Zack Moss and Devin Singletary are both quite concerned about a title, but it’s not the title of starting running back.
“We know what the end goal is,” Moss said Saturday. “If he’s the starting running back, and we win the Super Bowl, fine. If I’m the starting running back, and we win the Super Bowl, fine.”
Around the same age and both from South Florida, the two Buffalo Bills running backs are close, even when competing.
“We’re something like brothers,” Singletary said.
The Bills were 20th in rushing last season, and now have to navigate what their 2021 run game will look like. Singletary led the team last season with 687 yards on 156 carries. Moss had 481 yards on 112, doing so in just 13 games. He injured his ankle in the AFC wild card round, needing surgery.
Moss said he reached his goal of being back for the first day of training camp and said that he’s feeling “really good."
After the injury in January, he spent the first few months rehabbing before ramping up the last few months. There are still a few things the second-year back has to continue working on, but coaches are impressed with where he stands.
“That young man has worked hard, just getting back to this point,” offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said Monday. “It’s hard coming off an injury for any player, but particularly a running back with your ankle, you’re running, you’re cutting. ... But he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do to get back to this spot.”
As far as what Daboll is looking for in his running backs, his goals are simple. He’s been typically transparent.
“Gain yards. Gain yards, know who to block and block them in pass protection,” he said.
If it sounds easy enough, perhaps that’s because the Bills aren’t panicking.
“I think there’s more outside-the-building concern about it than there was in here,” center Mitch Morse said of the run game. “Of course, we have pride. We want to run the ball well. … I think for all of us, it’s about scoring points. And to help our pass attack, we have to run the ball better.”
Singletary allows that last year’s run game was a bit below the standard the Bills have set for themselves. But as a team, players and coaches understand what they have in Josh Allen and the passing game.
“If we’ve got to throw the ball 70 times a game, yeah, it’s not going to be the most fun. But if we’re putting up points, if we’re putting our team in position to win, that’s OK,” Morse said. “But we’d like to balance that up to help all of us out.”
The team brought in running back Matt Breida, whose speed has been vaunted by players and coaches. He’s clicked well with Singletary and Moss, too, as a fellow Florida native who also trained there this offseason.
The room works well together, which Morse sees as egoless football, and finds that refreshing. Still, everyone – Singletary and Moss included – knows that each is focused on competing. One area of improvement Moss focused on was explosive runs, or runs of 10 yards or more. Moss had 12 among his 112 carries. The Bills ranked ninth in the league with 13% of their run plays going for 10 yards or more, according to Warren Sharp Football.
“Just explosion through the hole, I think that's the biggest thing. Me and my coach talked about just getting through that hole, those first five yards,” Moss said. “That's kind of where those big plays come in. And then just getting downhill and doing the rest.”
Moss recognizes, too, that some of this is the game slowing down for him in his second year. He knows there was a “super learning curve” last season, making the jump from Utah to the NFL. He doesn’t think it was strictly overthinking, as some rookies are prone to do, but needing to get stronger to match the level of play in the pros.
“I don't feel like I was thinking a lot,” Moss said. “But I just felt like I wasn't playing how I'm used to, just going out there and just letting it rip. So that's what I definitely want to just do this season.”
At this point in training camp, the goals are individual improvement- or team-oriented, as opposed to either Singletary or Moss making much of a potential starting nod.
“How we look at it, as long as we’re winning, we’re helping the team win, that’s just what it is. It doesn't matter,” Singletary said. “If I’m starting, if Breida’s starting, if Zack’s starting, it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re helping each other win, helping the team win, that’s what matters at the end of the day.
“Everybody wants the ball, but at the end of the day you've got to look at the bigger picture. If I’m getting the ball, I’m getting the ball, if I’m not, I’m not, I still have to play my part. That’s what it comes down to.”
