Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen: ‘We run a similar offense to the Patriots’
By Avery Duncan
According to Josh Allen, it’s no secret that the Buffalo Bills run a similar offense to the New England Patriots.
When the Buffalo Bills poached Brian Daboll from Alabama to become their new offensive coordinator in 2018, most expected one thing to translate: The offense would be eerily similar to their division rival’s, the New England Patriots. That’s isn’t much of a stretch, Daboll started his NFL career with the Patriots and won five rings with them as an offensive assistant.
In 2018, we saw a lot of what we figured from Daboll; chiefly, a sense of deceptiveness, trickery, and creativeness to his offense. Though Daboll favors 11-3 formations (like most of the NFL now), he doesn’t limit his playbook to a specific type of concept or scheme. Like the Patriots, his offense thrives on pre-snap motion, position versatility, a strong run game, and expansiveness. His quarterback, Josh Allen sees those similarities.
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In an interview with Tim Graham at The Athletic, Allen talked about the newfound recurring presence of Cole Beasley, a slot menace and third-down specialist. The quarterback drew up New England’s duo of Tom Brady and Julian Edelman as an example of the chemistry and trust he wants to build with Beasley:
"A good example, New England’s had Julian Edelman for a long time. Tom trusts him, knows where he’s going to be, knows his body language."
Remembering the connection between Daboll and the Patriots, Allen noted that the similarities don’t end in personnel. The Bills, like the Patriots, will also try to push the ball through the slot position in 2019, as he said;
"It’s no secret that we [Bills] run a similar offense to the Patriots, and we want to utilize our slot guys, too, to make somebody miss and get up field."
Of course, the Bills aren’t aiming to replicate what the Patriots do entirely. They’ve seen teams — and themselves — attempt that then ultimately crash and burn far too often.
You can’t duplicate Bill Belichick’s ingenuity or intelligence, or Brady’s decisiveness and drive. But you can steal their concepts that so many others have pulled off well — such as illusory route concepts and the constant threat of mismatches via pre-snap motion; both concepts Daboll uses frequently.
Now a year into the Daboll experiment, the Bills appear to be diving face first in his playbook, the off-season is an excellent example of said notion. The Bills got their Edelman in Beasley, their chesspiece tight ends in Tyler Kroft and Dawson Knox, their field-stretcher in John Brown, their pass-protecting-centric offensive line, and their power/fluid running back duo in Frank Gore and LeSean McCoy.
Next. Expect to see a different Trent Murphy in 2019. dark
Oddly enough, the most un-“Patriot-like” starter is the quarterback. Allen wishes he had Brady’s accuracy. Brady wishes he had Allen’s arm strength.