The Buffalo Bills’ 44-42 loss to the Los Angeles Rams will sting for a variety of reasons, one of which being the offense’s departure from what has made it such an imposing force this season. Normally, a complimentary attack with Josh Allen picking and choosing his spots and James Cook rushing the football, Cook had only six carries against L.A., while rookie Ray Davis, who had a 63-yard, one-touchdown game against the San Francisco 49ers the week before, did not have a carry. Davis is too outstanding to be excluded from offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s scheme.
“He should be getting touches,” Brady added, revealing what could be the single biggest flaw in the odd loss. “I believe his first carry was going to be play 31, which cannot happen. He’s too good of a running back not to receive any action. Some of this was due to the way the game was played early on; the ball may have been tossed around too much. I thought there were some good looks in the pass game, but we needed to stay two-dimensional and not rely solely on the ball in those circumstances.”
Granted, having a quarterback like Josh Allen can lead to a desire to throw the ball all over the yard, but Buffalo has been an offense that runs as well as passes, but the run game was non-existent against the Rams.
While Allen’s status as the primary “rusher” is nothing new, his 10 carries to Cook’s six is not a winning formula for the Bills in 2024.
At least Brady understands what went wrong against the Rams and can fix it before the playoffs begin. If the Bills are to make it to and win the Super Bowl, Allen cannot be Superman; he must rely on a strong run game. And this was highlighted in the loss to L.A.
Leave a Reply