BUFFALO, NY. (WKBW) — At first glance, Josh Allen's 306 total passing yards wouldn't make you think the Buffalo Bills' passing game was in disarray on Sunday in Miami, but looking a bit closer, the stats don't tell the full story.
"I got to be better, I got to be better in the pass game, in the protection game, in the run game, all of it," Bills quarterback Josh Allen said after the 30-13 loss to the Dolphins. "Anytime you turn it over three times, two in the redzone, that's a recipe for disaster."
It's nothing out of the ordinary for the reigning MVP to shoulder the blame for his team's offensive performance, and his redzone interception and lost fumble all played a role in Buffalo's demise.
However, throughout this game, when Allen needed one of his receivers to make a play for him or, at the very least, get open, the call for help went unanswered more times than not.
"First is identifying what's causing us to get behind the sticks. Is it penalties, is it negative plays, is it how they're getting created? And secondly, it's getting back on track. It's hard to convert 3rd and 11 plus in this league so you have to get yourself back on schedule," head coach Sean McDermott told reporters after the game. "How you do that is by game plan, and depending on how the defense presents itself. Too many third-and-long, one-dimensional type situations."
Let's focus on "one-dimensional" because McDermott is absolutely correct. The lack of threats in the Bills' passing game allows opposing defenses to focus on stopping James Cook and a Josh Allen scramble a lot more easily when they feel confident that no one is a vertical threat on offense that can beat them over the top or make a big play.
It's a recurring issue that puts the offense in a bind and leaves McDermott and offensive coordinator Joe Brady still searching for answers.
"It's an important part of our offense, we have a great quarterback, and you want to move the ball two-dimensionally. We should be able to move the ball with Josh through the air, but it can't be one phase of your offense; it's got to be two," McDermott adds. "You guys know I say this quite a bit, it starts with controlling the line of scrimmage early, and it sets up other things. So that's what I look at first, is are we controlling the line of scrimmage and how does that set up our passing game, they go hand-in-hand."
*On the injury front, both Dalton Kincaid (Hamstring) and rookie Landon Jackson (knee) left the game with injuries and did not return.
