The Buffalo Way Is Working Better Than Anyone Anticipated
Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
After a big win over Kansas City, there’s genuine hope among Buffalo Bills fans that maybe, just maybe, this might be their year. As the season has progressed it’s become crystal clear that the source of that hope falls squarely on the culture that Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott have built.
Since the two joined the Bills in 2017, they have reintroduced a winning atmosphere to Buffalo. Despite what most experts believed would be a rebuilding year for Josh Allen and company, we are seeing a Buffalo system that can plug players and coaches into the base structure of the team and find success. The Buffalo Way is strong and working better and faster than most expected.
This week, the Locked on Bills Podcast debated whether Josh Allen’s best team has been 2021 or 2024. We can save that debate for another day. What’s more interesting is the success of both squads despite the massive turnover from 2021.
Outside of McDermott himself, the only coach still around from the Bills 2021 team is running backs coach Kelly Skipper, who arrived in 2017 with Beane and McDermott. In 2021, Brian Daboll called the shots on offense; now he’s with the New York Giants and Joe Brady wears that hat in 2024.
Brady was a respected offensive coordinator, but he has just continued the system that the Bills have had in place. Of course, Brady has thrown his own wrinkles into the system, but the offense looks similar and continues getting high-end results. In 2021, Allen threw for 4,407 yards, 36 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions. This season, Allen is on pace for 3,930 yards and 27 touchdowns. The stats might be down slightly, but the winning games stay on pace.
The coordinators have changed, but more impressive has been the way they have plugged and played the players. The stars of the 2021 team included Allen, Dawson Knox, Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley, Gabriel Davis, Devin Singletary, Mario Addison, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Matt Milano, Harrison Phillips, and Tremaine Edmunds.
Knox, Allen, and Milano are still on the 2024 squad, but most of the key players are new faces. Heading into the season, the thought of replacing Diggs and Davis seemed like a daunting task, but Beane and McDermott’s continuity and system continue to bring in the right new players to plug and play. Keon Coleman has had a huge rookie season, Khalil Shakir is having a career year, and guys like Mack Hollins and Curtis Samuel have filled their roles well.
While 2021 was filled with star power, 2024 has been about bringing in system guys, especially on defense. Take someone like Taylor Rapp for example. He never lived up to expectations with the LA Rams after being a second-round pick in 2019. Before last season, he signed a one-year contract with the Bills to play strong safety. He impressed so much last year and fit the system so well that he signed a three-year extension to join the team.
Rapp is just one example of the type of players that McDermott, Beane, and the rest of the front office have found who might not be household names across the NFL, but were identified as a perfect fit for the Bills’ way of doing things.
In 2019, McDermott discussed how important continuity was for the team. “You look at the way that Pittsburgh, just the organization, has done things and how they’ve built it, from the continuity and consistency that they’ve had in their high-level positions and the way they’ve been able to build it at the player level,” McDermott said. “I think the tradition speaks for itself, it really does. Mike [Tomlin], working with [general manager] Kevin [Colbert], I think that’s, again, outside looking in, has been a good relationship.
“There have been tough times, there always is. The organizations I’ve been around have all been successful, and we’ve gone through some of those same times. But you weather the storm when you have good leadership and you’ve got consistency.”
Although the Bills might not have had continuity in terms of coordinators, they’re able to simulate it by keeping the three most important pieces of an organization in place: the GM, the head coach, and the quarterback. With how McDermott and Beane have run the team the last few years, everyone else falls right into place. It’s hard to imagine they aren’t going to get over the hump at some point and finally win the organization’s first Super Bowl.
Up Next