By Clint Brooks / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Buffalo Bills sit at 3-7 as they enter their Week 11 bye. The team recently completed it’s best win of the 2018 NFL season when they trounced into MetLife Stadium and dominated the New York Jets 41-10. So Sean McDermott’s group has a lot of confidence and momentum heading into their off week as they prepare to host the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 12.
With the team riding-high after their big win in the Meadowlands, there’s still a few things McDermott’s squad has to work on, especially offensively. Despite setting season-highs in points scored and total yards against the Jets, there are a couple glaring holes that offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has to fix in order for his offense to become more efficient.
Here are 3 areas of the offense that still have to be addressed:
Run Blocking
Heading into the season, the Bills were once again going to rely on their rushing attack to propel their offense and assist their young quarterback’s development in Josh Allen.
From a rushing perspective, things haven’t gone as planned, to say the least. The retirements of Pro Bowl guard Richie Incognito and center Eric Wood left a gaping hole in the interior of their offensive line. Buffalo was hopeful that they could depend on a combination of Vladimir Ducasse, Russell Bodine, John Miller, and Ryan Groy to replace Incognito and Wood’s production in the trenches. However, that hasn’t been the case.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Bills’ offensive line is ranked last in the NFL in run blocking. Ducasse’s atrocious 38.5 run blocking grade is the worst among Buffalo’s offensive line and he has been the unit’s culprit in their run blocking inefficiency. The remainder of the line sports much higher grades in the run blocking department, but those grades are still below-average by NFL standards. Here’s how the rest of the line shakes out:
Dawkins – 64.1.
Teller – 54.7.
Bodine – 64.0.
Miller – 62.1.
Mills – 56.2
The Bills’ offensive line paved the way for LeSean McCoy’s breakout performance (113 yards, one touchdown) and their rushing attack to gain a season-high 112 yards on the ground against New York in Week 10. Perhaps the unit has officially turned over a new leaf, but regardless, Buffalo’s run blocking needs to find more consistency in order to unleash the full potential of their talented backfield.
Moving the Chains
An offense that relies heavily on the run will attempt to maintain possession and control the pace of action. When the running game is failing, and there’s a shortage of playmakers in the passing game, that spells danger for any offense. For the 2018 Bills, this has been the offense’s achilles heel.
With the running game unable to jump-start the offense for the majority of the season, Buffalo had to depend on inexperienced quarterbacks like Josh Allen and Nathan Peterman and a journeyman, reserve quarterback in Derek Anderson to lead a comeback and ignite a passing game that is depleted of talent.
Through 10 games this season, the Bills’ offense ranks 30th in first downs acquired per game (16) with only the Jets (15.3) and the Arizona Cardinals (14.6) ranked worse.
As Daboll continues to operate a run-oriented offense, he’ll have to continue to be creative and adjust his scheme to his player’s strengths to make his unit maintain possession, move the chains and ultimately score points on Sunday’s.
Fourth Quarter Offense
While Buffalo’s elite defense has kept their offense afloat late in games this season, Daboll’s unit has routinely failed to capitalize on the fantastic play of their shutdown defense.
The combination of terrible run blocking and the inability to move the chains has set back their offense, which inadvertently leads to them disappointing and undermining the strong play of McDermott and Leslie Frazier’s unit.
As a result, one reason why the offense has failed to comeback and win games in 2018 is because of their horrendous fourth quarter offense. The Bills are currently last in the NFL in points scored in the fourth quarter (2.6 per-game).