Bills season preview: 6 things Buffalo must do in 2022 in its quest for a Super Bowl

Thirty-one years ago, on the eve of the Buffalo Bills’ opening game of the 1991 season, I sat down with Thurman Thomas and asked him if his team was capable of overcoming the heartbreak of losing Super Bowl 25 when Scott Norwood’s kick sailed wide right.

Naturally, Thomas bristled because that’s just how Thomas was on some days, and bringing up that horrible memory wasn’t exactly a topic he cared to relive with Dan Marino and the rival Dolphins coming to town.

But rather than blow the question off, he thought back to the night in Tampa when the Bills’ championship dreams were shattered, and shared what he said to Norwood as the Giants were celebrating their victory.

“When he kicked it, I just kind of got up and told Scott, ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll be back next year,’” Thomas said, proving to be a prophet. “I put it away real quick, like the next day. The season was over with, there was nothing we could do at that point to turn it around. It was an exciting season but we can improve in a lot of areas.”

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Now, I doubt very much that Josh Allen and the 2022 Bills went into the archives to research how the 1991 Bills dealt with their anguish, but there have been countless comments just like Thomas’ in the months since they suffered a similarly awful playoff loss.

Like the 1991 Bills who dealt with “Wide Right” the 2022 Bills have their own nicknamed nightmare, “13 Seconds.” They rank as two of the most painful defeats in team history, and really, they were among the toughest losses any team in NFL history has suffered.

Thomas’ Bills responded in 1991 with one of the best seasons any Bills team has ever had, and that iconic group stacked two more great seasons after that, making it to the Super Bowl an unprecedented and not-yet-matched four times in a row.

How Allen’s Bills respond this year is one of the most intriguing aspects of the NFL season which gets underway in Los Angeles Thursday night with Buffalo playing the defending Super Bowl champion Rams.

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Allen and his teammates say they have pushed the 42-36 overtime divisional round loss to the Chiefs into the deepest recesses of their minds, but no matter how deep it is, human nature says it will linger, probably until the Bills achieve their ultimate goal.

“At the end of the day, we know what we want to accomplish and it’s no secret,” Allen said of winning the Super Bowl. “Everything that we do is towards that goal. We know the taste that was left with us, and we want to get rid of that. Nothing that we did last year is going to carry over to this year. It’s a brand new season, everybody’s starting 0-0. We’re a new team, we’re a different team.”

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs said the same thing, almost as if it was part of a Sean McDermott-authored script.

“I mean it was last year, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Diggs said. “That season ran its course. You’ve got a brand new season and brand new opportunities, so all the offseason work and all the training camp work, you’ll really forget that you played a game way before then because you’ve got a game approaching. It’s really in the rear view. You’ve got something even greater in front of you.”

Can the Bills move past the tumult of the loss in Kansas City and rise up and meet the massive expectations they are starting 2022 with as the consensus Super Bowl favorite? Here are a few of the things that will need to happen if the Bills hope to be holding the Lombardi Trophy in Arizona on the night of Feb. 12, 2023.

Josh Allen can’t take a step back

Allen actually did take a very slight step back statistically in 2021 from his near-MVP 2020 performance. Remember, the Bills were scuffling along at 7-6 midway through December and trailing the Patriots by two games in the AFC East before they turned it on and won their last four games.

Allen was magnificent down the stretch, and then was otherworldly in the two playoff games. While that level of brilliance is probably too much to ask, if he plays the way we all know he can, the Bills’ offense will once again hum.

One thing that bears watching is how new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey calls each game. Promoting Dorsey to replace Brian Daboll was ideal because very little has changed in an offense that has been one of the best in the NFL. Allen is playing in the same system for a fifth straight season, uncommon continuity, and now Dorsey has to remember to not gum up the works and just keep the train moving.

Gabe Davis needs to fulfill his enormous promise

For too long in 2021, the Bills underused Davis and the oddness of that decision became quite apparent when he had a game for the ages in the loss to the Chiefs, setting a new NFL postseason record for receiving TDs with four while piling up 201 yards.

Davis deferred to John Brown in 2020 and Emmanuel Sanders in 2021, but this season, he has to become one of the focal points of the offense. Diggs remains an outstanding talent and he’ll deserve every double team he gets, but opposing defenses can’t double everyone, especially when they also have to cover Isaiah McKenzie, Dawson Knox, and a back.

