Here’s a look at how new offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn effectively tweaked Buffalo’s offense to get more production, particularly from the team’s playmakers.
Buffalo Bills Insider Chris Brown provides all the details. Here is his report:
He was operating out of the same playbook, but Bills new offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn had some successful tweaks to get more production out of some of Buffalo’s biggest playmakers Sunday in a much needed win over Arizona. Here’s a look at what changed for the better in the Bills attack with Lynn calling the shots.
1 – Player preferences
In the first couple of days after being named offensive coordinator, Anthony Lynn not only huddled up with his fellow offensive coaches to help put a comprehensive game plan together. He sought the input of his offensive players to see what plays they thought they executed most successfully.
Lynn was smart enough to know in a week where the offense absolutely had to perform, making use of plays that players have the most confidence in running, would more than likely yield positive results.
“A. Lynn has played in this league and been around a lot of different coaches and players, and I think we have a veteran group,” said Richie Incognito. “He came to guys like me and (Eric) Wood and asked, ‘Hey what do you want to run in this situation?’ Robert Woods, the receiving corps, ‘What do you guys like to run?’”
The best example of Lynn’s willingness to incorporate player preferences came in the run game where Buffalo’s OC implemented a deeper set from the line of scrimmage for LeSean McCoy and Mike Gillislee in the backfield. This allowed them more time to survey what was unfolding in front of them on run plays and gave them the choice to hit the hole or bounce a run outside.
“We got the ball back to the back deeper,” said McCoy. “The thing is as a running back, what I like is when you get the ball deep; I’m not the biggest guy, but I like to pick if I can go inside, outside, you know it’s more our decision based on, you have to go that way because there is a structure of the play. This one was a little more different.”
A little more different and a lot more effective as the Bills averaged 6.5 yards per carry.
2 – Lots of looks
On their first three offensive series, the Bills only made use of three primary personnel groupings. They used 11, 12 and 21 personnel. But during those first three series there was a myriad of formations. Charles Clay was detached as a tight end. Mike Gillislee was lined up behind Tyrod Taylor in the shotgun in a pistol formation. The offense went empty backfield with Taylor in the shotgun and five wide with Clay and McCoy split wide with three receivers. There were even direct snaps to McCoy out of the Wildcat formation.
“Yeah we had a couple of oddball formations,” said Tyrod Taylor. “Bringing in different personnel, lining up in different formations just keeps them unbalanced. But at the same time, we’re calling our regular offense, just moving it out in different formations. I think Coach Lynn did a good job of using that and mixing it in early just to get them off balance.”
The expansion of their read option game worked well as they took advantage of Tyrod Taylor’s threat as a runner. Taylor’s 49-yard run, which was the longest by a quarterback in team history, came on a read option play Sunday.
“We went into the game thinking we could scheme up a way to get a read option and luckily they closed down and the safety ended up taking the pitch guy and left me to go down the field so, it was the big play of the game,” said Taylor.
3 – Shifting gears
Tempo was a buzz word among the Bills offensive players leading up to Sunday’s game against Arizona. They knew their offensive pace looked like it was stuck in neutral for much of the first two games. Lynn set about changing that.
He sped up the process of getting plays in to Taylor, using a play call by numbers system, where Taylor would just look for the numbered play on his wristband and recite it in the huddle. As a result the Bills were consistently breaking the huddle with between 18 to 22 seconds left on the play clock instead of nine or 10 seconds as they had in Week 1.
“There was rhythm, it’s pace,” said Incognito. “Those plays are coming in really quick and we’re getting in and out of the huddle and it helps pick up first downs. When you’re physical and you pick up first downs and you’re not in third and long, it kind of changes the make of the ball game. And when you’re scoring touchdowns that helps as well.”
Incognito is referring to the play where after a 24-yard catch down the left sideline by Robert Woods, Lynn quickly called a play and the Bills jumped into a no huddle. In addition the play had a rapid fire design as the quick snap set up a trap to completely seal off the left side of Arizona’s defensive line allowing McCoy to cleanly rip through the hole and outrace the secondary to the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown run.
Buffalo only jumped into no huddle for a play or two here and there, but the shift in tempo caught the Cardinals off guard.
“The way we mixed in our no huddle was definitely beneficial with the touchdown that Shady had off the trap,” said Taylor. “That was a big one in the game. You have to pick and choose when you use it, because sometimes you get stuck in a personnel grouping, and it is not the personnel that you can run your whole offense from. But I think we did a good job of mixing it and it forced them to play certain coverages and stay in certain things and give us decent looks to run our plays.”
4 – Maximizing player strengths
Whether it was leaning on the run blocking strengths of their offensive line, particularly pulling guards, or getting Tyrod Taylor on the edge in the read option game to make yards with his legs, Lynn focused on utilizing the strengths of Buffalo’s playmakers.
“He was super consistent,” said Incognito of Lynn. “We had our bread and butter runs. We had our meeting the night before the game and A. Lynn put up on the screen what we were going to run. He stuck to that, you know, our stuff that we worked on all week. We were mentally prepared and we bodied them up.”
“Why wouldn’t you use, the players you have, use their best abilities,” McCoy asked rhetorically. “Tyrod, one of the best things he can do is he can run the ball. So why wouldn’t you have him using his legs? I mean that’s just what makes him a special player.”
Lynn also mixed in enough pass plays to keep Arizona’s defense honest, and without Sammy Watkins, targeted Robert Woods to help keep the chains moving.
“He asked us what we like and we were able to run it,” said Woods.
“We have playmakers outside and in the backfield,” said Taylor. “Whatever we need to do to get the win that week, we’re capable of doing it.”