Young receivers helping Bills offensive production
After nine games of sheer futility on offense during which the Buffalo Bills scored a total of eight offensive touchdowns, they have escaped from the abyss the last two games and have scored eight touchdowns combined in their victories over the Jets and Jaguars.
“There’s things that obviously we’ve done better,” offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said.
In the next breath, though, he was quick to point out that his is an offense that has a long way to go, and 65 points the past two weeks doesn’t exactly mean the Bills are about to take off and challenge the likes of the Saints, Rams and Chiefs.
“You’ve got to do a good job each week,” Daboll said. “Each week is a new week of coming in here … I’ve got a lot of respect for the guys in the room that we work with and continually grinding it out, worrying about one week at a time, taking care of the opponent. Really, it comes down to execution between the white lines of throwing, catching, protecting, blocking, playing fast, doing the right things. One week has no bearing on the next.”
He’s right, of course, but there are some positive developments, starting with the contributions of two young receivers who have been given more opportunities, Isaiah McKenzie and Robert Foster.
Foster was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Alabama where Daboll was the offensive coordinator last year. He was active for the first six games but never played more than 29 snaps, and he caught only two passes for 30 yards, dropping more than his share. The Bills flip-flopped he and another undrafted rookie, Cam Phillips, from the practice squad to the active roster, but Phillips got hurt and Foster was called back up for the Jets game.
That day he caught a 47-yard pass from Matt Barkley on the first play of the game and finished with three catches for 105 yards, Buffalo’s first 100-yard receiving performance since mid-2017.
McKenzie was signed off the waiver wire after he’d been cut by the Broncos, who had made him a fifth-round pick in 2017, and he made his debut against the Jets. He was a multi-dimensional threat with 32 rushing yards on three jet sweeps, 14 yards on one reception, plus 75 yards on returns.
Against Jacksonville, Foster caught a 75-yard touchdown pass while McKenzie scored on a six-yard jet sweep.
Miami has struggled on defense this season, and there should be some opportunities for the Bills to attack down the field, and both Foster and McKenzie should be involved in the plan. On the other hand, Kelvin Benjamin may not. He played a season-low 40 percent of the snaps against Jacksonville and it seems clear the Bills are already looking ahead to 2019, when Benjamin is gone, to see what the young players can produce.
If the Bills are going to go into Miami and win, the run defense will have to be better than it was last week when the Jaguars ripped through the middle of the Bills front seven for 226 yards. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier pointed out that his unit was better in the second half, but there’s a caveat: Leonard Fournette got ejected in the third quarter for his role in a brawl, and the Jaguars had to throw more in the fourth quarter after they fell behind.
“After we were up 14-0, things turned a little bit in the run game,” Frazier said, referring to the two 74-yard touchdown drives Jacksonville put together in the second quarter. “But sometimes, it’s as simple as a mindset and an attitude change. (Sunday), it was a combination of the two, just making sure we got the right frame of mind, but also taking a look at what we were doing schematically to see if we could help ourselves in that way, as well. So, a combination of the two.”
SERIES HISTORY: 105th regular-season meeting. Dolphins lead series, 59-44-1. Buffalo swept both games in 2017 and 2015 and got swept in 2016. Last year, the Bills won the season finale on New Years Eve in Miami, and that victory, coupled with Baltimore’s loss to Cincinnati, qualified the Bills for the postseason, ending their 17-year drought.