National Football League

Why Bills QB Josh Allen is thriving under Buffalo's interim OC

Updated Dec. 14, 2023 4:37 p.m. ET

Josh Allen's meetings with interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady, just completing his first month on the job, must look something like a negotiation. Because in some respects, the Buffalo Bills have let Josh be Josh.

But not in every respect.

One element of Allen's game has clearly emerged since Brady took over for Ken Dorsey, fired Nov. 9 after the Bills lost to the Denver Broncos. Allen is rushing the ball, both on scrambles and designed quarterback runs, including a designed quarterback draw that went for a touchdown in the low red zone in a win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Allen charged upfield, and though he met a scrum of Chiefs defenders, he stayed upright and a few Bills helped shove him the extra yards into the end zone.

"It was the first time in my life I've ever felt my legs turning and kept the pile going," Allen said with a huge smile on Wednesday. "And then looking back at the video copy, I didn't do anything. It was just the offensive line pushing me in."

It's unclear if Allen wants to run the ball more, but it's clear that — earlier this year — head coach Sean McDermott did not want Allen running the ball as much as he did in 2022. (And the offense has since suffered in 2023, in part due to Allen seemingly holding that part of his game in check.) But I'd bet that Allen has been champing at the bit to get more carries, if only because it tends to get the team more wins.

"This time of year we all do what you got to do," McDermott said Wednesday when asked about the increased amount of carries and, in turn, contact for the QB.

The Bills (7-6) are currently outside the playoff bubble, with just a 48% chance of making the postseason, according to ESPN. They have a massive game on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys (4:25 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app), who are the No. 2 team in the NFL, per our power rankings. Buffalo has its back against the wall and has, in turn, made personnel and philosophical changes with hopes of continuing its turnaround in time for a playoff appearance — and, lofty as it may be at this point, a Super Bowl run.

Brady didn't hesitate to send the message on how things would be different under his leadership.

"I just wanted him to be Josh Allen," Brady said on Nov. 20, the day after his first game running the offense. "The fun, the excitement that he kind of plays with — like I feed off of it. At the end of the day, man, this is a game and we're supposed to have fun. I have a ton of fun coaching, I know our guys have a lot of fun playing. … Not that he wasn't having fun before, but I think you saw it a little bit last night. I think the guys obviously fed off of it as well.".

But then there's the (less fun) element of Allen's game that Brady is adding more of: the checkdown (passes thrown at or behind the line of scrimmage).

The Bills have also made increased usage of their running backs in the passing game. In the past three games, they're averaging 7.6 catches and 85.6 yards receiving per game. (They averaged 4.0 catches and 32 receiving yards per game under Dorsey, per the Buffalo News.)

One example of using the running backs? Check out the Bills' play from second-and-10 at the end of the first quarter last Sunday. Allen was making checks at the line of scrimmage and literally told James Cook to "run a wheel route." Cook did it and picked up 27 yards. Buffalo later scored a touchdown on the drive.

So not all these passes to the running backs are checkdowns. In fact, Allen has completed passes of extremely high difficulty to his running backs. There was the heady adjustment he made to Cook and an incredible completion to Latavius Murray.

Allen rolled to his left and, as multiple Chiefs defenders descended upon the QB, he floated the ball into a soft spot in the zone defense where — borderline miraculously — Murray managed to make a snag.

"I'm all for it," Brady said this week when asked about Allen's creativity as a scrambler. "When a play breaks down, he's a human eraser and he makes plays. He makes bad playcalls work, and so I'm very fortunate for that."

The less explosive plays to the running backs, however, were a big part of the team's game plan against the Chiefs and the Jets. In the opening 10 weeks under Dorsey, Allen threw 4.1 checkdowns per game. Over the past three weeks, he has averaged 8.6.

"I think utilizing those running backs just helps," Brady said. "It opens up paths for the receivers and the tight ends where we're not necessarily one-dimensional and predictable about where the ball's going."

Allen has, meanwhile, maintained his pace in the deep game (20-plus air yards) and has increased his attempts in the intermediate areas (10-20 yards in the air). And that's in part because the sample is small and includes Allen's 51-attempt game against the Eagles, during which he threw the ball all over the field.

It's too early to make heads or tails of what Brady is trying to do, exactly. But it's working — for now. And the bulk of it seems to be an emphasis on getting Allen running and completing easier throws at a higher clip — which means more passes to running backs. That can help manufacture a run game, where the Bills have been inconsistent over the past two years (both in usage and in efficiency). On the whole, there is optimism about how Brady is running the offense.

"I think Joe has done a good job. The way that he's collaborated with the staff the way he's led both the players and the staff," McDermott told reporters on Monday. "Certain plays [Sunday] — and every game, quite honestly — you're gonna want back. I walked into the meeting this morning, and Joe is in there, and he's teaching, he's coaching. And they're communicating as a staff, and I think that's part of leadership."

It's easy for us to look at how the team's output has changed and peg Brady as a success story. He has, after all, elevated Buffalo's scoring from 26.2 per game to 28.7 per game along with a total yardage bump from 307.1 to 408.3.

But you have to wonder: Was Dorsey prohibited from calling many of the running plays that Brady has called? And at the very least, has the pivot from Brady to Dorsey led to Allen's freedom? Because if that's the case, the uptick in production is more a product of Allen's philosophical shift — and less related to the change in leadership.

But when it comes to Brady's coaching, Allen looks like he's seeing the field more clearly under Brady — with fewer missed opportunities. It seemed, under Dorsey, Allen was missing far too many open wideouts. Perhaps Brady is about to prove that issue was a product of poor coaching, not poor quarterbacking. It's another thing to put under the category of not-yet-decipherable.

How does Allen feel about the operation under Brady — and how it has changed?

"I don't know if I can honestly answer that question. We're working really hard right now," Allen said.

He added: "Just trying to be another [version of] him on the field. I've got to be a part of him and what he's thinking and just try to go out there and execute."

One thing is certain: The Bills have made less use of Stefon Diggs in recent weeks. While they were often completely reliant upon him early in the season, Diggs' production has dipped in the second half (both with Dorsey and Brady calling plays). It will be interesting to see if Brady can get the team's star receiver more involved.

"He's an All-Pro for a reason," McDermott said Tuesday. "He draws a lot of attention number one, right? So as a number one receiver week to week, he's gonna draw a lot of the double teams. And he's gonna be at the top of the defensive coordinator's game plan in terms of who they need to try and shut down. … I know it's been a little bit maybe up and down, but it's not for lack of his trying or effort."

Diggs might just be the last piece of the puzzle. The running backs have been a welcome addition to the passing game. Allen's size has been a welcome addition to the running game. Splash in big games from Diggs — and, since we're being greedy — solid production from rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid, and you'll have a Bills offense that's fully operational.

The problem is that they're running out of time to get things right. Even just one loss — including one to the Cowboys on Sunday — could potentially knock Buffalo out of the playoff hunt. Brady's adjustments on offense need to keep trending upward, or the Bills might end up doing a full staff overhaul this offseason.

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 @henrycmckenna.