After last year I thought he needed time to develop. After week one this year against the Jets I wanted him fired. Over the next three weeks I saw growth. In fact, after last week’s game against the Dolphins I was convinced he’d become the OC we need to get to the next level. Last week he called an almost perfect game. Timely runs interspersed with quick UPFIELD passes which gave the receivers room to run after catch. He used Diggs, Davis and Kincaid well and got Murray and Cook involved in the passing game. His use of Murray and Harris in the run game was excellent. Things were looking up for Dorsey and the Bills offense. Then came yesterday.
First drive: run for 5, pass for 3 and drop pass by Cook and we are punting.
Second drive: Cook up the middle for loss of one, short pass to Knox for 5 and short pass to Kincaid for 5 and we punt on fourth and one.
Third drive: complete pass short right, 9 yd gain to Gabe Davis (1st ball thrown more than 5 yards downfield in game), Harris for 2 yards and we have our FIRST 1st down of the game on the last play of the quarter. First down-One yard pass to Knox, 6 yard run for Harris and incomplete short pass to Knox and we punt.
So let’s look at that quarter: ONE pass thrown more than five yards down field. Four runs up the middle, six short passes and one pass of 9 yards. One first down. Pitiful!!!
Second Quarter: Great start. 15 yards to Diggs and 9 yards to Davis. On second and one from their own 31 Dorsey calls a toss to Cook who gets blown up and loses six yards. On third and 6 it’s a short pass to Murray for 1 yard.
So far they’ve thrown the ball downfield three times, all for nice gains. the running attack isn’t working and the passes to the line of scrimmage gain little. What did we learn about this offense over the past two years? They play better in hurry-up than they do when Dorsey slows things down. We are the number 1 scoring offense in football over the past two years in the last two minutes of the half or game. When Josh goes hurry-up he gets into a groove and becomes the guy. Just look back at the Jets game. End of half he took team down the field for a FG at the end of the first half and a FG at the end of regulation. Both times he was in Hurry-up.
These facts were again born out yesterday. We scored three Touchdowns the entire game and ALL THREE were in hurry-up mode. End of half we go 86 yards which included a deep 18 yard pass to Harty, and a bunch of quick rhythm throws culminating in a 15 yard TD to Diggs. 86 yards on 11 plays four minutes, most of which was no-huddle.
What happened the rest of the game? Same stuff as first half (excluding no-huddle TD Drive). Same calls, same slow, deliberate offense UNTIL time was running out and Josh went hurry-up. Two touchdowns. 1st one in a nine play 75 yard drive that took up 3:41. In fact, the drive actually went 95 yards because we were twice flagged for ten yard penalties. Other than a stupid inside handoff to Cook which lost two yards, the drive was vintage Josh-playground ball. Get to the line fast, make a play, scramble and be Josh. Same thing happens next time we get the ball- four plays, 75 yards and a touchdown. We were back in the game. But for the third down and five completion to Calvin Ridley (guarded by safety Jordan Poyer which opens up another can of worms as to Elam’s ability to play CB in the NFL), I really think Josh would have pulled this game off and won it at the end.
It comes down to this for this offense: Let Josh play fast. Go no huddle. let him improvise. The slow, tedious “let’s get the running attack going” offense just doesn’t get the best out of Josh. Throw the ball down field. Yes Gabe Davis had a bad drop yesterday but he also mead some terrific catches. Four TDs for him in five games. Another 100 yard day. Throw the ball to Diggs upfield. Find a way to use Dalton Kincaid. For God’s sake the LIONS have found a way to get their rookie TE Sam LaPorta into their offense. The kid has 25 catches for 289 yards and three TDs. We traded up for this kid yet we use him like a 1960’s TE: short passes to just beyond the line of scrimmage. Not once has he been thrown the ball more than 10 yards downfield. He was supposed to be our Kelsey. Instead, he’s averaging 6.9 yards per catch.
This season comes down to Dorsey and his usage of Josh. With the devastating injuries to Milano, White and others on our defense we have to outscore teams. We can’t play games where we score three times and win. Our cornerbacks and linebackers are very weak right now. We need to score and to do so we need josh in hurry-up mode. He is one of the best QBs in the league in that type of offense. It was proven again yesterday. When will Dorsey (and just as importantly McDermott) learn this?