Davis should be able to pounce on those opportunities. He gave us a taste of what he’s capable of that night in Kansas City, and throughout training camp he looked like a player ready to build on that success.

The running game has to be more consistent

The Bills are a pass-first team, as they should be. But while it sounds old-school and cliche, having a reliable running game has never, in the history of the NFL, been a detriment to a team.

Last season the Bills relied far too much on Allen’s legs as he rushed for 763 yards, just 107 fewer than Devin Singletary. You never want to take Allen’s scrambling ability away and he should remain unchained in that regard, but Dorsey needs to back off on the designed Allen runs and figure out a way for those yards to come from Singletary, Zack Moss and James Cook behind a slightly revamped line now being coached by Aaron Kromer.

Kromer has built his career helping offensive linemen succeed in their run blocking, and there was work to do in Buffalo as Pro Football Focus rated the Bills’ 2021 line 27th in run blocking. Last year, 33.6% of the Bills offense came via the ground which ranked 17th in the league, but if you took most of Allen out of that mix and made him a traditional QB as a runner, the Bills would drop several places.

That sounds dumb, but the point is this: The Bills need to run more effectively in the traditional way, and that means their backs need to carry more of the load.

Von Miller must be a transformative player on defense

Miller has 115.5 career sacks, so the Bills are paying him huge money (potentially $120 million across six years) for past performance. That’s usually the case in free agency, but the Bills need Miller to live up to that contract because the one thing they have lacked for years is a true game-changing edge rusher. Jerry Hughes was a gamer, but he wasn’t a changer.

Miller is 33, and while there is evidence that pass rushers can continue to be great at that age, he hasn’t had a double-digit sack season since 2018 (he missed all of 2020 with an ankle injury). The Bills know this, but they believe his skills remain elite and he’ll get his sacks and pressures.

But just as important as Miller getting to the quarterback is that his presence should help fellow edge rushers like Greg Rousseau, A.J. Epenesa and Boogie Basham get home because opposing teams will almost always double team Miller. Those are three young players with only four combined NFL seasons under their belt, so they have to take big leaps forward this year and Miller should help in that regard.

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The interior defensive line needs to be more stout

The Bills overhauled the middle of the line as they said goodbye to Harrison Phillips, Justin Zimmer, Star Lotulelei, and Vernon Butler and brought in three free agents - Tim Settle, DaQuan Jones and Jordan Phillips to join Ed Oliver. On paper, that should be a sizable improvement, but on paper means nothing.

The Bills No. 1-ranked defense was tremendous against the pass (it helped that it played so many bad quarterbacks) but it struggled at times against the run in 2021. It ranked 15th at 112.5 yards per game and the games that stood out were Derrick Henry of the Titans and Jonathan Taylor of the Colts carving them up, and of course that wind-blown night against the Patriots when, even though they knew Mac Jones wasn’t throwing, they gave up 222 ground yards to New England and lost.

There are some big challenges on the schedule including a solid Rams duo of Cam Akers and Darnell Henderson on Thursday; Henry in Week 2; Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in Week 4; Najee Harris of the Steelers in Week 5; Dalvin Cook of the Vikings in Week 10; the Browns’ Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt in Week 11; and the Bengals’ Joe Mixon in Week 17.

The best way to defend Josh Allen is to keep him on the sidelines, so teams will want to run the ball and control the clock as much as they can against the Bills.

The young cornerbacks have to hold up

The only area of this team that raises some concern is boundary cornerback, and for good reason. Tre’Davious White is out the first four games and may not play until midseason. Because the Bills chose not to sign a veteran to help fill the gap, they’re rolling the dice with third-year man Dane Jackson in White’s spot, and then two rookies on the other side - Kaiir Elam or Christian Benford, or maybe a combination of the two.

That’s worrisome in a league so heavily reliant on passing because all three of those players are inexperienced. It helps that the Bills literally have a “safety” blanket with Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde, but teams are going to attack these young corners at will and they have to get the job done.

One thing that would help is if the pass rush can get consistent heat, thereby shortening the time the corners have to hold up.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's new twice-a-week newsletter, Bills Blast, please follow this link: profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills season preview: Things Buffalo must do to make a Super Bowl run