ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Josh Allen sat on the bench and stared into oblivion, his eyes fixed somewhere outside the walls of Hard Rock Stadium and beyond the Everglades.
We’ve seen that vacant, thousand-yard, glazed-over gaze before. It happened two seasons ago, in the weeks leading up to Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott firing Ken Dorsey after a foul Week 10 defeat.
Allen and the Bills’ listless offense were sparked by the promotion of quarterbacks coach Joe Brady, but the mojo has evaporated again.
Time for another Week 11 change before our eyes cross at what we’ve been witnessing.
Brady needs help if not to be replaced, and Brian Daboll suddenly doesn’t have anything to do for the rest of the season.
On the same Sunday afternoon the Bills got bullied 30-13 by the ridiculous Miami Dolphins, Daboll met his Waterloo with another blown fourth-quarter, two-score lead. The New York Giants fired Daboll on Monday morning.
The Bills should welcome him home. Daboll, the former Bills offensive coordinator and St. Francis High grad, would make a fantastic senior adviser on McDermott’s staff.
McDermott on Monday disagreed, committing to Brady as Buffalo’s play caller for the rest of the season and telling reporters he has no plans to reunite with Daboll.
“At this point,” McDermott said, “that’s not under any type of consideration.”
McDermott is standing by Brady despite the Bills’ barf-tabulous performance against a defense established as wretched long before trading away one of its best players, linebacker Jaelan Phillips, at last week’s trade deadline. McDermott also shared part of the conversation he had Monday with Allen, saying the reigning MVP is “fully confident in our staff and Joe in particular.”
Brady and Allen went three-and-out on four of their six first-half possessions. On third downs, the Bills needed to gain an average of 6.7 yards to convert, with distances that included 12, 10, 16, 10 and 12 yards. They also turned over the ball on downs once. Against the third-worst run defense, the Bills gained 87 yards.
Allen threw an interception, lost a fumble, took three sacks and — largely thanks to so many third-and-longs — absorbed a season-high seven QB hits. A twisting collision in garbage time, when Mitch Trubisky probably should have been on the field, gave Allen a limp.
Running back James Cook lost a fumble at Miami’s 5-yard line. Wideouts continued to struggle overall despite a nice moment here or there. Top target Dalton Kincaid suffered a hamstring injury in the third quarter and didn’t return, while putting added stress on the entire operation.
“Joe’s a good coach,” McDermott said. “We got a really good offensive staff. They’ve had really good games. You’re going to have some games you want back, some play calls you want back. Those happen. It’s how you respond to them, and I’m fully confident in our offensive staff and Joe as our leader that we’ll make the adjustments we need to make and move us forward.”
Allen looked forlorn Sunday, not unlike he did through the first half of the 2023 season until McDermott switched from Dorsey to Brady.
“Well, he’s a heck of a competitor,” McDermott said of Allen’s demeanor. “He wants to win every play. Every day at practice, he’s competing in some way, shape or form. It’s important to him, and rightfully so. He puts a lot into it.
“It’s really about making sure he stays healthy. That’s important: mentally, physically, spiritually healthy. He’s our leader. We’re going to go as he goes, and getting him into a good spot every week is important. You see what happens when he’s in that spot. He’s really hard to beat, as he was a week ago.”
Daboll makes Allen happy. They were pals during Daboll’s four seasons here, Allen’s formative and highly successful years. They’ve regularly thrown bouquets at each other since Daboll left for the Giants and won NFL Coach of the Year his first season.
You want to make sure the lights keep flickering in Allen’s eyes? Reunite them.
Josh Allen’s formative years were under Brian Daboll’s direction.Jamie Germano / Imagn Images
Brady admitted Monday afternoon he wasn’t good enough against the Dolphins. Once the betting favorite to become LSU’s next head coach, Brady’s star has dimmed while Buffalo has dropped three of its past five games.
“At the end of the day, when we play like we played, I’ve got to be better,” Brady said. “I’m not going to point the fingers at anybody else. When we have that type of performance, it falls solely on me.
“If guys aren’t getting involved in ways they probably should, again, that’s strictly on me, and it’s something that as a staff we continue to look at and try to find ways.”
Buffalo doesn’t have a deep bench of play callers on staff. Ronald Curry, a University of North Carolina quarterback who switched to receiver with the Oakland Raiders, became an NFL quarterbacks coach four years ago and never has called plays in the pros or college.
Nobody else on Buffalo’s staff has put together a full game plan or called plays in the NFL for nearly a decade.
Tight ends coach Rob Boras was the Rams’ offensive coordinator for the last four games of 2015 and all of 2016 and UNLV’s play caller from 2001 to 2003. Offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has been a run-game coordinator most of his career, but hasn’t been a full coordinator since the Chicago Bears in 2013-14 — although head coach Marc Trestman called the plays. Receivers coach Adam Henry was Indiana University’s co-coordinator in 2022 and McNeese State’s offensive coordinator in 2006. Quality control and assistant receivers coach D.J. Mangas was University of Buffalo’s offensive coordinator in 2023 and William and Mary’s play caller in 2017-18.
Daboll to Dorsey to Brady felt like a natural progression. Although Dorsey possessed zero play calling experience, he was groomed for the role. The decorated college quarterback and NFL backup had been a quarterbacks coach for eight years with the Carolina Panthers and Bills, his last also as passing game coordinator, before succeeding Daboll.
And when the offense bogged down under Dorsey and the Bills staggered to a 5-5 record, Brady was the obvious replacement. Brady had been working closely with Allen as quarterbacks coach, was the passing game coordinator when LSU won the 2019 national championship and became the Panthers’ offensive coordinator in 2020, but Matt Rhule fired him a dozen games into 2021.
McDermott gave emphatic support for Brady on Monday, but he did the same a few weeks before firing Dorsey two seasons ago.
I’m not saying Brady’s job is in jeopardy, merely pointing out McDermott is not too proud to reverse course when he realizes it’s in the best interest of his club — and his franchise quarterback.
The Bills are 1.5 games behind the New England Patriots, who don’t have their bye until Week 14 and boast the NFL’s easiest remaining schedule with an aggregate .338 win percentage. The banged-up Bills’ remaining opponents are .500, tied for 13th-easiest, and they had their break last month.
Did you know Patriots quarterback Drake Maye overtook Allen in the MVP odds? Maye is second behind Matthew Stafford. Allen has fallen to fifth, one spot ahead of Sam Darnold.
As snow accumulates around Western New York and our daylight hours dwindle, we know time is running out to get Allen back on track.
Daboll’s schedule happens to be wide open.
