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.
