Buffalo Bills running back Devin Singletary is going to be relied upon more than he has recently against the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday.
The Bills (13-3) topped the Indianapolis Colts to advance to this weekend’s AFC Divisional round matchup, but that didn’t come without loss. Rookie running back Zack Moss’s season came to an end because of an ankle injury.
With him, the Bills were essentially splitting carries between Singletary and Moss. Without Moss, it’ll be more of “Motor” and he’s locked in.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Singletary said via video conference. “I could be getting more of the workload, but I’m built for it, I’m ready for it. I know the team has confidence in me, I got confidence in me.”
Now in his second season, Singletary hasn’t overly impressed. Moss really hasn’t, either. Some of that has to do with Buffalo’s passing offense taking off this year thanks to quarterback Josh Allen’s emergence and the Bills simply haven’t ran the ball as much because of that.
Plus when running backs split carries, the idea is that it make it tougher for them to settle into a game. Without Moss, could that help Singletary? While not dismissing his teammate’s abilities in the slightest, Singletary did admit there’s some truth to that.
“The more plays you get or whatever it may be, it’s definitely easier to get into the flow, we’re going to see how it plays out on Saturday,” Singletary said. “No matter how many opportunities, if it’s a lot or a little you’ve got to be ready, that’s been my mindset all year.”
In 2020, Singletary’s dip is displayed by his yards per carry which dropped from 5.1 a year ago to 4.4. Not awful, but not as good, either.
Not only will Saturday vs. the Ravens (11-5) be an opportunity for Singletary to show he’s better than those numbers, it’ll be a chance for him to show he’s better than he was when Moss first missed time. From Weeks 3-5 at the start of 2020, Moss missed time with a hamstring injury.
In those three games, Singletary had 42 carries, 152 rushing yards (3.62 avg) with a touchdown. He also had 10 catches for 79 in that time frame with a receiving touchdown.
Even so, the most important analysis of Singletary’s game is the one from the top. Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott approved of the way Singletary has preformed this year.
“I think his role has been pretty consistent. Sometimes the ebbs and flows of a game cause the load of who gets the carries to fluctuate from week-to-week. His role has always been the same for us and our confidence in Motor has always been very high,” McDermott said via video conference.
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