Joe Brady gives Josh Allen a huge say in the Buffalo Bills' offense in 2024

ORCHARD PARK — Joe Brady is smart enough to know that even though he’s now the full-time offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills, that doesn’t mean he has to tear up the old playbook and start from scratch.

“Look, at the end of the day, it’s Josh Allen’s offense, right? Brady said Tuesday in his first meeting with reporters since the Bills saw another season blown out by the Chiefs in the 2023 playoffs.

“You’re going to bring the offense together around the guys that you have. So for us, it’s just saying, “Hey, we’re going to delete everything because everything was broken.” This was not the case. There will be some things that I believe in, but it’s more about who we have on our football team and what they can do well and we’re going to do it.

When Brian Daboll arrived in 2018, shortly before the Bills selected Allen No. 7 overall in that draft, he built his offense around the rookie, knowing it wouldn’t be long before Allen supplants Nathan Peterman. This finally happened in the very first game.

Daboll spent four seasons designing the offense and he brought it to a point where the Bills were one of the most explosive teams in the NFL in 2020 and 2021. When Daboll moved to the Giants, his QB coach, Ken Dorsey, was promoted from within to continue the growth and the Bills were dynamic again in 2022.

And then there were some struggles in 2023, so Sean McDermott fired Dorsey in mid-November and promoted Brady, then made Brady the full-time OC after the season.

Clearly, there have been changes, particularly at the wide receiver position, as Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis have left, and Khalil Shakir is the only player in that position group to ever catch a pass from Allen in a match. Still, Brady isn’t about to reinvent the wheel here because Allen is the only constant, and that’s a pretty important constant to have, so he takes the existing playbook and only adds to it. minor adjustments.

“There are some things that Josh Allen has been doing for years here and the last thing I want is for him to have to think while making a few calls,” Brady said. “So if there are things that I think from a learning standpoint might be easier for guys to learn, we look at that, but other than that, if it’s something that was going to slow down, not change.”

What he’s basically saying is that he’s checking his ego at the door and that Allen will have a huge say in how the offense is structured and how it operates because Brady recognizes that would be better for the team. There is no need to change a Ferrari’s engine if it continues to run.

Here are some of the other topics Brady covered:

He appreciates this second chance

Brady was a boy prodigy when he became the Panthers OC in 2020, fresh off coordinating one of the greatest offenses in college football history during LSU’s run to the 2019 national championship with Joe Burrow as quarterback. back. However, it never worked out in Carolina and he was fired two-thirds of the way through the 2021 season, then hooked up with the Bills as QB coach in 2022.

“I wasn’t happy with the way it ended last time,” Brady said. “I have a passion for deciding games purely from a playing standpoint, but I also have a passion for teaching and coaching, and being with the guys and seeing them celebrate in the end zone. goals. And so, I love that relational element.

“I didn’t do a good job at my last stop. So it’s a great opportunity for me to delve into the players, not just the player element but also the person. I am so proud of this organization. Like, you live in Buffalo, you know how much the Bills mean to them and as the offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills, there are a lot of expectations. I appreciate this opportunity and I want nothing more than to take action for this city, for this organization.

Who will replace all these Stefon Diggs targets?

Brady has quite the challenge in that almost the entire wide receiver room is new this season.

Since the start of 2020, when Diggs was acquired in a trade and Davis was drafted, they have been responsible for 608 catches for 8,102 yards and 64 touchdowns. This represents a huge amount of production to replace.

“You don’t sit there and say you’re going to replace a player or replace a plan or targets,” Brady said. “Every year is going to be different and for me the biggest thing is, ‘All right, hey, what do these wide receivers do well, and let’s find ways to put them in these positions.'”

Shakir is joined by free agents Curtis Samuel, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Chase Claypool and Mack Hollins and second-round pick Keon Coleman, among others. And of course, tight end Dalton Kincaid who is essentially a receiver in a slightly larger body.

“Right now we have a lot of new stuff in this receiver room and there’s so much good and so much excitement with it, and it’s about trying to get a comfort level on the field for some of these guys,” Brady said. “It’s Josh Allen’s offense, but it’s also about what your players do well, and so this is the time now that we’re experimenting with some things like, ‘Hey, can this guy do this ?’ Can’t this guy do that? And we’ll continue to evolve and hopefully in September we’ll have some good feelings.

The use of James Cook remains to be determined

Last year, his second in the NFL, Cook had 281 rushing and receiving touches, which was more than he had in his entire college career at Georgia. Obviously, he handled the situation well as he finished sixth in the NFL in yards gained from scrimmage with 1,567. However, can he continue to handle this type of workload?

“I think we’ll see a lot of that,” Brady said. “We are confident that in the room we have, whoever plays ball carrier and carries the ball will do a good job. As far as setting a certain target number (of touches), I think that a lot of it is about seeing how his body holds up throughout the season and what he can do.

The Bills resigned Ty Johnson in free agency, drafted Ray Davis in the fourth round and signed undrafted free agent Frank Gore Jr. If any of these players emerge, Cook could see fewer touches, and that could actually be beneficial to him. Additionally, Brady said Cook appears to have made gains in the weight room.

“He’s physically in better shape than he was,” Brady said. “You look at him and I can tell he’s done a lot of work this offseason. He looks different in a good way, so I’m excited to see what type of running style he plays with this season.

New QB coach Ronald Curry influenced Brady

Curry was hired in the offseason to replace Brady as QBs coach. Curry was the Saints’ wide receivers coach when Brady was there as an offensive assistant in 2018 and he later served as the Saints’ QB coach and passing game coordinator.

“He’s been incredible,” Brady said. “I shared an office with him in New Orleans and he was instrumental in my development. A guy who played wide receiver in the NFL, played quarterback growing up. So he’s played at the highest level and also sees it from the quarterback’s perspective, but he can also teach it from the receiver’s perspective.

“It’s huge because when we try to teach the wide receivers here, we want them to understand where they are in the progression, understand why you have to go this far. So for a quarterback coach to say, “Hey, look, I’ve taught this to the receivers, this is how big they think it is for a quarterback.

Related Posts

Investigators are investigating the fatal e-scooter accident in Newham

Woman arrested after leaving 4-month-old baby in car in Visalia | YourCentralValley.com

Off-duty BSO deputy killed in motorcycle accident