The offense needs to evolve

[ghz in pittsburgh]

I think Allen led Bills offense is entering the 2nd chapter. In his 1st 5 years, it is pretty much Brian Daboll's version of Ernhard-Perkins which features wide open aerial attack married with Allen's unique physical ability to escape breakdowns and bad protections In Dorsey's first year as OC, it continued with minimal changes but we lost some of the ingenuity that Daboll showed from time to time.

After teams failing to defend our various crossing/flying patterns, they focused more on pressuring, especially in the playoffs where teams usually have a pretty good defense. The kind of wide open aerial attack does not seem to work very well.

This year, I can see a concerted effort in OBD to take some load off Allen. Too many games in the past the offense rely on Allen making unscripted plays (aka Mahomes style). They wanted more structured offense (aka Burrow style). Thus the upgrade of guards and running attack. The Play-action. It was successful in the 1st quarter of the season, for the most part. But teams have adapted. Yesterday, I see time again, even with a depleted Giants defense, they were mostly in position - they don't bite often on play-actions --- at a later stage, they seem to play the pass regardless to get a guy in Allen's face in those play-actions. And they cover up Diggs pretty well because it seems like those play-action passes going to Diggs exclusively. Yesterday, the Bills were able to run on them pretty good in the 2nd half (I do applaud that because they ran on Giants big dudes in middle, unlike Miami the week before that went outside exclusively), but I imagine when facing a more stout defense, it could be very ugly.

They need to add some variety. You can't just live on run, play-action, and 5 wide. The sweeps, the screens, moving pocket, etc. are absent in our offense, and we have a fairy mobile O-Line and guys who can do this.

[jamze132]

Definitely need more screens to counter the blitz. It was ripe for the picking last night with how aggressive the Giants D was and Dorsey didn’t even bother.

[daryls61]

Allen needs to evolve and see the open receivers Dorsey is scheming open. This dates back to the 2nd half of last year as well. If Allen doesn't evolve, this is the type of offense you will see.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

I do see Daryl's point. On one of Allen's scramble for some short gain to the sideline yesterday, Cook was wide open in the short middle but Allen was fixated on Diggs and maybe Davis on the intermediate to long sidelines. This is an area I think Mahomes is better than Allen in terms of vision under duress - even Mahomes makes undue mistakes in those situations and that has been what defenses ARE honing on against Allen in recent years.

I hate to say it but look at what McDaniel is doing in Miami. Same formation, different guys, so many variety of plays coming out of it. And that's even with a QB has limited arm and mobility. So many layups for your QB without much duress.

[Woodman]

I do see Daryl's point. On one of Allen's scramble for some short gain to the sideline yesterday, Cook was wide open in the short middle but Allen was fixated on Diggs and maybe Davis on the intermediate to long sidelines.



Big one to miss .... so I wasn't seeing things.

[Mr. Pink]

The offense has evolved, have you not noticed it?

Josh has been very obviously told to not run with the football.

We don't have designed QB runs anymore, we don't run zone reads anymore.

We've evolved to turn Josh into a pocket passer mostly, which then means we're given different looks by opposing defenses whose coordinators realize that Josh isn't running anymore so they don't need to gameplan for it.

[Typ0]

The offense has evolved, have you not noticed it?

Josh has been very obviously told to not run with the football.

We don't have designed QB runs anymore, we don't run zone reads anymore.

We've evolved to turn Josh into a pocket passer mostly, which then means we're given different looks by opposing defenses whose coordinators realize that Josh isn't running anymore so they don't need to gameplan for it.

Unfortunately it's what they should have done at the beginning of his career. He needs it taken away so he can learn the options he's not seeing when he is in the mindset of a fullback. I can see the coaches point on allowing him to do it and am in a minority that I actually think we should use it ... but he needs to learn some things a little different before he's ready to be unleashed.

[sukie]

Hoping Josh becomes a pocket passer ? Really? I totally disagree with that being any sort of good idea.

[notacon]

What was encouraging is the two consecutive TD drives vs Giants were based on smash mouth football...running the ball down the Giants throats.

Buffalo News’ Mark Maugham had these observations (https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nfl/bills/position-grades-steady-power-run-game-gave-struggling-bills-offense-some-life/article_c59c1b56-6c5c-11ee-a478-c32991d6e589.html)....



With the passing game unable to find a rhythm, the Bills were able to mount two long touchdown drives in the second half thanks to a lot of chains-moving run plays.
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The Bills ran 12 times in their 17-play, 89-yard scoring drive that gave them a 7-6 lead. They ran eight times on a 12-play, 75-yard drive to the winning TD in the 14-9 triumph.
<o:p></o:p>
Right guard O'Cyrus Torrence and right tackle Spencer Brown provided powerful run-blocking throughout the game. And the Bills used left tackle Dion Dawkins and center Mitch Morse on pulling plays to get their gap-scheme runs going. The Bills gained 37 yards on eight carries (4.6 a carry) on gap-scheme runs, according to Buffalo News charting.<o:p></o:p>


There is no doubt that the Bills have a home run in O’Cyrus Torrence. Plus David Edwards solidified the LG position. The inside of the Bills O-line went from weakness last season to strength this season, while Spencer Brown has come on storing after a shaky pre-season.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Josh shouldn't be asked to not run, he should be asked to run smart. You don't have to get 2 extra yards by trying to hurdle defenders on 1st or 2nd down and if you already have enough for the first, just go down with two hands on the ball.

Both of his injuries have been while he was staying in the pocket.

Should we just wrap him in bubble wrap and run the wildcat so he never gets hurt?

It's stupid to take away what makes him so good. He feeds off of those runs and it demoralizes defenses.

We're afraid we won't win it all if he gets hurt.

Ok.True.

But...

We won't win **** if we shackle him so what good does that philosophy do?

[ghz in pittsburgh]

I'm OK with Allen not running much now. Just working out the kinks in this somewhat new offense.

The Bills are in the phase where the success of the team is not measured by how much they win in regular season games. Just get wins to get into the post season and peak at the right time.

[sukie]

Allen as a pocket passer Allen is not exciting.

[Kenny]

I'm perfectly fine with him playing the role of pocket passer in the regular season. It's not like he's not doing roll outs to create confusion with the opposing defenses.

That said, when we get to the playoffs, I'd hope the entire playbook is open.

[Woodman]

That said, when we get to the playoffs, I'd hope the entire playbook is open.

Throw it out and let him call his own plays during the playoffs.

No tendencies sounds good to me.