Buffalo Rumblings
It’s the NFL playoffs. Win or go home. When the stakes are this high, you do anything it takes to win the game. We saw Buffalo Bills wide receiver Tyrell Shavers play on what turned out to be a torn ACL as the ultimate highlight of that mentality. That’s not to disparage the lesser tales of grit either.
The Bills took a beating against a Jacksonville Jaguars team that seemed intent on causing harm at times. In the end, Buffalo took home the W. In addition to their grit, there was one other secret. They were willing to play outside their comfort zone to a large degree.
The Bills this season have been a run-first team, with 547 rushing attempts compared to 495 passing attempts (and 40 sacks). But what else can we say about their offense beyond that? Let’s look at a couple charts.
I crossed out the defense since we’re focusing on the offense here, but it’s legible still if you’re curious. On offense, while the Bills were the second-highest yards-per-play rushing the ball this season, that’s not true in all areas of the field.
I won’t call anyone out by name (and I’ve thought the same thing myself at times), but I’ve seen it questioned why the Bills like running it up the middle so often. First, I want to point out that the “so often” perception is indeed accurate. The Bills have run 140 runs up the middle, nearly twice as many times as any other play direction.
As to the “why” part of the question, it’s because no one does it better. I want to put things into perspective on how preposterously high 5.35 yards per attempt is against NFL defenses. From one side of the coin, it’s almost exactly one yard higher than the league’s overall average yards per carry. It’s also not a far cry from 5.6 yards per play, which is what the New York Jets averaged on PASSING attempts. That’s right. Running the ball straight up the gut, Buffalo’s rushing offense is within striking distance of the league’s worst passing attack. Best to worst might not sound like it’s that impressive, but remember we call it a passing league for a reason.
How did James Cook III do against the Jaguars? Let’s find out.
Yikes! The first reaction you have is likely the lack of five-plus-yard carries. The next is that I look like I’m full of crap, as the Bills still clearly tried running the ball up the middle a lot. That’s true, but consider these facts about the run game.
The Bills asked James Cook to run up the middle six times in the first half. That dropped to four in the second half, and two of those were the first drive after halftime. It makes sense to start the game trying to work with an obvious strength for your team. It might not be as quickly as it could have been, but...
