The Bills are going with Joe Brady as their head coach. I take that as a sign that their offense won’t be dramatically different.
In Josh Allen, the Bills have one of the non-human quarterbacks. But they haven’t been asking him to do quite as much of late. Statistically, Allen peaked when Brian Daboll was at OC and they were passing the ball all over the yards operating a modern-day version of the K gun.
Under Brady, they’ve gotten a lot more conservative. They’re the only team, in fact, that’s scored more touchdowns rushing than passing in each of the last two seasons. In the 2020-22 seasons, they averaged 37 TD passes versus 17 TD runs.
| OFFENSIVE TOUCHDOWNS (2024-25) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Pass | Run | Tot | Run% |
| Buffalo | 59 | 62 | 121 | 51.2% |
| Indianapolis | 45 | 47 | 92 | 51.1% |
| NY Giants | 36 | 35 | 71 | 49.3% |
| Washington | 48 | 45 | 93 | 48.4% |
| Philadelphia | 50 | 46 | 96 | 47.9% |
| Atlanta | 40 | 35 | 75 | 46.7% |
| Seattle | 46 | 36 | 82 | 43.9% |
| Green Bay | 54 | 41 | 95 | 43.2% |
| Jacksonville | 48 | 35 | 83 | 42.2% |
| Baltimore | 64 | 44 | 109 | 40.4% |
| Detroit | 74 | 50 | 124 | 40.3% |
| New England | 49 | 33 | 82 | 40.2% |
| Chicago | 48 | 32 | 80 | 40.0% |
| Pittsburgh | 47 | 30 | 77 | 39.0% |
| Kansas City | 49 | 30 | 79 | 38.0% |
| New Orleans | 40 | 24 | 64 | 37.5% |
| Carolina | 46 | 27 | 73 | 37.0% |
| Miami | 45 | 26 | 71 | 36.6% |
| San Francisco | 56 | 32 | 88 | 36.4% |
| LA Chargers | 49 | 27 | 76 | 35.5% |
| Denver | 55 | 30 | 85 | 35.3% |
| Tennessee | 37 | 20 | 57 | 35.1% |
| Houston | 44 | 24 | 69 | 34.8% |
| Arizona | 50 | 27 | 79 | 34.2% |
| Cleveland | 35 | 18 | 53 | 34.0% |
| LA Rams | 68 | 32 | 100 | 32.0% |
| Minnesota | 53 | 24 | 77 | 31.2% |
| Dallas | 54 | 24 | 78 | 30.8% |
| Tampa Bay | 67 | 29 | 96 | 30.2% |
| NY Jets | 46 | 19 | 65 | 29.2% |
| Las Vegas | 39 | 15 | 54 | 27.8% |
| Cincinnati | 79 | 22 | 101 | 21.8% |
The Bills led the league in rushing last year, and that’s not just a case of them benefitting from getting a bunch of rushing yards from their quarterback. Even if quarterbacks are set to the side, Buffalo got more rushing yards from the running back position than any other team last year.
| RUSHING YARDS (RB only) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Buffalo | 419 | 2100 | 5.01 | 15 |
| Baltimore | 392 | 2056 | 5.24 | 19 |
| Atlanta | 439 | 2052 | 4.67 | 15 |
| LA Rams | 413 | 2044 | 4.95 | 16 |
| Detroit | 407 | 1958 | 4.81 | 21 |
| Chicago | 400 | 1922 | 4.81 | 15 |
| Seattle | 439 | 1888 | 4.30 | 18 |
| Miami | 380 | 1846 | 4.86 | 13 |
| Dallas | 383 | 1786 | 4.66 | 16 |
| Indianapolis | 373 | 1765 | 4.73 | 19 |
| New England | 371 | 1718 | 4.63 | 18 |
| Carolina | 391 | 1681 | 4.30 | 7 |
| San Francisco | 405 | 1599 | 3.95 | 12 |
| Philadelphia | 364 | 1593 | 4.38 | 9 |
| NY Giants | 396 | 1587 | 4.01 | 12 |
| Washington | 345 | 1569 | 4.55 | 15 |
| Denver | 354 | 1566 | 4.42 | 12 |
| Pittsburgh | 353 | 1564 | 4.43 | 11 |
| Jacksonville | 373 | 1541 | 4.13 | 12 |
| Green Bay | 386 | 1531 | 3.97 | 16 |
| Houston | 399 | 1531 | 3.84 | 6 |
| Tampa Bay | 398 | 1497 | 3.76 | 12 |
| Minnesota | 348 | 1491 | 4.28 | 10 |
| NY Jets | 334 | 1483 | 4.44 | 6 |
| LA Chargers | 359 | 1460 | 4.07 | 8 |
| Cincinnati | 334 | 1448 | 4.34 | 9 |
| Tennessee | 328 | 1412 | 4.30 | 7 |
| Kansas City | 336 | 1247 | 3.71 | 9 |
| Arizona | 292 | 1227 | 4.20 | 6 |
| Cleveland | 353 | 1204 | 3.41 | 8 |
| Las Vegas | 307 | 1120 | 3.65 | 5 |
| New Orleans | 300 | 1116 | 3.72 | 5 |
Not that there won’t be changes. Buffalo will be adding a notable receiver – probably a guy expected to lead them in receiving yards. But I imagine we’ll be seeing more big rushing numbers next year out of James Cook.
—Ian Allan

