Was Ken Dorsey’s play calling really to blame for Bills’ loss to Bengals?

Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey caught a lot of heat after the team’s 10-point performance versus the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bills had 19 first downs, and Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs were held without a touchdown connection. Was Buffalo’s lack of production on offense a Dorsey problem, though? Let’s review some tape.

Isaiah McKenzie’s missed block

This play started off well with the offensive line getting a great push in the run game. A hole to the left side opened up for running back James Cook to run through. Receiver Isaiah McKenzie was supposed to block cornerback Mike Hilton (McKenzie completely whiffed on the block). McKenzie’s missed block resulted in Hilton getting in the backfield and making contact with Cook. This slowed down Cook and multiple Bengals rallied to the football to make the stop and negative gain.

James Cook can’t get an angle

The Bills ran Nyheim Hines in motion to the left and the Bengals’ front seven flowed right as they chased after him. Josh Allen then handed the ball off to Cook and he ran right with open space in front of him. The only defender who could make a play on Cook is safety Jessie Bates. As Cook ran, he tried to get the angle on Bates, who comes right in and makes the tackle before Cook can turn upfield.

Cameron Taylor-Britt recovers on Gabe Davis

The Bills did multiple things well here, but the Bengals made the play. Allen started off with good pass protection. Receiver Gabe Davis beat cornerback Cameron Taylor-Britt off the line, and then had space down the field — to which he ran open to attempt catching a great pass thrown his way by Allen. However, Britt-Taylor made an amazing play by recovering and catching back up to Davis to knock the ball out of his hands.

In summary

Dorsey deserves his fair share of the blame for the team’s offensive performance against the Bengals. However, Buffalo’s offense didn’t do a great job of helping out Dorsey. So, how much of what went wrong in the game do you think was due to Dorsey’s play calling as compared to players failing to execute the play?