Buffalo Bills
Monday Six Pack: Bills at Dolphins
It isn’t a Bills Sunday without a couple of adult beverages. For those of you struggling at work today, there is no better cure for a hangover than a little “hair of the dog.” So, here is a six-pack of takeaways from the Bills 37-20 win against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
The Offense Arrives
The Bills offense finally found a balance. They ran the ball 34 times and passed 33 times en route to a 37-point performance.
Josh Allen was 21/33 for 256 yards and three touchdowns. He added 56 yards and another touchdown on the ground.
John Brown reeled in nine catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
Devin Singletary ran the ball 15 times for 75 yards.
Dawson Knox contributed a 23-yard touchdown.
Cole Beasley and Isaiah contributed a few chunk plays as well.
The offensive line was simply phenomenal. Josh Allen had all day to pick apart the Dolphins secondary.
A Philosophical Change on Offense
The Bills final scoring drive of Sunday’s game that culminated in John Brown’s second touchdown may have been their most defining drive of the season.
Jakeem Grant scored on a wildcat run to close the lead to 30-20 with 14:35 remaining in the fourth quarter. As Bills fans, we had seen this script play out dozens of times this season. We were all bracing for the “run-run-pass”, milk the clock, trust the defense, vanilla garbage that had kept inferior opponents within striking distance all season.
That did not happen today. Sean McDermott and Brian Daboll made a calculated philosophical shift. They were aggressive. They came out throwing, and within five minutes, the Buffalo Bills had regained their 17 point advantage via a Josh Allen strike to John Brown.
The goal for the Bills offense now should be to make this aggressive philosophy the norm, not the outlier. Taking this approach consistently will bring our ball club to a whole other level and start to get the Buffalo Bills national attention as a legitimate threat in the AFC.
A Philosophical Change on Defense
Anyone who has followed their careers will tell you that Sean McDermott and Leslie Frazier are not aggressive. They believe in sound fundamental defensive football. All eleven players playing in unison to keep the game in front of them and avoid the big play. Their defenses don’t take risks, even against inferior opponents. That changed Sunday.
This Bills defense was unlike anything we have seen in McDermott’s three years in Buffalo. The Buffalo Bills were scheming blitzes on almost every play, not relying on their natural talents. Lorenzo Alexander came off the edge on dozens of plays. Tre White got in on the action from the secondary. Edmunds and Milano were blitzing from the interior and running stunts with the likes of Ed Oliver and Jordan Phillips wreaking havoc on the Miami offensive line. They made Ryan Fitzpatrick’s life a living hell en route to a seven sack performance.
They didn’t just play to keep the game in front of them and do just enough to win. They played to blow the doors off the Dolphins. Instead of relying on their natural abilities to coast by an inferior opponent, they used scheme to feast on them. That’s not something a Sean McDermott and Leslie Frazier led defense does. While this philosophy won’t hold up against better lines and more competent quarterbacks, it was nice to see. It will give future opponents something to think about while watching film and something the Bills can utilize in isolation to generate a pass rush against their better opponents. It is an approach we should have been using all season, and one we need to see again against our inferior competition.
The question that needs to be answered over the rest of this season is whether the Bills will utilize this schematic aggression consistently or whether it was just a flash in the pan.
Steven Hauschka Finds His Groove
After last week’s disaster in Cleveland Steven Hauschka got back on the right track hitting three field goals, one from 50 plus yards, and hitting all four extra points Sunday.
Our Specials Team Unit Kinda Sucks
Andre Roberts has given us some nice field position this season with his return ability. When he doesn’t have the yips, Steven Hauschka is a dependable kicker. Corey Bojorquez has shown flashes of being a serviceable NFL punter. That’s about all the Bills Special Teams Unit has going for them. The unit has consistently ranked in the 20s in DVOA and today gave up a 101-yard return touchdown and an onside kick. Heath Farewell has yet to make any noticeable changes from the unit he inherited from Danny Crossman who ironically schooled him today.
Things Got… Hairy
From pregame to the waning moments of this game it was all about one thing… the mustache.
Bills Mafia Invades Miami
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