Why we pass the ball more often than run the ball

[HenryRules]

I've seen a lot of posts on this forum about the Bills insistence on passing the ball more often than they run the ball. I personally think 90% of the time we have a good mix of run/pass and wanted to give my reasoning in support of KG.

First, I'm personally a fan of a run-first offense. My reasons for this is that its easier to move the chains while running the ball, and you lessen the risk of the defense creating a game-altering turnover.

Now, in the case of the Bills this season, I'm pretty sure they're one of the top 5 teams in the NFL in first downs per game (I have no idea where to find this stat, but heard on the radio the other day they are one of the top teams) so moving the chains has not been a problem at all.
At the same time, TH has a higher rate of fumbles per carry than Bledsoe's rate of interceptions per pass attempt, so by giving Henry more carries, we'd actually be increasing the risk of turning the ball over instead of decreasing it - all while decreasing the likelihood of us having a big play as all our big-play players on offense are EM, PP, and DB.

So what benefit would there be for us to run the ball more often than passing it?

I have also read many people stating that the turnover thing is in the past and Henry no longer has problems fumbling the ball ... well, if I'm not mistaken, he has now fumbled in each of the past 3 weeks, and actually only had a stretch of about 4 games in the middle of the season where he didn't fumble the ball. Funny, but to me, that means that he still isn't over the problem.

IMO, until Henry proves over an 8-game stretch that he can carry the ball without fumbling, there's no reason whatsoever to give him the ball before we pass it. If you're going to turn it over, why not do it trying for the big play as opposed to trying for the 4-yard gain?

[colin]

Henry's habit of dropping the rock, and our lack of an established back up really makes Gilbred aversive to the run. He still passes to much, and has no where near enough play action.

[Typ0]

We're going to send Travis Henry a football and tell him he has to carry it all through the offseason and every time it hits the ground he has to donate $20 to the Bills Zone superbowl party. Then we're going to give the Zoner who knocks it out of his hands the most times a million zonebucks.

[HenryRules]

The play action is only credible if the other team respects your run game ... with Henry fumbling the ball as often as he has, why would any team do that?

Any team that watched film of us throughout the year would know that if you:
a) stack the line with 8 to stop TH - then DB will eat you alive with the deep ball to PP or EM and TH won't touch the ball at all.
or
b) play deep and let TH get his yards - TH will fumble the ball and the team will have to march 70+ yards down the field on underneath routes which is not at all the strength of this team. Why the 70+ yards? Because up until recently, that's been about our average starting position. (as an aside, I don't think there's a team in the NFL capable of consistently marching 70+ yards on the short-passing game - unless they were playing against us earlier in the year).

[Typ0]

We need a punter that can average 84 yards a punt.

[Dozerdog]

Originally posted by Typ0
We're going to send Travis Henry a football and tell him he has to carry it all through the offseason and every time it hits the ground he has to donate $20 to the Bills Zone superbowl party. Then we're going to give the Zoner who knocks it out of his hands the most times a million zonebucks.

:rofl: I can see it now....In between "Hey... can you sign my ball? please sign my ball??" Mike 32282 tries to flail at the football Travis Henry holds in his left hand....

[Typ0]

Stiff-Arm sharpie to the eye (*_*).

[SABURZFAN]

Originally posted by Typ0
We need a punter that can average 84 yards a punt.

:lolcry: