They're eating the cats: Reinvented Buffalo Bills offense makes a MNF statement
Buffalo's "everybody eats" mantra on offense was fully realized in a 47-10 demolition of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Our column from Highmark Stadium inside.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Sadly, James Cook wanted absolutely nothing to do with this conversation. Once the Buffalo Bills were finished impaling the Jacksonville Jaguars, 47-10, the starting running back was all smiles inside the home locker room. This Monday Night Massacre officially introduced Buffalo’s offense as a juggernaut and, obviously, this all came on the heels of major offseason changes.
Changes discussed for months. Changes that included trading Stef…
“Can we not talk about that?” Cook says.
That’s the point, I say. This win was about everybody else. Cook wasn’t interested in the remainder of the sentence.
“No, we good.”
With that, Cook walked away.
The exchange was not confrontational, but it was fitting.
It’s taken only three games for the Bills to evolve past the wide receiver who incinerated secondaries for four seasons. If Cook had stuck around for a few more seconds, I would’ve brought up my conversation with his boss: GM Brandon Beane. In our sitdown a short three months ago, Beane dismissed the hysteria around the wide receiver position. “I read the rules,” he said. “It’s legal to throw it to a tight end. We look at it as ‘weapons,’ more than we look at it as ‘This guy’s in the receiver room, this guy’s in the running back room. This guy’s in the tight end room.’ The rules say we can throw it to James Cook. The rules say we can throw it to a Dawson Knox or Dalton Kincaid or Q-Morris.”
Beane envisioned a world in which a constellation of skillsets blended together to keep opposing defenses guessing.
Monday night was a statement.
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Forty-eight games have been played so far this season and this was the most humiliating of them all. This was more of a Boar on the Floor shaming than a football game. The Bills did whatever they damn well pleased against the Jaguars. It’s hard to imagine what Doug Pederson even told his team inside the cavernous visitor’s locker room. When the Bills led 34-3 at halftime — total yards at 288-70, first downs 19 to five — Roger Goodell honestly should’ve deployed his unilateral authority to institute a running clock, mandate defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen shave his mustache and send the Jaguars to Nine-Eleven Tavern in South Buffalo to at least enjoy the nation’s finest wings for their troubles. Instead, the Jags continued to have zero answers, defensive linemen hunched over on the bench in shock and the team’s plane was even delayed due to mechanical issues.
Meanwhile, one team’s nightmare was another’s utopia.
So much for needing to figure out how all of their jigsaw pieces would fit together over the course of two or three months. In a sport littered with struggling quarterbacks and clueless playcallers, the Bills already know exactly what they are on offense, and that’s been the case since Beane made the ballsy decision to acquiesce Diggs’ trade demand. Hell, they can bench the wide receiver they drafted with their first pick (Keon Coleman) for an entire quarter without decelerating. Much stiffer challenges in the AFC await from whatever Steve Spagnuolo cooks up in Kansas City, to the New York Jets to the Ravens and Texans up next, but the carnage last night was telling.
Cook is in no mood to explain how the Bills have evolved. But across the locker room, Rasul Douglas sure is. The veteran cornerback had quite a view from the sideline and it didn’t take him long to realize this game would devolve into a total ass-whuppin.’
“Once it started,” Douglas says, “I was like ‘This might be bad. It’s about to get bad.’”
He’s not speaking in generalities.
Asked to pinpoint the moment a blowout appeared imminent, he’s specific. Cold.
“They kicked the ball off. So we were on offense first.”
When coaches spew “complementary football” clichés, it’s often hogwash. There’s little connection between a dominant defense and a dominant offense. But this night, Douglas could feel it. He saw quarterback Josh Allen effortlessly drive downfield after the Bills received that opening kickoff. Nineteen yards to Cook, thanks to a sly Mack Hollins pick straight out of your dusty YMCA gym. Twelve yards to Khalil Shakir on a fourth-and-3 swing pass, a splendid play call from offensive coordinator Joe Brady. Twelve more to Shakir, who motions inside before shooting back outside at the snap. Nine to Curtis Samuel. And, eventually, a Cook TD plunge. For some godforsaken reason — maybe Jaguar ghosts past? — Nielsen tried defending the Bills with man-to-man coverage. Buffalo feasted from the get-go and this Drive No. 1 sight directly inspired Buffalo’s defense.
Douglas wanted to get the ball back to Allen as soon as humanly possible because his QB looked more like Steph Curry, in the zone, sniping 3-pointers into the ocean.
“We’re knowing that ‘Oh shit, we’ve got to go get a three and out,’” Douglas says. “You can feel the offense — they’re in that type of mode where if you keep giving them the ball, they’re going to score. So we’re like, ‘Let’s hurry up and get it back to ‘em. They’re hot. Don’t let ‘em sit down too long. Keep them in rhythm. So that’s all we kept saying every time we went out there: ‘They need the ball back. They need to ball back.’”
That’s exactly what happened. After the Bills’ opening 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive, Buffalo forced a 3-and-out, then pieced together an 11-play, 65-yard TD drive. And an eight-play, 68-yard TD drive. And a five-play, 41-yard TD drive. And, why not, one more five-play, 64-yard TD drive with 24 seconds left in the half.
Five for five.
The Bills knew the Jags wanted to get Travis Etienne going on the ground and forced them to flush those plans down the toilet before breaking a sweat.
Says Douglas: “You’re down 21, you’ve got to put this shit in the air.”
Worth noting: Buffalo woefully outcoached Jacksonville. This game was full of more promising trends from Sean McDermott. He’s continuing to imagine everything that can go right, instead of dreading the worst-case scenario. That game-opening drive, from the Jags 44, McDermott didn’t think twice about going for it. Even if Shakir would’ve been covered, he now realizes his 6-foot-5, 237-pound mutant of a quarterback can improvise his way to a first down.
On the flip side, the Jaguars’ decision to play straight-up, man coverage was beyond baffling.
Mostly? It’s the ultimate sign of disrespect. Pederson and Nielsen dared Buffalo’s skill-position players to beat their linebackers and defensive backs. The result was a Tyson KO 2.5 seconds after the bell. Ten different Bills players caught a pass for only the 10th time in the team’s 65-year history. True to Beane’s words, a wide receiver (Khalil Shakir, 6-71-1), a running back Cook (4-48) and a tight end (Dalton Kincaid, 3-41-1) all led the way.
Veteran Marquez Valdes-Scantling begins by saying every wideout craves man-to-man coverage. Still, he gets it.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys who haven’t made huge names for themselves in the room,” Valdes-Scantling says. “Obviously Curtis has played well through his teams, but he hasn’t been on a bunch of great teams, so people don’t respect that. We’ve got a couple young guys like Khalil and Keon and then Mack is an old veteran who’s been doing what he’s supposed to do for eight years. So they look at that and say, ‘OK, well, let’s just man these guys up.’ And we were able to go out there and do whatever we wanted to do.”
Adds tight end Dawson Knox: “When they gave us man-to-man coverage, our guys did a good job exploiting that. And obviously Josh played a hell of a game and whether it’s running the ball or throwing the ball, we’re just going to find ways to win.”
The virtues of not having a No. 1 wideout sounded more like convenient spin at points over the offseason. It’s not like the Minnesota Vikings are trading Justin Jefferson any time soon — all teams would obviously prefer an elite talent at a premier position. But it’s true that every defense Buffalo faces this season must gameplan for a full menu of weapons. Nobody can lock in on one or two receivers. The Bills have a flock of different body types released on a slew of routes and the offensive line has been outstanding. Allen was hit only once the last two games. Right tackle Spencer Brown — rewarded a four-year, $72 million extension on Sept. 6 — is the only lineman in the NFL who hasn’t allowed a pressure this season, per Next Gen Stats.
“It’s just fun spreading the ball out,” Knox adds, “not really knowing what play’s going to get called and who’s going to get targeted, but just seeing all the guys involved.
“It really does just make offense fun — spreading the ball out. Getting tons of guys involved. Lots of great unselfish players on this team.”
Fun says the player who caught all of one pass for seven yards. Most encouraging is the fact that nobody seems too annoyed by this arrangement. A player could easily hint at slight frustration. Like Knox, the wideout Valdes-Scantling only received two targets. Like Knox, he finished with one catch for seven yards. Yet both again sang the praises of the Bills’ “everybody eats” mantra. That’s been the unit’s rallying cry since the spring, way back when wide receivers coach Adam Henry made it clear he was personally ecstatic about this challenge ahead. “We’ll get it done,” Henry told us.
