 19 percent.
Fitzpatrick figured the Bills' number would be around 5 percent in Chan Gailey's spread system. The Bills gave up the fewest sacks in the NFL last year mostly because of the quick-read offense.
"We're more of a spread team, a shotgun team," Fitzpatrick said after today's voluntary workout in Orchard Park. "Play-action limits the amount of things you can do protection-wise and scheme-wise to go play action and throw it down the field.
"The other thing is our running backs are more involved in a lot of the routes and things. To us, that's more important than all the different play fakes and the quarterback turning his back on the defense."
The Houston Texans led the NFL in play-action reliance at 33 percent, followed by the Minnesota Vikings at 29 percent, Philadelphia Eagles at 25 percent, St. Louis Rams at 24 percent, and New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos at 23 percent.
Football Outsiders' review showed the Bills averaged 7.0 yards when they called play-action (NFL average 7.5 yards) and 6.5 yards when they didn't (NFL average 6.2 yards).
No team used play-action less than the Buffalo Bills last season, and that's OK.
Football Outsiders data shows the Bills called play-action 11 percent (http://footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2012/2011-play-action-offense) of the time, or more than twice as much as Ryan Fitzpatrick would have guessed.
Football Outsiders assistant editor Rivers McCown broke down the numbers, showing the Bills trailed the NFL and came in well under the league average of 19 percent.
Fitzpatrick figured the Bills' number would be around 5 percent in Chan Gailey's spread system. The Bills gave up the fewest sacks in the NFL last year mostly because of the quick-read offense.
"We're more of a spread team, a shotgun team," Fitzpatrick said after today's voluntary workout in Orchard Park. "Play-action limits the amount of things you can do protection-wise and scheme-wise to go play action and throw it down the field.
"The other thing is our running backs are more involved in a lot of the routes and things. To us, that's more important than all the different play fakes and the quarterback turning his back on the defense."
The Houston Texans led the NFL in play-action reliance at 33 percent, followed by the Minnesota Vikings at 29 percent, Philadelphia Eagles at 25 percent, St. Louis Rams at 24 percent, and New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos at 23 percent.
Football Outsiders' review showed the Bills averaged 7.0 yards when they called play-action (NFL average 7.5 yards) and 6.5 yards when they didn't (NFL average 6.2 yards).