Buffalo’s running game is on the precipice of breaking a team rushing record that has stood for 41 seasons.
Buffalo Bills Insider Chris Brown provides the details. Here is his report:
By now just about everyone in the NFL knows Buffalo’s run game is their identity. Opponents know the Bills offensive approach each week is to run the ball. Stopping Buffalo’s rushing attack however, has proven difficult for most of the defenses facing them each week. So much so that the Bills are in position to put up some of the best rushing figures in team history.
Currently holders of the best yards per carry average in team annals (5.3) through 13 games, Buffalo also has a chance to set the team record for most rushing touchdowns in club history.
The Bills sit just two rushing scores away from the team record of 26 set by the 1975 Bills who featured O.J. Simpson. It’s the first time since 1990 the Bills produced a 2,000-yard rushing season along with at least 20 rushing touchdowns.
Even coming off the second-lowest rushing total of the season last week, Buffalo still leads the NFL in rushing (154.6), yards per carry (5.4), rushing yards (2,010) and rushing touchdowns (24).
They just eclipsed the 2,000-yard rushing mark for the season against Pittsburgh and stand less than 450 yards away from having a top five single-season rushing total in team history.
So what is it that makes Buffalo’s ground game so effective, especially when they have a passing attack that has struggled for most of the year? Buffalobills.com lays out a few of the main reasons as described by the players themselves.
It’s pretty obvious that every productive run game needs a feature back and it’d be hard to find better than LeSean McCoy. Since 2010, McCoy leads the NFL in rushing yards with 8,023 over that span. He also leads the league this season in yards per carry average (5.25) and leads the NFL with five 100-yard rushing games this year.
“He’s just very dynamic,” said Tyrod Taylor of McCoy. “Whether it’s in the running game or the passing game, he’s a playmaker. He wants the ball and when he gets the ball he knows what to do with it and he can create plays.”
Even when the opposing defense has a run play sniffed out and all the gaps are filled, McCoy has a knack for making something out of nothing with his trademark jitterbug style and elusiveness.
“Some of those plays he makes out there from the backfield position, there are only one or two guys, maybe just him who can do that in the National Football League,” said Taylor. “I’m glad to have him behind me.”
“Just a fantastic player,” said Rex Ryan. “We know what he is. Every single time out the guy is the best player on the field. He gives all his effort to have to level performances every time out.”
It also doesn’t hurt that McCoy’s backup Mike Gillislee has chipped in six touchdowns and is averaging more than six yards a carry.
O-line continuity
After finishing first in rushing yards and yards per carry average last season, the Bills front office made it a priority to keep their offensive line intact. They re-signed both LT Cordy Glenn and Pro Bowl G Richie Incognito to long-term contract extensions. The 2016 season marked the first time in 20 years Buffalo returned all five starting offensive linemen from the end of the previous season. The results have been obvious.
“We have a great running back and then having an offensive line that takes charge and is accountable,” said Glenn. “We have a high level of commitment and pride when it comes to running the ball.”
Even with the loss of Pro Bowl C Eric Wood to a season-ending leg injury in Week 9, Buffalo has been able to maintain their effectiveness running the ball with Ryan Groy in the pivot as his replacement.
“We do everything really well as far as blocking,” said Incognito. “I’ve been part of offenses where we’re great zone blockers, but we’re not great gap blockers, or we have great gap blockers that can’t really zone. We do it all. We have guys who can move, athletic guys up front and dynamic backs who can make people miss.”
Wood, Incognito, Miller and Groy are all capable of pulling and getting out in front of the backs and Jerome Felton is still one of the best drive block fullbacks in the league.
“The linemen do a great job of creating holes and space for Shady and the running backs in general,” said Taylor. “So for the backs they just go out there and make plays.”
Multiplicity
Anyone who has seen the majority of Buffalo’s games this season knows that there really is no common pre-snap look with the Bills run game. Offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn purposely presents an array of pre-snap formations to keep the opponents guessing. For the most part this season opposing defenses have been doing just that.
