Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll probably will want to keep giving the offensive line a little extra support Sunday in New England.
The availability of left tackle Dion Dawkins remains uncertain with him on the Covid list, which means rookie Spencer Brown could start again at left tackle, and the right side of the line again could be Cody Ford at guard and Daryl Williams at tackle. Even if Dawkins comes off the Covid list in time for the game, the Patriots’ defensive front is a tough physical matchup for the Bills.
Daboll’s blueprint against the Carolina Panthers may be worth following going forward for the Bills. More bootlegs and rollouts, more jamming edge rushers by the tight ends, more chipping by the running backs.
Allen ran bootlegs or rolled out on six plays against Carolina, according to Buffalo News charting. That’s his most since the Week 4 game against Houston. Allen has thrived in a shotgun, dropback passing offense where he can read the full field and take advantage of all the Bills’ receiving weapons. He's always going to “major” in that. But moving the pocket a little more often may be the prescription to help out the offensive linemen.
The Bills managed Carolina speed rushers Brian Burns and Haason Reddick last week. Tight end Dawson Knox jammed one of those edge rushers 13 times to help out the tackle next to him.
“We've all learned, I'd say, over the last two years that you better be able to adapt, adjust and be able do it rather quickly,” Daboll said of shuffling the offensive line. “So really, that's our approach. We've had plenty of things these last couple of years that come up, and I think you have to keep a cool head, a cool demeanor about yourself, put together a good plan as quick as you can, go out there with confidence in the players that you have and try to put them in good position and make sure they're ready to go throughout the week.”
“There's a whole bunch of communication throughout practice that goes on and certain plays, and guys are able to talk about certain things at the line of scrimmage,” Allen said. “And when you kind of get a wrench thrown in ... you just got to have a lot of trust in those guys that they were on top of their practice habits and making sure that they were paying attention and taking mental reps throughout the week. I was super proud of how our guys performed last week. Whether we get those guys back this week or not ... communication is going to be key this week for the front five.”
Power up. It will be interesting to see how much New England tries to power up with a six-man offensive line in Sunday’s rematch. The Bills were without third linebacker A.J. Klein in the first New England meeting because he was on the Covid list. Tyrel Dodson took his place and played 27 snaps.
The Patriots used Michael Onwenu as the sixth offensive lineman on 26 running plays in Orchard Park and gained 163 yards. One of those was the 64-yard touchdown run by Damien Harris. Take that away and the Pats averaged 3.96 a carry with the sixth O-lineman. The Bills used their base, 4-3 defense on all but two of those plays (gains of 10 and 2 yards).
Without the extra offensive lineman, the Pats ran 17 times for 65 yards, a 3.8 average.
Keep in mind, the Bills were able to crowd the line of scrimmage more in windy Week 13, just as the Patriots defense did, without much fear of a downfield pass. The Pats used Onwenu on only six plays in the loss at Indianapolis last week. They used it on 11 plays in their previous game, vs. the Titans.
The 30,000-foot view. Sunday’s game will be Belichick’s 800th as a coach in the NFL, dating to his first job with the Baltimore Colts in 1975, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss. This is Belichick’s 47th consecutive year as a coach in the NFL. Hall of Famer Dick LeBeau is next at 45 years. The only other coach with at least 40 consecutive NFL seasons is longtime Colts aide and current Tampa Bay assistant Tom Moore (41). Counting playoffs, Belichick has 320 wins, just behind No. 2 George Halas (324) and within striking distance of Don Shula (347). Belichick turns 70 in April. If Belichick gets three more wins this year, it would put him just 24 behind Shula. There’s an outside chance he could catch Shula with two more seasons, and he’d very likely overtake the No. 1 spot with three more seasons in New England. Why not go for it? Bills fans should not expect to be rid of the Hoodie for awhile.
Beef Inc. One hallmark of Belichick’s defense is he always has had a dominant run stuffer, and sometimes two, in the middle. For years it was Vince Wolfork, a first-round pick who played 11 years for the Pats.
The beef in the middle this year is Davon Godchaux, a 6-foot-3, 311-pounder signed as a free-agent from Miami in March. Godchaux was a monster in the first meeting in Buffalo, making a career-high 10 tackles. The Bills averaged 3.1 yards per carry in the 18 run plays Godchaux – No. 92 – was on the field. Godchaux was not dominant last week against the Colts’ great offensive line or in the game before Buffalo, vs. Tennessee.
The Pats signed Godchaux on a two-year, $15 million deal. They can get out of it after this year with $5.25 million in dead money. Or they keep him for 2022 on a $10.25 million cap hit. Godchaux was a fifth-round pick of the Dolphins in 2017 and played well over 42 starts for Miami. In 2019, he had the most run-stops in the league (32) among defensive linemen, according to Pro Football Focus. But he played only five games in his contract year due to a biceps tear. For that reason, New England got him on a bit of a bargain. Preventing Godchaux from a repeat of his Orchard Park performance will be key.
“Yards matter, but yards really don’t matter once you can stop them in the end zone,” said Godchaux after the Bills’ game.
First and goal. Zack Moss has been inactive the past two games, since the loss to the Pats. One of the key plays of the game was the first-and-goal run from the NE 6 in the fourth quarter. Godchaux pushed Mitch Morse back a bit, but the center kind of held his ground. A faster back might have bounced it outside. Could Moss have pressed the hole better and gained yards inside? Probably. Godchaux shed Morse and made the tackle.
Stats for the road. The Bills’ average margin of victory in their eight wins (25 points) is the largest in the NFL since 1970. The next highest are 24.4 by the Bengals in 1989 and 22.9 by St. Louis in 1999. . . . The Bills are allowing 287 yards a game, which would be their lowest average for a season since 2004. . . . Pats CB J.C. Jackson leads the NFL with 20 passes defensed. . . . Mac Jones still is on pace to set the NFL record for best completion percentage by a rookie. He’s at 69%. The record is 67.8% by Dallas’ Dak Prescott in 2016.
