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In fits and bursts this season, there have been players that the Buffalo Bills have made a concerted effort to involve in the passing game - besides, of course, top wideout Sammy Watkins.
For a time, Fred Jackson was the most frequently-targeted player on the team on a per-snap basis. Then for a few weeks, slot receiver Chris Hogan was the new guy du jour, and remains one of Kyle Orton's primary targets through the air. Over the last two weeks, running back Bryce Brown has become the player the Bills are throwing to more often.
It has worked well. Aided by a couple of designed shovel passes, Brown was targeted seven times in Sunday's loss to Kansas City, hauling in six of those targets for 65 yards. In a very limited sample size over the last two games, Brown has been targeted on nearly one-quarter of his snaps. That rate is not sustainable, but it's highly unlikely that he'll disappear entirely from the Bills' passing offense designs, particularly after his productive day.
Here is the list of the Bills' passing targets so far in 2014, sorted by how frequently Buffalo's passers throw to them when they're on the field. Watkins is the undisputed No. 1 receiver on the team, but this list gives us some obvious clues as to how the Bills are structuring their attack behind him.
Pos. | Player | Snaps | Tar | %Snap | %Tar | Stats |
RB | Bryce Brown | 41 | 10 | 24.4% | 3.2% | 6 rec, 65 yds |
RB | Fred Jackson | 276 | 47 | 17.0% | 14.8% | 37 rec, 300 yds, 1 TD |
WR | Sammy Watkins | 573 | 77 | 13.4% | 24.3% | 42 rec, 617 yds, 5 TD |
WR | Chris Hogan | 170 | 22 | 12.9% | 6.9% | 18 rec, 233 yds, 2 TD |
WR | Robert Woods | 503 | 59 | 11.7% | 18.6% | 34 rec, 346 yds, 2 TD |
WR | Marquise Goodwin | 66 | 6 | 10.5% | 1.9% | 1 rec, 42 yds |
RB | C.J. Spiller | 157 | 16 | 10.2% | 5.0% | 14 rec, 109 yds, 1 TD |
TE | Scott Chandler | 409 | 41 | 10.0% | 12.9% | 26 rec, 307 yds, 1 TD |
WR | Mike Williams | 184 | 18 | 9.8% | 5.7% | 8 rec, 142 yds, 1 TD |
FB | Frank Summers | 127 | 8 | 6.3% | 2.5% | 5 rec, 9 yds |
TE | Chris Gragg | 167 | 6 | 3.6% | 1.9% | 4 rec, 35 yds, 1 TD |
RB | Anthony Dixon | 126 | 4 | 3.2% | 1.3% | 3 rec, 15 yds |
TE | Lee Smith | 152 | 3 | 2.0% | 0.9% | 2 rec, 5 yds, 1 TD |