National Football League

How Josh Allen and Bills OC Ken Dorsey can fix stalling offense

Updated Nov. 15, 2022 9:05 p.m. ET

Several days before Buffalo's epic overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, reporters spent 15 minutes reminding Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey about his skill players not named Stefon Diggs.

Dorsey and Josh Allen had become over-reliant on star receiver Diggs in Buffalo's Week 9 loss to the New York Jets. As a result, the reporters were justified to ask about Bills receivers Gabe Davis, Isaiah McKenzie and Khalil Shakir, and running backs Devin Singletary, Nyheim Hines and James Cook.

The early phases of Dorsey's game plan in Week 10 looked like a response to those reminders.

The Bills continued to use Diggs as a part of the offense, but he wasn't the sun, moon and superstar. On the opening drive, the Bills established their ground game with Singletary, who had 25 rushing yards and a touchdown compared to Allen's nine passing yards. And even at the half, the Bills had thrown the ball to six different receivers. They'd run the ball with five different playmakers.

This week's game plan seemed like a mea culpa for Dorsey and Allen — at least at the beginning. They were spreading the ball around while enjoying a 16-7 lead over Minnesota.

But as the Vikings staged a comeback, the Bills seemed to grow uncomfortable with the incorporation of other playmakers. Davis caught two passes in the second half. Singletary got nine carries in the first half — and only four in the second half.

Meanwhile, Diggs caught seven passes on 10 targets in the second half after a more efficient five catches on six passes in the first half. Diggs and tight end Dawson Knox were the pass-catchers who saw an uptick in second-half touches. (Knox had one first-half catch and three second-half catches.)

It's clear that Dorsey had a plan to take the load off the passing attack — and Diggs in particular. But as the game grew tighter, the Buffalo OC relied as heavily as ever on his star receiver. And it didn't work out.

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Now let's give credit where credit is due. Buffalo's final two drives were a nice show from Dorsey. The final drive of regulation included zero targets for Diggs, and the Bills got their game-tying field goal. When the Bills went to Diggs twice on their final drive in overtime, they picked up seven yards on each catch. Perhaps Allen and Dorsey realized they needed to make use of the whole gang of skill players.

And so it was on Allen to get the ball into the end zone. He didn't.

On that final play of the game — an interception — it looked like Allen went through his entire progression. The eventual target, Davis, might have been option No. 4. Here's a look at Allen reading — but perhaps not exactly seeing — the defense.

So this play proves that Allen is coming into the equation in a big way. Because if Allen went to his fifth option, he would have seen Singletary slipping into the flat. And that checkdown would not only have been the right decision but also a nice little gainer.

Dorsey can call the right plays. Allen has to run them properly. He has at least one red-zone interception in each of the past three games. That's an unfortunate streak.

"Josh is a very confident player, confident in his own abilities, confident in the players around him," Bills coach Sean McDermott said. "And sometimes instead of pressing, you have to let the game come to you a little bit and take what the defense gives you at times. And then we have to put him in the position to do that from time to time as well."

That wasn't the only problem that McDermott pointed to. He felt the team needed to be better on second down.

"There's a couple of second-and-shorts that we'd like back," he said. "Especially against a good short-yardage defense — an and-1 short-yardage defense — you've got to pick up the first down there."

In other words, some playcallers will use their second-and-short situations to get aggressive because they know they'll convert on third down. But Buffalo couldn't afford that against the Vikings, who have a habit of holding on third down. The Bills had to focus on first downs.

Perhaps that's why ESPN's Dan Orlovsky broke down two playcalling gaffes on second down. Orlovsky pointed out — as I have — that the Bills appeared afraid to use their rushing attack in the red zone when it mattered.

It was great that the Bills scored with a running back on their opening drive. It wasn't great that they went away from Singletary and the other runners in a big way in the second half. And it wasn't great that they went away from the rushing attack on second-and-short.

Now is the perfect time for the Bills to evaluate Dorsey's playcalling and Allen's decision-making. And I'll harken back to a comment by Dorsey before Week 7, during Buffalo's hot streak.

"[We] trust Josh to work progressions and read things out and go to the right place with the ball," Dorsey said. "That just frees you up to call a game in terms of what you think is going to work best and not [thinking], ‘Hey, I've got to get the ball here, or I've got to do this for Josh.'"

Dorsey had been operating with a completely open playbook for Allen. And that's probably fine, given Allen's exorbitant talent. But might Dorsey consider reigning in Allen in one way or another? With playcalls? Or with additional coaching on discipline in his progression?

And will Dorsey continue to create balance within his offense? He clearly made an effort to spread the ball in Week 10. Can he keep that up?

These are the little things that will help the Bills get back to their elite level of play.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.