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If you gave Rex Ryan truth serum, he would tell you that his Buffalo Bills' offense on Sunday was a dream come true: 266 yards rushing, 11-of-12 passing, zero turnovers, and 30-plus points in a win against a division rival. It was the "ground and pound" offense run to perfection.
Offensive coordinator Greg Roman had a great day with his play calls, but it was one play in particular that the Bills really dominated the Miami Dolphins with: a simple outside zone running play out of the shotgun. Let's take a look at the play that earned big gains for both LeSean McCoy and Karlos Williams.
Here is the run play the Bills ran a million times yesterday (Shady + Karlos long TD runs) pic.twitter.com/7stPTijATg
— YardsPerPass.com (@YardsPerPass) November 9, 2015
As you can see, the key block is turning that end man on the line of scrimmage inside; if you can do that, plus generate some horizontal movement on defenders, it allows the running back to pick their hole and burst upfield.
Here is the play after it develops a bit. Great seal by Clay, Glenn collapses his guy and Wood gets the MLB pic.twitter.com/RsqAaFRqMO
— YardsPerPass.com (@YardsPerPass) November 9, 2015
Here is entire play... if you rewatch the game, you will see this play at least 10 times, maybe 15 pic.twitter.com/gU4cSifnRD
Here's the run play that the Bills kept running and the Dolphins couldn't stop pic.twitter.com/BC6NkuQ0es
— YardsPerPass.com (@YardsPerPass) November 10, 2015
There is the play from two different angles: Charles Clay, Richie Incognito, and Eric Wood all have great blocks. Watch the quickness with which McCoy sees his gap and explodes upfield.
Here is Shady's touchdown run from overhead and the end zone. Both times, notice the great blocks at the edge (Clay and Robert Woods), the defenders moving east-to-west, the quick cut from McCoy, and finally on this one, look at Cordy Glenn blocking the linebacker.
Shady for the TD from overhead, CB slips, FS whiffs on the tackle pic.twitter.com/5ymD77djJM
— YardsPerPass.com (@YardsPerPass) November 10, 2015
Here is the EZ view so you can see the blocks better. Clay, Woods, Miller, Wood, Glenn all w/ great blocks pic.twitter.com/ssym32FTaE
On Williams' touchdown run, you will notice it is slightly different personnel, but the jobs remain the same: seal the edge, pull the play-side guard, make defenders run east-west, and let the back pick his spot to explode upfield.
Karlos TD, seal, kick out, pull, Wood gets MLB, 6pts pic.twitter.com/v2asBmOmLr
— YardsPerPass.com (@YardsPerPass) November 10, 2015
The great part of Roman's running game is that it is very diverse for the defense to stop, but simple for the offense because the assignments are the same. It just looks different to the defense because the personnel changes. The Bills are very lucky to have two running backs that have that quick cutting ability and explosive burst to move upfield in a hurry.
Having the run game be so successful makes a quarterback's job tons easier. Isn't that right, Tyrod Taylor?
Tyrod.happy.gif pic.twitter.com/EihJBOuaOV
— YardsPerPass.com (@YardsPerPass) November 10, 2015
On to the New York Jets. Enjoy the game on Thursday night, everyone!