One of the common themes this offseason from the Buffalo Bills has been discussing ways to improve the offense after a tremendous 2020 season. The play of Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, and the passing game helped catapult the Bills to second in total yards and second in points scored.
However, when looking at this offense the area they struggled with was in the run game and this would seemingly be the area that the team would look to improve this season. This doesn’t necessarily mean though running the ball more.
Earlier this month, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll talked about how efficiency is the way they are going to look to improve the run game. The hope is that they don’t run the ball more but when they do call run plays, they get more from those opportunities.
Sean McDermott reiterated that this week during minicamp and said they are always looking to evolve but not necessarily focusing on balance. “At the end of the day, what does it take to win the game, what does it take to develop the offense in training camp, what does it take to close out games. So it’s always moving in terms of that bullseye, so depending on us, depending on the opponent, depending on the situation there are other ways to be balanced without being balanced.”
Essentially what the Buffalo Bills are hoping for is being able to control the flow of the game. If the defense is allowing the Bills to run the ball, and they have an advantage there, then that is what they need to do and be effective.
There were times, where the Buffalo Bills need to run the ball to burn the clock and close out a game and found varying levels of success. One of those times where they were effective was against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Bills were holding onto a 26-15 lead and would end up going on a drive that lasted more than seven minutes. The reason was they leaned on Zack Moss, who would end up having six carries and picking up two key first downs to extend the drive.
When looking at the box score, Moss finished the game with only 43 rushing yards but was a key reason the Buffalo Bills won that game. This seems to be the direction the Bills offense is going for this coming season as the team will continue to lean on Josh Allen and the passing attack but needs to be effective with the run game in these key moments.