The Bills have Josh Allen, and he’s in the midst of his most efficient season in the NFL. But a secret weapon emerged at just the right time for Buffalo.
The extra offensive lineman.
Through two playoff games, the Bills used six (or more) offensive linemen in 28.5 percent of their 80 rushing attempts. That’s six more than the team — ironically the Ravens — second in usage of this giant set.
On those plays, the Bills averaged 4.9 yards per carry with seven first downs on the ground.
And it’s not something new that Buffalo has unveiled for the playoffs. This has been a staple of Joe Brady’s offense all season. From Week 1 to Week 18, the Bills used more than six offensive linemen on 22.8 percent of their carries. This is an incredibly high rate. And they deployed the extra offensive lineman on 148 total snaps — including drop backs — by far, the most in the NFL. The Titans finished second with 87.
To date, the Bills have used this offensive line group on 177 snaps and have averaged 5.8 yards per play, the highest average of any team in the NFL. On running plays with more than six linemen, the Bills average 5.0 yards per carry, the second-most yards per carry in football.
This look was key in the highly anticipated divisional game against the Ravens and will likely be an integral part of Buffalo’s offense in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Chiefs.
In the win over the Ravens, the Bills went over the rock 13 times with an extra offensive lineman on the field for 71 yards – 5.1 yards per – including Ty Johnson’s 17-yard run that allowed for the Bills to enter victory formation with less than two minutes remaining.
Interestingly, the Bills’ extra blocker is not an indicator of the direction of the run. Check where number 70 – Buffalo extra lineman Alec Anderson – is lined up on Johnson’s run.
Even on a run on the opposite side of the formation to Anderson, his presence allows the Bills’ blockers to all overthrow a defender. Big advantage for the offensive line.
Of course, Buffalo sometimes runs “behind” Anderson, and it worked to perfection on this 16-yard Ray Davis touchdown run before the end of the first half to give the Bills a 21-10 lead in the break.
As Hollins moved from left to right, Davis ran behind Buffalo’s bulldozing right tackle, Spencer Brown, its best tight blocker, Dawson Knox, Anderson and the team’s fiercest blocking receiver.
Now you’re probably wondering, “How well did the extra linemen work for the Bills against the Chiefs in their regular season matchup?”
Interestingly, the Bills only deployed him four times, and the plays went like this:
- Allen three meter scrum
- Allen’s 24-yard completion to Knox
- James Cook one meter run
- Cooking a two-meter run
So 7.5 yards per play, anchored by the pass to Knox, and six yards on three carries.
Looking at the trends of this initial personnel group, from Week 7 through the Week 11 matchup with the Chiefs, Buffalo used him a total of 21 times in five games, or 4.2 plays per game. The Bills averaged just 3.3 yards per carry with more than six offensive linemen during that span.
Then the switch flipped. The Bills came out of their Week 12 bye and more than doubled the use of extra blockers, averaging nine plays per game with at least one extra lineman in the five outings from Week 13 to week 17, before resting their starters in the regular season. final. If you count the first two rounds of the playoffs, that number increases to 9.71 plays per game. And it has been significantly more effective, as the 5.2 yards per carry average in this subset is the best in the NFL.
The Chiefs will know the giant package is coming. Without a doubt. But they defended just four such plays against the Bills in Week 11, exactly when Buffalo’s heavyweight group wasn’t firing on all cylinders.
It’s now.
Even if this grouping gives the Bills a slight advantage in the AFC Championship, it is a victory for Sean McDermott’s team.
Because the margins get slimmer and thinner the closer we get to the Lombardi Trophy.
