Broncos will be unpleasantly surprised by one dramatic change the Bills have implemented since their game last season
The Denver Broncos are in the playoffs for the first time since they won the Super Bowl back in 2015 against the Carolina Panthers. Man, how times have changed. What hasn't changed much over the last few years is how good the Buffalo Bills have been, with superstar quarterback Josh Allen leading the charge.But, the […]
The Denver Broncos are in the playoffs for the first time since they won the Super Bowl back in 2015 against the Carolina Panthers. Man, how times have changed. What hasn't changed much over the last few years is how good the Buffalo Bills have been, with superstar quarterback Josh Allen leading the charge.
But, the one blemish on his resume, outside of not winning an MVP, which he will likely do this year, is that he can't get to the Super Bowl. That's largely been because of the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, but the Broncos can add their name to that list with a win this weekend.
But, that's easier said than done. The Bills are one of the best teams in the league and a team that this version of the Broncos has yet to see. And, the Broncos have yet to see this version of the Bills. So, to get a better idea of what the Bills are in 2024, I chatted with A to Z Sports' Jon Helmkamp, who covers the Bills.
Broncos vs. Bills burning questions
The Buffalo Bills are maybe the best team in the NFL despite going through some roster changes this last offseason. A lot of people counted out Josh Allen and Co. What have you seen that’s so different about this team than past teams?
The biggest thing that has changed, especially on offense, is the lack of need to force-feed the ball to any one player. This season has been a giant experiment within the Bills offense, attempting to answer the question of “do you need to have a No. 1 wide receiver?” With Stefon Diggs departing, the only wide receiver left on the roster that had ever caught a pass from Allen was Khalil Shakir. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady has done a masterful job of keeping defenses guessing where the ball is going to go on any given play. That lack of predictability with Allen’s ability makes this offense very challenging to script for.
The Denver Broncos have one of the best red zone threats in all of football in Courtland Sutton, who is getting 45% of all targets in the red zone. What have you seen from the Bills secondary that makes you think they could slow him down?
Buffalo ended the season in the middle of the pack in red zone defense, with those numbers being dramatically inflated by their games against the Rams and the Lions, who each put 40+ points on the Bills. Typically, a Sean McDermott defense plays a “bend but don’t break” defense, with turnovers and red zone defense being staples of their success. The Bills have very talented, physical cornerbacks that will match up with Sutton, but there’s no denying that he’s a great threat.
It feels like this Bills run game is so much better than it was in the past. Is that something they are making it an effort to do every single game no matter who they are playing?
Under Joe Brady, we got a taste of his “run the damn ball” mentality last season in their game against the Dallas Cowboys, where the run game was working, so he just kept doing it all game long. In that 31-10 victory, Buffalo ran for a whopping 266 yards, with Allen only throwing it for 85. While that’s a bit of an anomaly of a game, Buffalo has been a running team over the last year and a half since Brady took over, something that casual fans might not be aware of. The Bills finished the season with the fifth-highest rush play percentage in the NFL at 47.9%. Some of that is Allen, some of it is James Cook, but the team loves to attack on the ground, while also being capable of exploding in the passing game. This is a well-balanced team that can, and does, attack their opponents in a variety of ways.
Who is one player that the casual NFL or Broncos fan may not know on the Bills that they need to watch for?
Cornerback Christian Benford is the least talked about superstar in the NFL. His recent Pro Bowl snub continues to show it. Benford, a former 6th-round pick, has emerged as the team’s best corner. PFF has him graded with the second-best coverage grade in the league at 82.8, while allowing the third-fewest yards per coverage snap allowed at 0.51. Benford has almost equal snaps this season on the left (466) as the right (410) side of the defense, has the second-lowest missed tackle rate amongst NFL corners, and he’s absolute nails in man coverage. The league is going to learn his name soon enough, and Sutton will see plenty of him on Sunday.
Buffalo Bills can look to one key trend that indicates they may be in store for success against the Denver Broncos
Buffalo has a big advantage.
