One-Stat Recap: Buffalo Bills pick up the pace against Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Heading into their Week 8 game, the Buffalo Bills were coming off of three straight poor performances, with questions swirling around offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and quarterback Josh Allen’s performances in those games. They had a short week to right the ship before their home game on Thursday Night Football against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

To most people watching, the Bills looked very different right from the start. They moved the ball with pace and looked more like a cohesive unit than they had in a few weeks. One thing that shows the focus on tempo and pace was their use of no-huddle.

Using the nflfastR data set we can see that in the previous three games (Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants, New England Patriots) the Bills ran an average of 2.67 no-huddle plays in neutral game situations. Neutral game situations are when neither team has a win probability of 80% or more. In last Thursday’s win over Tampa Bay, Buffalo ran 10 no-huddle plays. While ten plays versus 2-3 may not seem like a lot, it may signal a change in the Bills’ plan of attack for the remainder of this season.