Josh Allen breeds confidence within Bills Mafia
Over the course of the last few months, the work done by the Buffalo Bills has revealed an organization keenly focused on building with an eye on the future — while also remaining competitive now.
Make no mistake, there will be growing pains on offense following the losses of Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis at wide receiver. It’s also going to be the first season for offensive coordinator Joe Brady in the chair and utilizing a playbook of his design. Whether he retains aspects of Ken Dorsey’s system (which may have leveraged Brian Daboll’s work) remains to be seen, but there’s a pretty clear opportunity for the offense to undergo a play-calling makeover.
A decent amount of conjecture this spring and early summer has centered around the idea that the Bills will feature a run-heavy offense. When you subtract a pair of receivers who accounted for thousands of yards a season, it’s an easy road to travel en route to that run philosophy. However, it’s not as though general manager Brandon Beane and company passed over the addition portion of their subtraction plan. Clearly defined by that is the additions of Curtis Samuel and Keon Coleman. It just may take some time for the new chemistry to function as intended.
Remember, quarterback Josh Allen has shown an ability to succeed following a change at offensive coordinator — and he’s been proficient in digesting each new playbook. Josh Allen is still going to be the player we know him to be — which is the best Buffalo Bills player on the field when he steps on the gridiron. Perhaps there’s a greater emphasis on equalizing the pass/run play distribution, but it may be a bit premature to predict that the Bills are aiming to be an offense tailored for “four yards and a cloud of dust.”
A defense at a crossroads last offseason following the departure of linebacker Tremaine Edmunds ended up surprising everyone outside of One Bills Drive. Even while absorbing a massive amount of injuries to the linebackers room, the unit still played above their weight class — figuratively and literally. That unit is now a season deeper with experience and should see improvement especially with a healthy Matt Milano returning. Replacing safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde was never going to be easy, but the Bills appear focused on the big picture with both positions in 2024 and beyond.
But back to Edmunds: Bills Mafia was divided about losing him, but most did believe there’d be a drop in production by his replacement. Terrell Bernard was ripe for such speculation having little experience and almost exposure, but we saw how things actually played out. Lightning in a bottle.
Perhaps the same sort of thing happens this year in trying to replace Diggs and Davis. Admittedly, Davis should be the easier role to replace, given the up-and-down nature of his production. While it’s fair to question if Davis was always used in the proper way, his role was only going to be what we saw with the Bills. Should Brady seek to replace him with someone else doing the exact same work, it might go poorly. So hold back on expecting to see an identical offense featuring new players.
Any Bills fan knows that no other sports fan base comes close to the passion, believe, or support in their favorite players and team. Even with losing so many key starters from last season Bills Mafia remain a confident bunch ahead of mandatory minicamp and training camp.
How confident? Better than three-quarters (78%) of respondents are confident the Buffalo Bills are headed in the right direction.
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Who can meaningfully argue with them? Things haven’t changed regarding the most important position. Josh Allen now has another year of experience, and the benefit of age that isn’t quite the detractor observed in so many other positions.
It just might take the team asking even more from Josh Allen in 2024 — and who isn’t on board with that so long as he’s well-protected and allowed to operate in ways that allow him to best succeed?
Right now, most fans are ready for what’s next with these Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen. Has that confidence spilled over into early wagers on the Bills through DraftKings — are you ready to go all-in yet?
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