Are the Bills now a "Spread Offense" and is the "Book" out on how to hinder us?

[Niagara Bill]

On 11/12/2021 at 4:40 PM, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

OK, but see my point in the post you're responding to.  McKenzie needs to see the field other than for jet sweeps.  Otherwise they'll be getting stuffed in the backfield and we'll all be saying "too predictable, whenever he's out there teams go here's that Jet Sweep or fake Jet Sweep again"

 

Overall we're running fewer 5, 4, and even 3 WR sets.

 

So how do you adjust, to put McKenzie out there enough that he's not just a "Fun Size" Jet-Sweep "Tell"?

McKenzie is busy returning kicks and he xannot get hurt so I am sure they are being careful with his time.

[Beerball]

15 minutes ago, Niagara Bill said:

McKenzie is busy returning kicks and he xannot get hurt so I am sure they are being careful with his time.

If the team was interested in being careful with any player it would be the QB, no? Yet he is put into harms way many times/game.  The NFL is a business and the Bills are treating their players as such.  If Allen survives his second contract he won't be getting a third.

 

McKittrick falls well down the list of players the Bills would protect if that were a concern of theirs.

[Niagara Bill]

26 minutes ago, Beerball said:

If the team was interested in being careful with any player it would be the QB, no? Yet he is put into harms way many times/game.  The NFL is a business and the Bills are treating their players as such.  If Allen survives his second contract he won't be getting a third.

 

McKittrick falls well down the list of players the Bills would protect if that were a concern of theirs.

So Beerball, the reason for less playing time for McKenzie IS  ??? 

If you include the kicking game he is touching the ball more than last year, just in a different way, so I still say he is held off the O due to kicking duties!!!

 

If you cannot run the ball in a more traditonal sense then jets sweep become ineffective. Football 101.

 

[Beerball]

36 minutes ago, Niagara Bill said:

So Beerball, the reason for less playing time for McKenzie IS  ??? 

If you include the kicking game he is touching the ball more than last year, just in a different way, so I still say he is held off the O due to kicking duties!!!

 

If you cannot run the ball in a more traditonal sense then jets sweep become ineffective. Football 101.

 

I would assume that McKittrick isn't on the field because the coaches don't feel he would be effective.  It has nothing to do with saving him for return duty.

[Niagara Bill]

6 minutes ago, Beerball said:

I would assume that McKittrick isn't on the field because the coaches don't feel he would be effective.  It has nothing to do with saving him for return duty.

Strange, he is on the field more than last year, just different duties. I think they limit him on O because yo play him more would limit some receivers and they picked up Saunders, so to play him more on O would limit Saunders or Diggs, or Beas. Davis has already played less. 

[Scott7975]

2 hours ago, Niagara Bill said:

McKenzie is busy returning kicks and he xannot get hurt so I am sure they are being careful with his time.

 

He was in there blocking before and catching passes.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

2 hours ago, Niagara Bill said:

So Beerball, the reason for less playing time for McKenzie IS  ???

 

1 hour ago, Beerball said:

I would assume that McKittrick isn't on the field because the coaches don't feel he would be effective.  It has nothing to do with saving him for return duty.

 

I don't think it has to do with coaches feeling McKenzie would not be effective on the field per se.  Less effective than the receivers who are on the field in the sets we run, sure (might not be correct with Beasley hurt).  I'm sure it doesn't have to do with not risking injury.

 

First of all let's define the problem.  McKenzie got 25% of the offensive snaps last season, and so far 15% this season.

 

The Bills are running 3% less 4 WR sets, and 5% less 3 WR sets.  So that's 8% less chances for McKenzie to be on the field.  We're running 2% vs 1% 5WR sets, but I believe that's still skewed by the Steelers game.  Call it 7% fewer sets with 3 or or more WR. 

 

Part of that is the emergence of Knox as a better receiving threat AND a better blocker.  His snaps have jumped up, Big Time, from 58% to 78%.

 

What are we running instead?  We're running a so-called (2,1) set 7% more - though it may be Gilliam, now labeled a HB - not a back - and a (2,2) set 2% more (that is sometimes an extra OLman and sometimes 2 TE).

 

Is that putting the guys who are objectively, our most effective players on the field more?  Probably not.  It's trying to get more yards after contact on all the short passes we're throwing to backs, in part.  It's trying to get extra blocking in both the pass and the run game, in part.

 

In any case, it's probably driven more by what we can't do (protect long enough to throw deep, pull the LB closer to defend the run and hit the intermediate crossers) and what we need help with, than by either saving McKenzie or thinking he's on some objective scale a less effective player than the guys we're putting out there.

 

 

[GunnerBill]

On 11/12/2021 at 6:02 PM, Buffalo Bills Fan said:

 

Have Allen do west coast, short, quick, timing, quick hitting style, then hit teams the Bill's like to do. Force them to adjust. If teams go for quick early adjust to what they like. Or other way around. Put that pressure in a unique style on the defense.

 

 

It is easy to say that but you can't just install a new offense every week. The Bills have used some quick game - indeed I would argue against Jacksonville they used too much quick game and screen game - but you have to be true to what you do. This is the same as the argument about the defense after the AFCCG when everyone was saying "you can't beat KC playing zone the Bills need to play man." Teams have to balance addressing what the other team does while not losing their own identity and the principles that make their own scheme work. The big difference between the WCO and the E-P (the Bills essentially run a spread variant of the E-P) is that the west coast is a pure receiver timing scheme. Play is called, Quarterback has a specific drop and has to get the ball out at a specific point at which time a receiver needs to have hit a specific mark. The E-P has more read and react built in - especially for receivers running their routes there is more choice based on how the defense reacts and so it is tricky to just flip in an instant. There are quick hitters built into the E-P and the Bills have used some. I also think having Knox back is big because the area the cover two shell style scheme tends to be vulnerable is the middle of the field with both safeties sitting back in the shell. Knox is a big matchup factor that can force teams out of that defense. 

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

When was McKitterich a Main player on O?

 

beyond 4th or 5th in depth