Buffalo Bills Stat Dive

[Woodman]

The Buffalo Bills on First Down

Offense

I figured if I were doing a stats-based article, I may as well do some more obscure or harder-to-find stats at least. I began my journey checking out down analysis numbers for the Buffalo Bills. Always one of the most common down/distance combinations is 1st & 10. To me, this is generally a good snapshot of team identity and success.

The Bills are fairly evenly split on 1st & 10, with 69 rushing attempts and 79 passing. They’re a pass-first team, but not in a landslide. The big difference comes with success rates.

[Woodman]

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Defense

Sensitive readers may wish to avert their gaze for a moment. On 1st & 10, the Buffalo Bills allow a whopping 7.26 yards on average. That’s more than three yards higher than the league average. They also allow a first down 20% of the time.

[Woodman]

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Buffalo Bills’ Third-Down Conversions

I was mulling some of these stats with the Buffalo Rumblings team, and Sara Larson felt that the Bills had struggled stopping the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants on third down.

At that moment, I was in the down analysis stats and wanted to look at how successful Buffalo is at stopping 3rd & 10+ situations. The short answer is this: Avoid 3rd & Long against the Bills. The longer version is that on 22 attempts, opponents have converted for a first down only three times. Being candid, this probably isn’t rarified air. I didn’t take the time to check every team, but I imagine 3rd & Long is rarely converted across the board.










Buffalo Bills stat dive as they prepare to face the New England Patriots - Buffalo Rumblings

[Woodman]

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Bend But Don’t Break

Buffalo allows scoring on 26.6% of opponent drives. That’s third-best in the league. There’s not an inordinate amount of touchdowns either, as they’re fourth-best in the NFL allowing only 1.30 points per drive. Despite the bending, the Bills are very good at not breaking.

A major factor in this is that the Buffalo Bills are number-one in the league (tied with the Jaguars) in creating turnovers. Teams facing the Bills turn the ball over on 20.3% of drives.