The problem was there for all to see again in Monday night’s loss to the New England Patriots.
The Buffalo Bills don’t get enough push up front in the run game against quality defenses.
The No. 1 seed in the AFC? Forget about it. At this point, the Bills are fighting for their playoff lives, Jay Skurski says.
The Patriots succeeded in making the Bills’ one-dimensional in claiming a 14-10 AFC East victory.
“Not good enough,” Bills coach Sean McDermott acknowledged after the game. “We’ve got to be able to run the football, we’ve got to be able to stop the run. Those things don’t change. The message hasn’t changed, in terms of physicality, and the necessity for physicality in what we do. ... Their backs averaged, I think, five-point-whatever, and our backs averaged 3.1 or whatever, so not good enough.”
Two late run failures exemplified the Bills’ offensive struggles.
In the Bills’ 14-10 loss to the New England Patriots, Buffalo was 1 of 4 in the red zone, failing to capitalize and instead moving in the wrong direction.
• On a first-and-goal play from the New England 6 with 9:04 to play, Zack Moss was stuffed for no gain. Patriots defensive tackle Devin Godchaux shed Bills center Mitch Morse at the point of attack to make the tackle. Moss might have bounced it outside. A more elite running back might have been able to gain the edge.
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• On a first-and-10 play from the New England 14 with 2:30 to play, Devin Singletary was stuffed for a 1-yard run. Again, it was the 311-pound Godchaux who was man blocked by Morse. Godchaux was able to disengage from the center and stuff the play. Neither play was run with the Patriots showing an eight-man front. Maybe the Pats' Damien Harris would have gotten more out of it. A quicker cut to the right by Singletary may have hit to the second level.
The overall numbers:
• The Bills’ three running backs – Singletary, Moss and Matt Breida – ran 19 times for 60 yards, an average of 3.15 yards a carry. That included a 17-yard run by Singletary on the last drive.
• On first down, the three backs ran 10 times for just 21 yards, 2.1 yards a carry.
• In the first half, the backs were 11 for 26, 2.3 yards a carry.
This game, with gusty winds whipping around Highmark Stadium, was the reason the Buffalo Bills drafted Josh Allen. But, they built a team around him that can’t run the ball or stop the run, writes Jason Wolf.
The running backs undoubtedly share part of the blame. But Morse didn’t shirk responsibility.
“It definitely starts with the line of scrimmage,” he said. “Being honest in the run game, I mean, you got to move a guy. You got to create lanes for the running back and then there's maybe just communication – where to go, what to do. And so there's little intricacies in each play, like you said, in the run game, even move guys. And we didn't do a good enough job of that.”
The lack of run game has been a problem in each of the Bills’ four losses over the past seven games.
For the season, the Bills rank 13th in the NFL in rushing yards at 116.7 a game. It’s misleading. Josh Allen is the No. 3 rusher in the league among quarterbacks, with 422 yards.
Take away rushing yards by quarterbacks, and the Bills rank 26th in the NFL in rushing at 81.5 yards a game.
Don't miss Jay Skurski's grades for the Buffalo Bills after their 14-10 loss to the New England Patriots on Monday night.
Each of the Bills’ offensive linemen shared in the run blocking difficulties.
Right tackle Spencer Brown was beaten at the point of attack by quality Patriots veteran defensive end Lawrence Guy on two first-down runs in the second quarter that each went for 1 yard.
Morse and right tackle Daryl Williams didn’t get a powerful enough double-team block on defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale on a third-quarter, second-and-10 run by Moss that went for 3 yards.
Left guard Ike Boettger didn’t get enough push against Deatrich Wise on a second-and-8 run that went for 1 yard in the second quarter or on a 3-yard first-down run in the third quarter.
Guy shed left tackle Dion Dawkins for a run-stuff on a second-and-3 play to Singletary late in the third quarter.
The Patriots have a stout run front, but they’re not impenetrable. An example was the Week 4 game between the Pats and Tampa Bay played in a driving rain storm.
Tom Brady had his worst completion rate of the season (51%) and the Bucs went 1-for-4 in the red zone. But the Bucs got 92 yards on 20 carries from running back Leonard Fournette to eke out a 19-17 victory.
If the Bills got anything close to that kind of production, they probably would have won Monday night.
