How good was Ray Davis on KRs Sunday?!!!

[PromoTheRobot]

46 minutes ago, Draconator said:

Do you give the Bills any credit for the good things they do? Your body of work, aka, your posts, suggests you find anything at fault with the Bills. 

No, that's a fair take considering how rare it is to see returns beyond 40 yards. When you do that on EVRY kickoff, you have to wonder.

[gobills404]

Our average starting field position after kickoffs, including the Samuel muff that only went for 15 yards, was our 44 yard line. Good stuff.

[snamsnoops]

Id be happy if he could be Kenneth Davis role for James Cook. Decent running back and returner!?

[Buffalo716]

It was phenomenal to see

 

He's a hard tackle with a full head of steam.. he's got size on basically all those special teamers who are trying to clip at his ankles

[Einstein]

32 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Honestly, I think they held their flags on the holds on the kickoff.

 

When was the last time you saw multiple long kickoff returns by both teams and not a single one was called back?

Yeah that's a good point as well. 

Even Mecole Hardman broke one on a return. 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

I think it was more of "how bad was tampa on kick coverage"?

Agreed. TB ST was basically a mirror image of us. Total train wreck on those KR’s. 

[folz]

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

I think it was more of "how bad was tampa on kick coverage"?

 

58 minutes ago, Draconator said:

Do you give the Bills any credit for the good things they do? Your body of work, aka, your posts, suggests you find anything at fault with the Bills. 

 

I was just looking into this...

 

I'm really happy for Ray, he, and the rest of the special teams units were amazing!

-Ray had 4 kickoff returns for 158 yards, an average of 39.5 yards per. The team's average drive start after a KO return was the 44-yard line. On the first 5 KO returns of the game (the last one by Samuel only went to the Bills 19 for 15 yards), the Bills' average drive start was the 49-yard line (48.8 to be precise).

-Hardman had the big 61 yard KO return (though the fumble may keep him from getting another call up---it was a bad decision not to fair catch it there).

-There was the blocked FG that should have been (wasn't much of a hold, he did touch his back, but didn't seem to hold or push down)

-Prater made all 6 of his Kicks (5 PATs obviously)

-Mitch had 2 punts for an average of 41.5 and downed one inside the 5-yard line and another on the 20. Neither punt was returned.

-KO coverage wasn't great, but not bad either. Tampa's average drive start after a KO return was the 33-yard line. Slightly better than a touchback.

 

 

But, in this instance, Einstein does have bit of a point. Tampa's special teams have struggled this year.

 

https://bucswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/buccaneers/2025/10/06/special-teams-cant-be-ignored-by-the-bucs-after-week-5-performance/86543900007/

 

That article was after week 5 (vs. the Seahawks). The Bills game has been the worst for the Bucs special teams since week 5 (when they tried to fix things). But they haven't improved much since then (one decent game vs. the Pats). The Bucs are currently ranked 28th in kickoff return yardage allowed.

 

 

But, having said that, the Bills still did quite a bit better in comparison to Tampa's other opponents:

-Tampa held two of their opponents (NE and NO) to an average of 23.1 yards on KO returns.

-Their other seven opponents have averaged 27 yards on KO returns. Their worst game of that batch was vs. the Eagles, who averaged 29.6 yards on KO returns and had a blocked punt/return TD.

-But, the Bills averaged 39.0 yards per KO return. A full 9.4 yards more per than the Bucs second worst effort (vs. the Eagles). And almost 13 yards more than the average of all of the Bucs' other opponents (including the Eagles, but not the Bills) combined.

 

So kudos are still well deserved. 

 

[BRH]

2 hours ago, FireChans said:

Honestly, I think they held their flags on the holds on the kickoff.

 

When was the last time you saw multiple long kickoff returns by both teams and not a single one was called back?

 

Not gonna lie, I thought the same thing.

 

I wonder if the league is finally starting to realize that it’s not a good look when long returns constantly get called back.  They’ve been trying everything to get more excitement on returns.

[BillsFanForever19]

2 hours ago, Einstein said:

I think it was more of "how bad was tampa on kick coverage"?

 

Thank you. Between how Hardman did on our opening return and how Davis did after when they kicked away from him - that was more incredibly poor Special Teams coverage than it was Ray Davis being some kind of elite return man.

[Simon]

The grief that Davis was receiving earlier in the year was entirely unwarranted, imo.

On the very rare occasions when he's had any kind of space whatsoever to operate he's shown more quickness and agility than anybody has been giving him credit for. His biggest problem has been the predictably of Brady's offensive sets and the fact that 90% of the time he touches the ball he's instantly got two guys in his face because half the stadium knows the call. I don't care if your Saqoun Barkley, John Taylor or James Cook; no back can operate like that.

[BuffaloBillyG]

It was fun to watch. Kudos to the other 10 guys that didn't do anything so blatant that refs were forced to toss the flag.

 

Hopefully, he can keep it up. If he can he just may earn himself a few extra offensive snaps and touches. Another chance for him may be a good thing.

[HoofHearted]

2 hours ago, eball said:

That was a very pleasant development. He looked very good out there in that role. 
 

Yes! Additionally shout out Tabor! He schemed that thing up beautifully and guys executed! I may make a breakdown thread on it. Very nice all around.

Edited 51 minutes ago by HoofHearted

[Stads]

Glad he found a role because RB wasn't looking good

[extrahammer]

If we can get a backup RB, K, and KR in one player, I am ALL FOR IT with this team salary cap management history!

[BillsShredder83]

3 hours ago, Draconator said:

Do you give the Bills any credit for the good things they do? Your body of work, aka, your posts, suggests you find anything at fault with the Bills. 

Yeah youre spot on.

 

Unfortunately with 3 big returns between 2 players, I also am highly suspicious how much of it was us versus them lol