The Buffalo Bills focused on adding to their offense this offseason. General manager Brandon Beane said it many times since the 2019 season ended, the unit needs to score more points.
The Bills did add to the group of playmakers around quarterback Josh Allen this offseason and kept his entire offensive line in place. Still, Allen’s going to have to prove those additions were worthwhile, according our friends at the NFL Wire.
Ranking every offense in the NFL, Touchdown Wire placed the Bills at the No. 23 spot:
As with many other offenses on this list, the pieces are in place for success. But there is a question mark. In the case of the Buffalo Bills, it is at the quarterback position. Allen has been better than expected and his combination of athleticism and arm strength has eased his transition, and he is coming off a season that ended in the playoffs. But there are still questions around whether he can be effective enough in the downfield passing game for this offense to truly take flight.
That is a bit of an odd statement, given where Allen was coming out of college. Given his arm strength it seemed Allen would be deadly throwing downfield. Instead, he has struggled in that part of the game while becoming a more effective passer in the 10-19 yard range. Granted, the bulk of throws for most NFL offenses come in the short- and intermediate-areas of the field, but last year 14.8% of Allen’s throws were 20 yards or more downfield. Only five other passers attempted a higher percentage of their throws in the vertical passing game.
Help has arrived in the form of Stefon Diggs, who was one of the league’s most dangerous downfield targets last season. If Allen can just be a league average downfield passer – he ranked 33rd of 35 qualified passers in Adjusted Completion Percentage on his downfield throws in 2019 – this offense could be dangerous.
While TD Wire leans on the side of optimism, until Allen and the Bills prove it, this ranking is justified. But there’s plenty of reason to think the Bills can being to change this narrative next season.
Veteran wideout Diggs is a top-flight deep threat for Allen, while rookie Gabriel Davis thrived in this area in college as well. Rookie running back Zack Moss should add another element in the Bills’ backfield, too. He and Devin Singletary could be come one of the league’s best tandems. But unfortunately, there’s just too many “ifs” right now for the Bills, so we’ll have to wait and see how things come together.
But here’s a massive silver lining for the Bills: In this list, they have the best-ranked offense in the AFC East still. That’s right, the Patriots (26), Dolphins (28), and Jets (31), are all well behind Buffalo’s standing.
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