Bills explain passing the ball so much vs. Ravens, early plans vs. Chiefs
The case can be made that the Bills offense starts and ends with quarterback Josh Allen each and every game. Perhaps that’s true, but no game displayed this more than their AFC Divisional round meeting against the Ravens.
In their 17-3 win, the Bills came out and called 20-straight passing plays. The only rush among all of those was a scramble from Allen on a passing play that broke down.
On Monday, Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said via video conference that decision to call plays in such a manner came down to two factors. First, Allen’s abilities. Second, the Ravens defense.
“We weren’t afraid to throw the ball. We did it… I don’t know how many times in a row… and that’s because we have a lot of confidence in him. The whole football team does,” Daboll said. “(Allen) played the way he needed to play to help us win the game.”
“You watch Baltimore play Tennessee and Derrick Henry and what they did, so you’re not going to try and bang your head against a wall,” Daboll added.
Good points all around by Daboll, but one could argue that giving Devin Singletary some kind of workload on a handful of plays might’ve helped build momentum for him and keep the Ravens defense a bit more honest when Allen drops back. Hindsight is 20/20 though, and the Bills still won, after all.
In that same mindset, it sounds like Buffalo shouldn’t get used to seeing such a game plan. Ahead of facing the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, Daboll already said that the running game will be “important part for us” this week.
“Kansas City is good at both [run and pass defense] and we’re going to have to be good at both of them,” Daboll said.
But using the run won’t just be the only thing the Bills will have to do… they’ll have to improve upon doing it as well. The Bills and Chiefs first faced off in Week 6 and the running game played a huge part.
Kansas City had 245 rushing yards to Buffalo’s 84. The Bills’ running back duo of Singletary and Zack Moss averaged 2.8 yards per carry in that 26-17 loss.
In potentially attempting to do both of those things on Sunday, Singletary has already expressed his confidence in Buffalo having a better run-game production vs. KC.
“That was kind of early on. I feel we grew a lot since then, came together a lot. We just a better offense since then,” Singletary said following the Ravens win.
Allen himself acknowledged it probably won’t be all on him moving forward, either.
“It’s going to take everyone moving forward,” Allen said via video conference postgame. “Guys have to step up and make plays for us.”
Then again, maybe it’s just a smokescreen we’re seeing from Daboll…? We’ll find out on Sunday.