“This is the best rushing attack (I’ve been a part of) because we do so many different things,” said McCoy. “I’m sure teams prepare each week for the tons of different reads and plays that we run. We have a formation where we can run five or six different running plays and the defense has to account for all of that.”
“Each week we reinvent ourselves as an offense,” said Incognito. “You don’t really get a lot of looks out of us. You can’t look at last week’s game and come into this week’s game and really get a bead on what we’re doing because we change up everything so much. It keeps defenses on their heels. They’re kind of guessing two or three quarters into the game exactly how we’re going to hit them. We have such a big run list that we very rarely get back to the same runs a second time. So we hit them and get our yards and then we keep going.”
“There’s so much eye candy, window dressing, but then sometimes we’ll run that stuff,” said Groy. “It’s not all fake, we’ll actually do a lot of stuff that messes with the defense. I didn’t realize how much that stuff distracts the defense until I talked to some guys on the defensive side and they said that it messes with their fills and gaps and what they’re trying to read as far as keys.”
“I was at the Pro Bowl last year and I was talking to (Dallas linebacker) Sean Lee about it and he said, ‘Playing you guys is a nightmare,’” said Incognito. “You have guys pulling everywhere and quarterback driven stuff and you have so much stuff going on. It’s so much to prepare for and then you get to the game and you guys are running completely different stuff.”
“I think you have to have a little something different every single week,” said offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn. “Number one, the guys, they stay tuned in. They like that. And then you catch a defense off guard. But we do our core stuff. We just dress it up differently.”
“In other places I’ve been you see a formation and you recognize it from watching tape and there’s an 80 percent chance that’s the play you’ll get,” said McCoy. “Here it’s a lot different. Plus our quarterback is very mobile and very athletic so he helps out in the running game.”
Tyrod Taylor’s rushing exploits help Buffalo’s run game in a big way. Currently the league’s leading rusher among quarterbacks (471 yards) he’s averaging 6.2 yards per carry, Taylor forces defenses to assign a player to him on almost every play.
“It’s not like we’re just handing the ball off and he’s faking a boot,” said Groy. “He’s handing the ball off and he’s reading, or there might be an option fake off the back, or a reverse. Even in the passing game the last three weeks they had a spy on him in case he breaks the pocket or gets free. Everybody has to account for him. He’s a dangerous player.”
“We have our core set of runs, but then we have our quarterback driven stuff and Tyrod is obviously a talented runner and puts stress on defenses,” Incognito said. “Even when he doesn’t have the ball he still holds a defender on his fakes so it gives us an advantageous box count, even when they load the box.
“We can stack the box and hit you and come downhill and be real physical with you. Then we toss the ball and get our tackles out on the edge and encircle the whole defense, or spread it out and hit you with the quarterback driven stuff.”
No. 1 again?
In a season where the playoffs have again proven elusive, Buffalo’s offense will be looking to accomplish other goals. One was to repeat as the best rushing team in football and they appear well on their way to that. Getting the team record for rushing touchdowns in a season (26) is another they wouldn’t mind having either.
“At the end of the year you want to get wins and all that stuff and individually as a lineman you’re looking to give up your least amount of sacks,” Groy said. “You want your backs to have success in terms of yards per carry and touchdowns. Obviously that would be something we can hang our hat on if we get there. We’re not looking at that now, but end of the year, absolutely.”
Perhaps what motivates the offensive unit more than anything with their run game is how rewarding it is to execute. Their varied scheme, talent and execution put undue stress on their opponents and that has instilled high expectations in each and every man on offense.
“Our running game is definitely fun,” said Glenn. “It’s complex. We attack from all types of angles. You might’ve watched us the whole year and we come out there and give you something you haven’t seen the whole year. We take in pride in it. It’s a big thing. We don’t get a lot of recognition, but knowing our running back did this or we did something as an offensive unit. That’s big for us.”