It’s no coincidence that so many players — Allen, first and foremost — continue to laud the unselfishness on offense.
Losing can always expose frustration. It’s human nature. After all, Diggs kept his misery mostly under public wraps through the Bills’ late-season run in 2023. Behind the scenes, he was pissed.
For now, the Bills are winning. And winning big. They’ve outscored the opposition, 112-48.
Dressed to impress, right down to sparkling “MVS” earrings,” the seven-year vet was in a cheery mood. This is a man who has experienced wide receiver bliss his entire career. He’s lived his share of offensive masterpieces with Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes. This one ranks near the top of the list.
“Hey man, you walk out there on Monday night,” he says, “you’ve got to come with your best and if you ain’t got your best, I’m sure we going to give it to you.”
Life’s easier for all parties involved when you’re in possession of one of the top two quarterbacks in the sport. Valdes-Scantling knows this better than any player in the league having played with Rodgers, Mahomes and, now, Allen. A few games under his belt with the Bills QB, he can more accurately compare Allen to the two with a combined six MVPs.
“His competitiveness and his eagerness to just go and want to be the best — I think he genuinely wants to win the game,” Valdes-Scantling says. “Obviously I played with guys that also wanted that. I have to let it run a little longer to see how it really turns out. He’s willing to do whatever it takes — whether it’s diving in the end zone, or sliding for a first down or putting his head down for a QB sneak — whatever it takes he’s just going to get it done.”
True, this game featured more vintage Allen. Per OptaStats, Allen became the first player in NFL history to complete 75 percent of his passes, throw for 4+ touchdowns with no turnovers, no sacks, while leading his team in rushing in the same game. The “M-V-P” chants were loud at Highmark Stadium. It’s those whistling throws through the Western New York air that always make Douglas’ jaw drop. This night, the QB’s six-yard touchdown strike to Kincaid in the back of the end zone had the freaky velocity on it. Quarterbacks aren’t supposed to throw a ball like this, on the run, without their hips and legs supplying the horsepower.
Allen’s able to fire the ball at top speed from any contour of the gridiron.
“His arm is so strong, bro. His arm is strong,” Douglas says. “He can just torque his body and throw it and that’ll still go 1,000 yards. That’s different. I ain’t seen a lot of people with that strong arm to be able to get in motions and just be like, ‘I can still rip this 60 yards.’”
Like everyone who’s lived in both Wisconsin and WNY, the ex-Packer corner can attest that the Lake Erie winters are different. The snow. The wind. Rodgers earns widespread acclaim for possessing the most “arm talent” in league history. Two words regurgitated ad nauseam yet again after the Jets QB torched the New England Patriots on Thursday night.
To Douglas, there’s zero comparison when it comes to arm strength. It’s Allen. “He’s got the strongest arm in the league,” Douglas says, blankly. And that opinion inevitably brings Douglas back to Jan. 21, 2024, back to the team’s divisional playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, back… to another player’s name. He brings up the name that Cook sprinted away from. Douglas isn’t even prompted.
What could’ve gone down as the greatest throw in Bills history was dropped by Stefon Diggs with eight minutes left in that playoff game.
Douglas can still feel the chill in the air that night.
“That shit’s whistling — the wind gets going — and he’ll still be… did you see the playoff game with Diggs? He threw that 70 yards. C’mon now. In the wind? People aren’t doing that.”
That throw instead joined the long list of What-Ifs in Buffalo Bills history. If Diggs catches that pass, perhaps the Bills beat the Chiefs, beat Baltimore, beat San Francisco and the eccentric wide receiver is forever a legend in this town instead of a pariah. Alas, he’s off to Houston. The good news? Monday night strongly suggests these Diggs-less Bills will return to that same playoff moment with the same quarterback on the same field.
Somebody else will be called upon to win the game in the fourth quarter.
Nobody has a clue who that player will be.
And that’s exactly how the 2024 Bills want it.
That was entertaining. Well done. (Love that Brandon Beane quote about it being legal to throw to the tight end, RBs, etc.) And makes me remember how much I miss reading good newspaper columns the day after games. So glad Go Long takes up the slack in so many areas.
Excellent article from start to finish. I feel like I've discovered a secret portal going back in time to when you learned about the players, their motivations and how the team actually functions instead of the glossy BS that passes for sports "journalism" these days. Kudos Tyler!