Buffalo Bills led the NFL in ‘big plays’ last season
By Ryan Brennan
The Buffalo Bills, believe it or not, led the league in ‘big plays’ according to Sporting Charts.
If you’ve never checked out Sporting Charts before, I definitely advise you to. They compile some pretty neat data and stats and looking at some of the more attractive ones, I found one that had the Buffalo Bills sitting atop.
Just so we all understand what Sporting Charts constituted a ‘big play,’ they included all rushes over 10 yards and all pass plays over 25 yards. With LeSean McCoy on the team, you know those rushes over 10 yards probably stacked up.
Adding in Mike Gillislee and Tyrod Taylor’s ability to break free, that number was likely quite high — but was it really high enough to rank the Bills No. 1 in big plays, despite their disappointing pass attack?
With 77 big plays on the ground (rushes over 10 yards), yes it was. The Dallas Cowboys were the next closest in rush plays, totaling 72, but no other team in the NFL got above 61 rush plays over 10 yards.
As far as pass plays over 25 yards, the Buffalo Bills only finished with 23 — bringing them to a total of 100 big plays altogether. The Dallas Cowboys finished with 24 pass plays, but since the Bills had that much more rush plays, Dallas came 4 big plays short of Buffalo.
Here’s a list of the top-10 teams in big plays last season:
- Buffalo Bills: 100 (77 rush, 23 pass)
- Dallas Cowboys: 96 (72 rush, 24 pass)
- Atlanta Falcons: 93 (51 rush, 42 pass)
- Tennessee Titans: 92 (59 rush, 33 pass)
- Miami Dolphins: 89 (56 rush, 33 pass)
- Washington Redskins: 89 (44 rush, 45 pass)
- Pittsburgh Steelers: 88 (51 rush, 37 pass)
- New England Patriots: 85 (43 rush, 42 pass)
- Green Bay Packers: 84 (50 rush, 34 pass)
- San Francisco 49ers: 82 (60 rush, 22 pass)
To further break down the ‘big plays’, let’s see how many the Buffalo Bills would have if the stakes were raised higher.
Of the 77 rush plays that went over 10 yards, only 27 of them went for more than 20 yards. That number still ranks the team No. 1 in the NFL, with Oakland at 19 and Dallas at 17. That would still put the Bills at the top, adding in the 23 pass plays over 25 yards.
As far as the 23 passing plays that went over 25 yards, let’s increase the stakes to 40 yards. That would bring that number down to 8 passing plays, which is tied-for 19th in the NFL (actually a better rating for the Bills than the 23 over 25 yards, which ranked very close to the bottom).
With 8 pass plays over 40 yards and 27 rush plays over 20 yards, the Buffalo Bills would still have the most big plays in the NFL — with the Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins closely behind.
Related Story: Buffalo Bills' Over/Under - 34 passing plays over 20 yards
Raising the rush plays to 40 yards, the Buffalo Bills would be left with 5 rush plays and 8 pass plays — totaling 13 big plays over 40 yards last season. That would be where the Atlanta Falcons take over (21), with the Miami Dolphins right behind them (20).
Just an interesting look at how well the Buffalo Bills were able to turn out big plays. And definitely an interesting look at how important the Bills’ run-game was in making the offense scary to face for any defense. Take that away last season and Buffalo would’ve sported one of the worst offenses in the league.
With it, they had one of the better offenses. Amazing.
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How many big plays do you see the Buffalo Bills making this season? Leave your thoughts below!