The Buffalo Bills’ offense had one of their most productive games this season on Monday Night Football against the Seattle Seahawks and much of the credit has to go to Anthony Lynn. The first-year offensive coordinator rolled out a wide array of formations and personnel groupings against a stout defense.

It was obvious to every viewer that Lynn took advantage of Buffalo’s extra days of preparation to put together a diverse game plan. It is safe to say that they had success, as they racked up 425 total yards of offense against Seattle’s defense that ranked sixth in the NFL entering Monday night.

Going into the game, the Seahawks had the No. 1 defense on first downs according to Football Outsiders. The Bills offense is a top ten unit on first down also, ranking 9th overall. But, they are boom or bust. Heading into the Monday night matchup, only three teams lost more yards on first down than Buffalo, per Football Outsiders.

Lynn knew that early downs were going to be the key to this game and he needed his offensive unit to be successful early in order to convert on third down.

The offensive gameplan was to stay out of 3rd-and-long situations to keep the Seattle pass rushers at bay. But it was also critical because by gaining positive yardage on first down, it keeps Lynn’s playbook open on third and short-to-medium situations.

The game plan worked, Buffalo was 12-for-17 on third downs, but seven of those third downs were two yards or less. The Bills’ offense entered the game as the worst in the league in third-and-one situations.

Lynn designed easy ways to gain positive yardage on first down by adding wrinkles to the offense. Here is one example.

Situation:

Down- 1st

Distance- 10 yards

Yard line- Seattle’s 33

Personnel grouping- 21 personnel with Mike Gillislee and Reggie Bush as the running backs

Result- 14-yard reception by Bush

On first down from Seattle’s 33-yard line, Lynn sent out 21 personnel (two running backs, one tight end) with the two backs being Reggie Bush and Mike Gillislee.

The personnel grouping of Gillislee and Bush, is one that the Bills haven’t shown much this season but the key to it is Mike Gillislee. So far this season Gillislee has been effective on the ground averaging six yards-per-carry. He is a downhill runner and the Seahawks know that. Being first down, the defense is expecting run.

But the formation is a difficult one to defend. The Bills are able to run any of their base run plays from this formation.

Look at where Lynn has Bush aligned. Bush and Woods are wide to the field in a stacked alignment. This is a problem for the defense. The defense chose to match the 21 personnel, with their base defense. No big deal, as the ‘Hawks are great out of their base defense. But their alignment is what got them into trouble. The defense doesn’t adjust to the offensive alignment and they stay in a single-high look, failing to widen the force defender’s (S Kelcie Mccray) alignment.

Mccray has been filling in for Kam Chancellor and he is utilized in the same type of role. In this defensive system, the strong safety is often at, or near the line of scrimmage and are given gap responsibilities againt the run. This play is no different. If the Bills run the ball, Mccray will have to get downhill to stop the run.

Coach Lynn knows this so he attacks him with what is a called a run/pass option. Mccray is a defender that has both coverage and run game responsibilities on this play. So, Buffalo quarterback Tyrod Taylor was given a run play and when he got to the line of scrimmage, he evaluated the box and alignment of Mccray. Based on how many defenders are at or near the box, Taylor will either hand it off or throw the screen.

So based on Mccray’s alignment and eight men at or near the line of scrimmage, Taylor is taught to throw the screen.

The offensive line still run blocks and the backfield still executes as if they are running the ball. So the lineman fire out and pick up their assignments as tight end Charles Clay and Gillislee run the split flow zone track.

The run action displayed by the offense holds Mccray, as Taylor throws the screen to Bush. The Bills have the defense out-flanked.

The 14-yard gain by Bush wasn’t possible without a very nice block by wide receiver Robert Woods. Woods is one of the best blockers in the NFL from the wide receiver position but he had a big responsibility. Woods has to block one of the best tackling corners in the NFL, Deshawn Shead. According to Pro Football Focus, Shead is the 3rd most efficient tackler for cornerbacks (16.7 combined tackle efficiency).

Woods takes the corner’s legs out and the block springs Bush into the secondary and Buffalo into the red zone.

Here’s the play in full:

It’s a very simple play, but one that was designed with the purpose of getting easy yardage on first down. Lynn did a great job of utilizing every formation, personnel grouping and play concept in his arsenal versus an elite defense. The diversity in his game plan allowed the Bills’ offense to move up and down the field.

Buffalo’s play calls on early downs were high percentage, ball control style plays which led to the Bills dominating the game’s time of possession with 40 minutes, 17 seconds of worth of offense. They were able to gain 30 first downs and convert on 70.59% of their third downs, both of which were season-highs.

Buffalo now heads into the bye week and it’s likely that Lynn will self-scout his offense to possibly inject even more wrinkles like this in order to get the ball into the hands of his playmakers even more.

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