The Buffalo Bills look to have settled on a starter at right guard.
A week after rotating out at times with Ike Boettger, third-year veteran Cody Ford got all the playing time at the position Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. Ford played all 65 offensive snaps in a 35-0 victory at Hard Rock Stadium.
“I see his mentality and his attitude, it’s starting to come out, what we saw in college,” head coach Sean McDermott said Monday. “That personality and attitude can leave a mark on our offense in a positive way and I think that’s been good to watch. He continues to grow with the technique part of the game and I thought our offensive line showed signs of growth yesterday. I’m encouraged by that. Is there still room? Absolutely, there’s still a lot of room for growth, just like there is for our entire football team.”
Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said a key to Ford’s development during the early portion of the season has to do with his ability to stay healthy, something that has been an issue for him during his first two NFL seasons.
“The only way to get better is to play and go through some of the things that you have to go through as a younger player or player that hasn’t maybe played as much with some injuries and things like that,” Daboll said. “He’s done a nice job. I think he’s got, as we all do, a whole improvement mindset, but he’s improving each week and that’s what you look for in your guys.”
Here are four more observations from the video conference calls with McDermott, Daboll and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier:
1. The Bills kept Levi Wallace out for precautionary reasons. The cornerback left Sunday’s game early in the second quarter after dealing with cramps. He watched the rest of the game from the sideline, but did not re-enter the contest.
“Yeah, I mean he had that situation come up during the game there,” McDermott said. "It felt like we were in a spot where we didn’t need to have him back out there at the time. So until we knew more about what it was, we just wanted to play it on the safe side.”
2. Last-minute changes to the game plan are more common than you might think. One of the more interesting nuggets to come out of the postgame press conferences came when quarterback Josh Allen said the coaching staff altered the offensive game plan Saturday, putting in new plays. That presents an obvious challenge, since those plays can’t be run through on the field before the game.
“Our job as a coaching staff is to prepare all the way up and then throughout the game,” Daboll said. “It’s not like it’s things we don’t know how to do or anything like that. Maybe it’s a tweak of a blocking pattern or a new code word, or maybe it’s a play that someone saw studying that night. Sometimes, it’s from the players that are watching tape, and sometimes, it’s from the coaches.”
The fact that the Bills are in their fourth year of Daboll’s system makes that a lot easier.
“We’ve changed plays in the first quarter, we’ve changed plays in the third quarter, we’ve changed plays in the fourth quarter,” he said. “We just try to do anything we can do to try to give our guys the best chance.”
3. Frazier knows what Micah Hyde is angling for. After the game, the Bills’ veteran safety spoke glowingly about the game plan installed by the team’s defensive coordinator. Responding to that praise Monday, Frazier joked that Hyde might have an ulterior motive.
“I think he's speaking in code. He's saying, `Hey, get coach Frazier to blitz me more.' That's what he's saying," Frazier said with a laugh, before addressing the overall success of a pass rush that produced six sacks. "We went into it saying we want to be aggressive and really attack the line of scrimmage, and our guys executed.”
4. The Bills made a huge improvement in the red zone. After going 1 for 4 on scoring touchdowns when the team made it inside Pittsburgh’s 20-yard line in the season opener, the Bills went a perfect 4-for-4 against Miami.
“That's where most of these games, where it's won and lost is finishing with seven points,” Daboll said. “The field condenses, there's tighter coverage. The windows are smaller and one play can make a huge difference in a game. In this case, I thought that our guys were really focused … and going 4-for-4 is obviously a huge thing in this game.”
