SnogBlogy

The Athletic has live coverage of Jets vs Bills in NFL Week 11 action.

The Buffalo Bills have fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, the team announced Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Dorsey became the team’s offensive coordinator in 2022 after starting as the Bills’ quarterbacks coach in 2019.
• Quarterbacks coach Joe Brady will take over as interim offensive coordinator.
• Brady served as offensive coordinator with the Carolina Panthers from 2020-2021 and passing game coordinator at LSU in 2019.
• The Bills are sliding as they’re 5-5 and have lost three of their last four games. They lost to the Denver Broncos on Monday night.

Backstory

The Bills rank eighth in the NFL in scoring averaging 26.2 points per game. Buffalo ranks seventh in total offense averaging 370.1 yards per game.

Advertisement

Last season, the team ranked second in total offense (397.6) and points per game (28.4). Dorsey’s offense translated into team success as the Bills ranked second in the NFL and led the AFC with a +169 point differential while tallying a 13-3 record.

Dorsey’s firing is no knee-jerk reaction

Although a somewhat controversial firing given the way the Bills ultimately lost to the Broncos on Monday night, the build-up to Dorsey’s firing has been a slow burn since the beginning of the year, and really a continuation of the disjointed end to their 2022 season. Outside of the second half against the Raiders in Week 2 and their full-game effort against the Dolphins, problems have persisted over their other eight games.

Even with enhancements on the offensive line and to their pass-catching group, the Bills have been unable to finish drives consistently. The play-calling has been predictable and they’ve relied on go-to plays far too often. Outside of an opening drive, the play selection and sequencing has seemed more of someone coaching to save his job rather than one with a plan to set up a defense.

Coach Sean McDermott has been adamant that the Bills need a threat to run the ball with the backs, and Dorsey didn’t deliver that consistently enough. The offense lacked the true dynamic qualities that made them special, and when the team needed to rely on the offense more after several long-term injuries to their defense, there was no response. — Joe Buscaglia, Bills staff writer

Looking for a spark

With all of it feeling stale, and the season on the brink of the Bills failing to make the playoffs for the first time since 2018, McDermott made the only move to try and spark the team that he could. Although it wasn’t entirely Dorsey’s fault, and players making mental errors on the field were a piece of the puzzle, there wasn’t growth in the 28 games since Dorsey took over as offensive coordinator. It might have been an impossible task as a first-time play-caller getting ready to take over a top-tier offense in 2022 when the franchise was preseason betting Super Bowl favorites.

Advertisement

There were massive flaws on the personnel side in 2022, but after the Bills made it their sole focus of the 2023 offseason, the excuses drifted away. The only significant injury the Bills suffered to that side of the ball was tight end Dawson Knox, who was replaced by a superior option in rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid. And when it’s as good of an injury situation as they could get through 10 weeks, a lack of progress made the Dorsey firing seem quite possible. — Buscaglia

Tough schedule coming

With a gauntlet of games lined up over the next six weeks against the New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Chargers, the Bills knew this was the fork in the road of their season. After Dorsey ran out of excuses, so have the Bills for why they’d miss the playoffs. Though this far into the season, they ran the inherent risk of it being too late to make the move.

With both his offensive and defensive coordinators gone from the 2022 season, all attention now turns to McDermott, as he tries to plug the holes in the Bills’ quickly sinking ship. — Buscaglia

Required reading

(Photo: Joshua Bessex / Getty Images)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57lGlta3FmanxzfJFsZmppX2aBcLfEp2Sdp6Kosrp5xaKpnpxdl7atuNJmoaidXZe%2ForDYaA%3D%3D