Buffalo Bills: Why This Year Feels Less Dominant

The Buffalo Bills were the talk of the NFL in 2020. There were season-long favorites to go to the Super Bowl. Despite their playoff loss, there was a good chance they’d make a strong push in 2021 as well. While they’re still enjoying success this year, the 2021 season doesn’t feel the same as last year. So what’s going wrong?

The Bills are very much still in the divisional race and at the very least should make a wild card spot in the postseason. However, their offense doesn’t seem as fast and powerful. First, they offense doesn’t seem like its taking as many chances downfield. The explosive plays seem further in between and Josh Allen seems to be playing a more controlled game of foodball this year. Maybe Brian Daboll is trying to correct his mistakes of burning his guys out too early before the cold weather hits.

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Then again, defenses are playing tougher against the Buffalo Bills. It’s easy for an offense to succeed early in its run because teams are still adjusting to it. Once you’ve seen enough tape on a team, it’s not hard to start nailing down their weakness and correcting your mistakes. So far, teams are learning that the Bills can beat them deep and are playing back against them forcing them to win underneath. So far, Buffalo is taking the “take what you’re given” approach but still should be taking shots deep to keep teams honest. Balance within the offense is key to their success.

Speaking of balance, the Bills might have it a little better in the passing game but their run game lacks the same explosive plays. They might be closer to the top of the league in rush yards, but they’ve spread the workload to multiple rushers each with a different style of run. Again, it’s easy to sit back on run plays when you know a back typically isn’t breaking the big rushes. Selling on play-action gets a little tougher when you know your line can stop them upfront and shift focus to receivers.

This year’s Buffalo Bills team team seems like it’s trying to get too creative on offense instead of playing their style of football. Losing to teams like the Jags and Steelers has to sting a little as both teams are struggling. Teams are daring the Bills to beat them underneath and the Bills have mixed results. Buffalo needs to find the way to get their offense firing on all cylinders coming into their playoff push.