PITTSFORD, N.Y. — For a team with one of the top offenses in the NFL, the Buffalo Bills certainly have spent a great deal of time addressing shortcomings they believe they have on that side of the ball.
They used their first two draft picks on pass-catching tight end Dalton Kincaid and right offensive guard O’Cyrus Torrence, both of whom figure to be significant immediate contributors. They used free agency to sign veteran left guard Connor McGovern, who steps into a starting role; versatile receivers Deonte Harty and Trent Sherfield, who they expect to add to the firepower of their passing game, and running backs Damien Harris and Latavius Murray.
Call it a clear response to a lackluster showing through much of the second half of last season’s 13-4 finish, lowlighted by a 14-point stinker in last January’s divisional-round playoff loss against Cincinnati.
If you ask offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey the way he sees the Bills avoiding a second consecutive fizzling out, he’ll tell you it’s about adding all of that talent around the pillars of the unit, Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs.
“I think, honestly, the best way to look at it is offensive football is about execution and consistent execution, and so I think the way you address it is by continuing to build pieces around an offense to make sure that you’ve got guys who are smart, tough and dependable,” Dorsey told reporters Thursday. “And I think anytime we bring a player in, whether it’s through the draft or through free agency, offensively, those are the characteristics that we look for, so that then we can still be flexible and keep defenses off-balance as the season goes on and do our best to not become predictable in what we’re doing.
“I think that’s the exciting part of where we’re at, is we’ve got to know a lot of different tools and pieces that we can really move around and create some different looks. And I think that’ll really help us kind of not only in Game 1, but Game 15, 16, etc. And be able to create mismatches and utilize guys in different ways.”
Dorsey made a point of saying that Harty and Sherfield have played inside and outside.
“I think those are always things that you look for so that you’re not handcuffed and the defense isn’t always saying, ‘OK, he’s always going to be right here,’” he said. “I think that’s an important part off offensive football.”
Needing Gabe Davis to rebound
Another key element to the Bills’ effort to make their offense more consistently effective is Gabe Davis.
After his four touchdown catches in the 2021 divisional-round playoff loss at Kansas City, he struggled in 2022, in part because of a high ankle sprain he suffered early in the season. Davis couldn’t separate well from defenders and had problems with hanging onto the ball.
That led to speculation the Bills would try to replace him in the offseason. Instead, they’re counting on the 2020 fourth-round draft pick to step up and be the complement they need as Diggs continues to draw the heaviest coverage.
“It means a lot,” Davis told reporters Thursday. “The bosses are on my side at the end of the day and they know football best for the Bills. When you’ve got the guys who run the team and run the organization saying that they’re on my side with things and they’re trusting and believing in me. There’s no better feeling when you go on the field and know that the guys that are out there with you don’t want to replace you. They want to keep you and they know the potential and the success you can have.”
Allen calls Davis “a very big piece” for the Bills’ offense, even if the stats don’t always reflect as much.
“Obviously, he didn’t get the whole volume of targets over the last couple years, but he still produced some really big numbers,” Allen said. “And, again, trying to maybe get some more easy ones for him and allow him to catch and run. But, again, he’s not afraid to go in there and take a safety on or take the edge for the running game.
“He’s a selfless player that guys look to. Believe it or not, the way that he works is very inspiring, and guys see that and it makes guys work harder.”
Davis is determined to rebound from last season. The first step is recognizing what went wrong while also ignoring the public criticism directed toward his way and calls for him to be replaced.
“Obviously, you try to ignore the noise,” Davis said. “That’s a big thing that (coach Sean) McDermott says, but sometimes that noise can get to you and I know last year it got to me, no matter how hard I tried to keep it away. So, my biggest thing is separating myself from that completely and just trying to focus on how good my life really is.
“It is a blessing and dream of what I’m doing, and don’t let anyone else take that away from me. I feel like I let some people take that away and I had to kind of separate myself from that and learn to ignore the noise, as McDermott would say.”
Dorsey counts on experience to help
Even with all of the additions the Bills have made to their offense, it’s still up to Dorsey to make significant strides in his design of the scheme and play-calling.
Opposing defensive coordinators caught up to him halfway through his first season in charge of an offense. He will need to take a hard look at what quality assurance studies show about his game-planning and play-calling tendencies, and respond accordingly.
Dorsey thinks what he learned through one year will serve him well this season.
“As a play-caller and developing the offense, I really feel like that just the more exposure you get to it, the more experience you get to it, the more things come naturally,” he said. “The more situations that come up that now you’ve got that experience and then you could rely on that and then just easily react when these things happen, instead of having to sit there and process it for a second.
“I think any time things just become second nature, it makes things a lot easier and a lot more fluid in terms of the process, whether it’s calling plays on game day, setting up a practice script, adjusting things in practice.”
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