By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The curious case of Devin Singletary continued for the Bills in Week 8.
The rookie flashed his brilliance on a 28-yard touchdown run and had a 16-yard scamper in the 31-13 loss against the Eagles at New Era Field. He was one of Buffalo’s lone bright spots.
Still, he finished the day with three carries for 19 yards and four catches for 30 yards. Why isn’t the rookie getting more opportunities with his clear ability to get chunks of yards?
On Monday, Bills head coach Sean McDermott and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll both acknowledged that could change in the future.
“We want to get the ball in the hands of our playmakers,” McDermott said on Monday. “You saw what Devin can do early in the season. Now him coming back off the injury is another piece and him doing his job as well. So, it’s part to whole, and everyone doing their 1/11 of the job here.”
McDermott added that the hamstring injury the rookie suffered earlier this season isn’t holding him back at all. So why wasn’t he getting the ball? Well, perhaps Josh Allen is playing a part here, too.
Daboll did acknowledge he has to be better and will work to improve himself. But the OC also said the plan was, in fact, to get Singletary the ball in the passing game. Whether it was Allen’s decision making or the Eagles shutting down plays, the ball didn’t get there.
“Early in the game we were trying to get him in a little bit of space in the passing game, some free releases there, I’d say in the first 10. Ball didn’t go his way, but definitely a guy we like to have touch the ball, along with Frank [Gore], and Smoke [John Brown], and Bease [Cole Beasley]. We have to keep working on that,” Daboll said.
To Daboll’s point, Singletary was certainly out there a lot. Gore led Bills running backs with nine carries and 34 yards. But Singletary had six targets in the passing game to Gore’s zero. Singletary also played in way more snaps, 68 percent to Gore’s 29 percent. Last week, it was the opposite.
Still, the Bills are lacking playmakers. Allen deserves some blame for not getting the ball to his playmakers, but Brown’s been the lone consistently successful target for the Bills midway through the year. Cole Beasley has scored in back-to-back games, but in those two combined, he has six catches for 57 yards. Gore does his steady work down the middle of the field but he doesn’t have the agility like Singletary.
The Bills should cut out some excuses and get Singletary the ball a few more times in Week 9 against the Redskins.