The Buffalo Bills’ passing attack was a little off last season, only totaling 34 catches that went for 20 yards or more. Will they improve in 2017?
The Buffalo Bills were tied for 30th in the league when it came to passing plays over 20 yards, with the San Francisco 49ers also totaling 34 such plays. The Houston Texans were the only team worse, with 34 passing plays 20 yards or more.
There’s no doubt Tyrod Taylor has a beautiful deep ball, but he didn’t exactly have the manpower to bring it all together. If he did, this number would likely be a lot higher. Not to mention Sammy Watkins’ ability to turn every play into a 20-yard gain, which was highly missed last season.
Either way, it’s a little disappointing when you see teams like the New Orleans Saints total 71 passing plays over 20 yards and the Washington Redskins record 70 — both sitting atop the league. Even if the Bills had 50 of those plays, it would pin them around the middle of the league.
Here’s a breakdown of who contributed to this stat last season:
Robert Woods: 10 catches
Clay/Watkins: 4 each
Goodwin/Hunter: 3 each
McCoy/Tate/O’Leary: 2 each
Powell/Felton/Salas/Bush: 1 each
Those big plays help change the momentum of the game and that’s one thing the Buffalo Bills were missing last season. If the Bills want to turn that around, several things will need to happen with the offense — let’s take a look:
Comfortable Tyrod
Tyrod Taylor will have to get comfortable with his wide receivers because it was clear last season that Taylor didn’t really trust throwing the ball to most of his receivers. Sean McDermott and company managed to bring in a solid mix of youth and veterans at the receiver position, so a good training camp will be important.
Healthy Receivers
Going off of the first key, the Bills will need to have a healthy WR corps throughout the season and that will start with training camp. With so many new faces, training camp will be important in getting comfortable with the offense, so missed time on the practice field simply can’t happen. It was a problem last season and if we see it happen this season, the passing attack won’t look much different.
Sammy Watkins
The one player that will NEED to stay healthy all year long is Sammy Watkins. Like I mentioned above, his ability to make big plays is tremendous and coupled with the chemistry between him and Taylor, I’m pretty sure they can turn out 34 plays over 20 yards by themselves. If the Buffalo Bills want big plays through the air, they need Watkins on the field.
Pass Protection
This will be very important because we didn’t see much of it last season. The Bills allowed the fourth-most amount of sacks last year and that’s unacceptable. With 46, the only teams that were worse were the San Francisco 49ers (47), Los Angeles Rams (49) and Cleveland Browns (66) — at least we weren’t the Browns.
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Final Take
I have no doubt the Buffalo Bills will have more than 34 passing plays go for more than 20 yards in 2017. If Sammy Watkins is healthy, that will be a breeze for Tyrod Taylor. I also see Charles Clay being involved a lot more, also giving the Bills a boost down the field. Add in Zay Jones who could turn a few catches from the slot into big plays and Andre Holmes’ size down the field.
I don’t see Tyrod Taylor having any problem getting more than 34. Here’s how I think it will happen:
Sammy Watkins: 26 catches 20 yards or more
Charles Clay: 9 catches
Zay Jones: 6 catches
Andre Holmes: 4 catches
Rest of team: 7 catches
Total: 51 catches 20 yards or more
Let’s make it happen!
Next: Over/Under: 27 rushes over 20 yards
How many catches over 20 yards do you think the Buffalo Bills will total this season? Leave your thoughts below!