‘Everybody eats’ philosophy has Bills scoring most points in the NFL

‘Everybody eats’ philosophy has Bills scoring most points in the NFL

The Buffalo Bills coined the phrase “everybody eats” as the theme of their offense for 2024, and the team’s 47-10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on “Monday Night Football” was the latest representation of it.

To say that everybody ate on Monday would be an understatement.

Six Bills scored a touchdown in the game, 10 players caught a pass (nine in the first half), and five players recorded three or more catches.

James Cook, Ray Davis, Khalil Shakir, Dalton Kincaid, Ty Johnson, and Keon Coleman all found the endzone. Davis and Coleman both recorded their first-career touchdowns on a special night in Orchard Park.

Josh Allen had one of the most efficient games of his career, and he was able to conduct the offense by spreading it around and keeping the defense guessing. And, if Allen is the conductor of the orchestra then offensive coordinator Joe Brady is the one writing the music.

“Everybody eats” isn’t just a phrase for Brady, it’s all he wants for the offense. Because there is trust in the offensive line, and because Josh Allen is at quarterback, Brady is free to use his multitude of skill players in different and creative ways. The creativity and simplification of the processing for Allen have him as the MVP favorite through three games. Brady is putting everyone in positions to succeed.

In a post-practice press conference Wednesday, Josh Allen spoke on the ability of the offense being elevated because they have so many different options to beat defenses:

“I think we’ve shown the ability to be in big personnel and run it and throw it, we’ve shown small personnel to run it and throw it, the run game, play action, drop back… there’s just a lot of opportunities for us to do a lot of different things throughout the game. We have different chess pieces that Joe [Brady] is using really well right now… and they are doing a great job of understanding what everybody’s role is. The ability to at any different time throw it to somebody else and they be our first read… it’s very fun. It’s easy on me and Joe’s been doing a great job of calling plays.”

Sure, the Bills lost their top two receivers from last year, but what they have now is depth at skill positions across the entire offense. And the skill position players all offer multiple flavors themselves. The running backs are threats through the air and on the ground, Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shakir can be lined up anywhere, and Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox can give you everything you need at the tight end position. Throw in some big-bodied boundary receivers and you’ve got a well-rounded offense.

After three weeks, the Bills (3-0) are leading the league in points per game (37.3) but the road gets tougher ahead for the Bills. Next up is a three-game road stretch (Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans, New York Jets). It will be a grind through the next few weeks, but when things get tough for Allen and Brady, they know they’ll have someone in the supporting cast to lean on, because you can’t cover all of them.

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Bills RB Ty Johnson on new deal: ‘A great privilege to be back’

Bills RB Ty Johnson on new deal: ‘A great privilege to be back’

The Bills’ running backs room has seen a lot of changes over the past several seasons as the front office has looked at ways to adapt a modern NFL offense.

GM Brandon Beane and company have re-shaped the new-look group around 2022 2nd round NFL Draft pick and RB1 James Cook, and 26-year-old Ty Johnson showed the Bills brass and coaches enough last season to earn an opportunity to compete for playing time behind him.

The 26-year-old inked a new one-year deal in March to return to Buffalo. It’s a team-friendly low-risk-high-potential reward pact with a player looking to take the next step in his development at the pro level and to earn his next contract. Suffice it to say, he’ll be motivated.

“It feels really great,” he told The Buffalo News last month. “(This time) last year, I was rehabbing a torn (pectoral muscle) and didn’t really know what my future was. Now, it’s a great privilege to be back.”

Johnson was a 2019 sixth-round NFL Draft pick by the Lions, who later released him in October 2020, after which he spent several seasons with the Jets in New Jersey before being sidelined with a pectoral injury that led to his release. He then signed with the Bills practice squad last August.

In the past, the Buffalo relied on the ground game from backs like Devin Singletary and Zack Moss, but have since forward and transitioned to versatile receiving backs like Cook and 2024 fourth-rounder Ray Davis.

The club parted ways with Nyheim Hines, Damien Harris, and Latavias Murray after the conclusion of the 2023 season. Each player was on a short-term deal and dealt with injuries. Johnson was the only member of that group brought back, and the team also added undrafted free agent Frank Gore Jr.
“Having the opportunity to come back, I do feel like my confidence is there,” he added. “To be honest, I was just happy to be out there,” he added. “I was confident in the playbook and knowing what my assignments were.”

Now that he’s healthy and has a year of experience in the Bills offense to build on, his next focus is to continue to stay healthy and expand his overall football abilities.

“The work is the work,” he noted. “I have to keep putting that in and taking care of my body and learning more and being able to do more things on the field.”

WATCH: Bills release ‘5 questions with Ty Johnson’

WATCH: #Bills release ‘5 questions with Ty Johnson’

Buffalo Bills running back Ty Johnson is looking to build on his promising season he had in 2023. Before doing so, Johnson sat down with the Bills’ social media team and answered a series of questions about himself, relating to both on and off the field.

See the attached YouTube video above.

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2024 PFL 1 lineup gets makeover after two withdrawals, one fight scrapped, one fight added

The 2024 PFL 1 lineup looks quite different after a host of changes.

The 2024 PFL 1 lineup looks quite different today than it did yesterday.

On Tuesday, the promotion announced that [autotag]Bruno Cappelozza[/autotag] and [autotag]Denise Kielholtz[/autotag] have withdrawn from their regular season matchups. Reasons for their removals were not given.

2024 PFL 1 (ESPN2, ESPN+) takes place April 4 at Boeing Center in San Antonio.

In place of Cappelozza, former WSOF champion and UFC veteran [autotag]Blagoy Ivanov[/autotag] will step in to meet Sergey Bilostenniy in the heavyweight division. Bellator veteran [autotag]llara Joanne[/autotag] is replacing Kielholtz and will fight former UFC title challenger Taila Santos in a women’s flyweight bout.

In addition to the two withdrawals, PFL also announced that [autotag]Kaytlin Neal[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Vega Arteaga[/autotag] is off the card, while a new matchup of [autotag]Ty Johnson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Bryce Meredith[/autotag] has been added.

With the changes, here is the 2024 PFL 1 lineup:

MAIN CARD (ESPN 2, ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Ante Delija vs. Valentin Moldavsky
  • Denis Goltsov vs. Linton Vassell
  • Liz Carmouche vs. Juliana Velasquez
  • Tyrell Fortune vs. Daniel James

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)

  • Dakota Ditcheva vs. Lisa Mauldin
  • Blagoy Ivanov vs. Sergey Bilostennyi
  • Taila Santos vs. Ilara Joanne
  • Steve Mowry vs. Oleg Popov
  • Kana Watanabe vs. Shanna Young
  • Chelsea Hackett vs. Jena Bishop
  • Lucas Brennan vs. Dimitre Ivy
  • Tyson Johnson vs. Bryce Meredith

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5 pending free agents the Bills should consider re-signing in 2024

5 pending free agents the #Bills should consider re-signing in 2024:

The Buffalo Bills have plenty of free agents slated to hit the open market.

The Bills have time to still sign players to extensions, but it’s never so cut-and-dry. According to Over The Cap, Buffalo is estimated to be more than $40 million over the 2024 NFL salary cap.

Moves must be made to get there and general manager Brandon Beane will earn his salary with the decisions ahead.

But Beane’s work is not the type of operation that’s never been completed before. Teams and players can restructure contracts, move dollars and cents around, and create cap space.

Once that’s done, Beane will then consider who to bring in and who to re-sign. Here are five pending free agents the Bills should take a look into re-signing this offseason:

Full list of Bills players who will be free agents this offseason

Who will stay and who will go?

As another season of Buffalo Bills football has come to an end, so have another series of contracts that have been signed.

Whether it be grizzled veterans or players seeing the end of their rookie contracts, there are plenty of faces who will not long be under contract in Buffalo in March when free agency opens.

The Bills have plenty of time until then to sign players to extensions, but it’s never so cut-and-dry. According to Over The Cap, Buffalo is estimated to be $49 million over the 2024 NFL salary cap.

Moves must be made and general manager Brandon Beane will earn his own salary with the decisions ahead.

But what you’re here for: The full list of Bills free agents following the 2023 season is below:

5 takeaways from the Bills’ 21-14 win over the Dolphins

5 takeaways from the #Bills’ 21-14 win over the #Dolphins:

The Buffalo Bills have fully circled the wagons.

The Bills (11-6) have handed the Miami Dolphins a Week 18 loss at Hard Rock Stadium by a 21-14 final.

Long the leaders of the AFC East throughout the year, Miami will not be crowned the divisional champs. The Bills ripped it away from the Dolphins (11-6) with the win. It’s the fourth-straight year Buffalo has won the division.

Here are five takeaways from the Bills’ 21-14 win over the Dolphins:

Bills’ Ty Johnson out vs. Dolphins because of concussion

#Bills’ Ty Johnson out vs. #Dolphins because of concussion:

Bills running back Ty Johnson is out against the Dolphins in Week 18.

Johnson has sustain a concussion in the matchup which is already littered with injuries for both teams.

On the final play of the first half, the Bills did not have a timeout with seconds left on the clock and Johnson was stopped shot of the goal line after catching a pass. It appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet hit:

Without Johnson, the Bills are left with only Leonard Fournette behind starting rusher James Cook. Latavius Murray is inactive and Fournette was called up from the practice squad.

Bills Wire will provide injury updates when information is made available.

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PFF: 5 highest-graded Bills players on offense in Week 17

Not the best day for the #Bills offense, but these guys did well according to PFF:

The Buffalo Bills won a tight 27-21 final in their Week 17 matchup against the New England Patriots.

The Bills (10-6) had a few players that stood out above the rest in this one. On offense, the Bills were led by tight end  Dalton Kincaid.

In terms of the players who helped Kincaid pull out the win, Buffalo will hope such efforts remain throughout the rest of the 2023 season as they aim to secure a postseason spot.

According to Pro Football Focus, they’ll need these players to continue to play at a high level.

Here are the five highest-graded Bills players on offense against the Patriots (4-12) in Week 17:

How the Bills changed their entire offense and ran all over the Cowboys

The Buffalo Bills did what nobody expected and ran all over the Dallas Cowboys’ defense. Here’s how offensive coordinator Joe Brady schemed it up.

Generally speaking, when Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen completes seven of 15 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown against a team like the Dallas Cowboys, you don’t expect a 31-10 win in Buffalo’s favor. But that’s exactly what happened last Sunday, and the Bills’ run game is worthy of our attention. 

New offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who’s been in that position since mid-November following the firing of Ken Dorsey, had already put some new much-needed wrinkles in the passing game. But what Brady did against the Cowboys was a different level of sea-change in philosophy. Brady and the Bills went into this game with a clear vision of how to disrupt Dallas’ defense with the run game, which was unusual for a number of reasons.

Coming into this game, the Cowboys had allowed an EPA per rushing attempt of -0.11, sixth-best in the NFL. Their 4.1 yards per carry allowed, 2.2 yards after contact allowed, and 10 rushing touchdowns allowed were all among the NFL’s best. Now, the Bills’ EPA per rushing attempt of 0.04 was already the NFL’s best, but they had managed just 2.2 yards after contact per attempt, and while their 15 rushing touchdowns was a nice figure, 11 came from quarterback Josh Allen, so it wasn’t as if Buffalo’s rushing attack with James Cook as the lead dog was scaring anybody.

Where Brady and his staff may have seen their openings was in the Cowboys’ fronts and overall defensive philosophy. Through the first 14 weeks of the season, Dallas had faced just 337 rushing attempts this season, because their offense has been so explosive. And under Dan Quinn, the Cowboys aren’t focusing on the run in an old-school sense. They had put eight or more defenders in the box against 142 rushing attempts this season through Week 14, fifth-highest in the league, but it’s not a heavy run defense, and that’s especially true since defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 14 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Without Hankins on the field this season, the Cowboys have allowed 5.3 yards per carry. With Hankins on the field? 4.2.

Moreover, per Sports Info Solutions, the Cowboys have had six defensive backs on the field for 221 opponent rushing attempts, which is wildly out of whack with the rest of the NFL. The New England Patriots rank second with 43. The number is a bit skewed because most advanced metrics sites have misclassified Markquese Bell as a safety when he’s more of a linebacker, but even so… Bell is a 6-foot-3, 205-pound player, so it’s not as if he’s thumping down on run fits at a Mike Singletary level.

Factoring all that in, Brady’s decision to completely turn his team’s offensive philosophy on its head was still quite revolutionary. Through Week 14, the Bills ran the ball on 37.9% of their offensive snaps. Against the Cowboys, they ran by design on 71% of their plays, the highest rate for any team in any game this season. The aforementioned James Cook ran 25 times for 179 yards, 7.2 yards per attempt, 3.52 yards after contact per attempt, one touchdown, seven runs of 10 or more yards, and eight forced missed tackles.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell,” the guys got into this difference in approach, and all the reasons it worked so well.

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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Now, let’s get into the thick of this new Bills run game.