Ok, I realize we’re only three games in with by far the tougher part of the schedule ahead, but even the doubters are finding nits hard to pick with the Bills 3-0 start to the 2024 season.
It’s not quite the love of a couple years ago, as the Bills are early 2 1/2 point underdogs at 1-2 Baltimore on NBC’s Sunday Night Football next week.
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So, the Bills were all but perfect as Josh Allen threw four touchdown passes in the first HALF of a 47-10 win over the previously troublesome Jacksonville Jaguars at Highmark Stadium. Mixing the run and pass, Allen threw completions to 10 different receivers in this game. He became the first NFL player in history to throw 4 TD passes in a game with no interceptions, while also leading the team in rushing with 44 yards on six carries.
He wasn’t sacked, avoided direct contact when scrambling, and was calm and collected.
This didn’t just happen. Having a full off season to work on OC Joe Brady’s more balanced attack is paying off. The Bills are the NFL’s highest scoring team, averaging 37.3 points per game. With 7 TD passes and 2 rushing TD’s, Allen has accounted for 9 touchdowns with NO interceptions.
THIS, from being voted the NFL’s most overrated player in a player’s poll?
Obviously it’s not all about Allen. WR Khalil Shakir is becoming a star. Von Miller is looking like…Von Miller. The offensive line – especially tackles Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown – are playing terrifically well. Backups are filling in effectively for injured starters. And on and on it goes. This is a VERY close knit team, and ridicule HC Sean McDermott’s “culture” and “process” mantras, but it’s working.
What intrigues me though, really is the story of a brilliant young coach who had the guts to make one star unhappy in order to help the biggest star reach his full potential. OC Brady will hopefully write a book someday detailing what really went on when he basically – with the support of GM Brandon Beane and McDermott – cut unhappy WR Stefon Diggs out of the will.
Enter Brady at mid season with Dorsey given the pink slip. Imagine what working together every day with one of your best players sulking? Allen, to his credit, never reacted to Diggs cries for attention. That is, until the win over the Jags, when Allen didn’t need to name names as he talked about how statistics don’t matter to this group. Hmmm. Could that mean….. ya think?
Diggs was one of my favorite players for the first couple years, and he’s off to a decent start in Houston with 20 catches on 24 targets for 164 yards and 2 TD’s, but the Texans were blown out at Minnesota, and you can’t help but wonder if he watched the Bills latest performance.
You also have to wonder if Diggs thinks he’s getting enough targets. There’s a lot to like about Diggs, but the Bills are better today than this time a year ago.
You can win with unhappy players. Andre Reed was mad at Jim Kelly half the time. But this Bills team is unusually close, and even recently departed players echo that feeling.
If this hot and “new look” offense continues, Brady may not be around much longer. He turns 35 Wednesday, and yet his resume is beyond impressive. Yes, he did get fired as OC at Carolina in 2021, but Beane knows talent when he sees it and brought him to Buffalo. Brady was named Broyles Award winner as assistant coach of the year guiding LSU and Joe Burrow to a national title in 2019. He’s a true “QB whisperer”.
Statistics can be deceiving. The Bills offense is ranked 13th in average yardage per game (329.0), and Allen is 16th in passing yardage (209.0). But Allen, who now has 7 TD passes and 2 rushing TD’s, with NO INTs, looks like a new man. Quick and decisive, to whoever gets open, as James Cook and rookie Ray Davis stay busy. Cook already has 3 rushing TD’s and another TD reception, and Allen is completing an eye-popping 75% of his passes to a group that is more talented than many folks nationally realize.
The wins are great, but Arizona, Miami and Jacksonville aren’t that good. The Ravens are 1-2, and the Bills have had their number recently. On a national Sunday night game, they’ll be sky high and Lamar Jackson will be tough to contain. With Derrick Henry averaging almost 100 yards and a TD per game, and Jackson throwing and running, the Ravens are the NFL’s #1 offense averaging 430 yards a game.
But the Bills D is #5 allowing 16 points a game, while the Bills are a NFL second best at a +5 in turnovers.
The Bills hustling D will face by far it’s biggest challenge yet, but I can hardly wait to see it unfold.
Editor’s babble: Whatever the Bills and Sabres are drinking, I want some :) Many thanks to Ed Kilgore for his contributions to our blog. You can also find Ed on Xwitter @Kilgore2Ed.
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I go back to the “bickering Bills” in 1988, do you know what changed? Instead of each player going “partying” out and about town, they went to Jim Kelly’s in-home bar. There they grew to know each other, respect each other and even love each other. The result? Four Super Bowls. That team chemistry happened on those Sunday night get-togethers, bonding them to that Super Bowl charging team. It makes a difference!
This is so right on! Thanks, Tom!