How Bills OC Joe Brady Took Advantage of a Depleted Lions Defense
Josh Allen’s performance certainly stole the show in the Bills’ 48-42 win over the Lions. He finished with 362 passing yards, 68 rushing yards, 4 total touchdowns, and made some absolutely absurd throws off of scrambles.
But Bills Offensive Coordinator Joe Brady also had himself a day as a play-caller. He took advantage of the new faces on the Lions defense by throwing a ton of misdirection at them in the running game. And that was a great complement to Allen’s aerial assault.
One concept that Brady featured all afternoon was the “tackle long trap” mixed with different types of backfield action. Detroit had no answers for it.
On this first example, the Bills would run a QB Tackle-Long-Trap “Bash” to the right with a “bluff” from the fullback:
The “Bash” part stands for “Back Away,” meaning the running back goes away from the design of the run. Here, he would go to the left while the tackle pulled to the right on the long trap.
Allen’s read was the end man on the line of scrimmage (EMOL) to the left:
If he went with the back, Allen would keep it and run the trap to the right. If he crashed hard inside, Allen would give the ball to the back. As it turned out, the EMOL would play the back:
To the play-side, fullback Reggie Gilliam “bluffed” as if he was blocking before releasing to the flat. That ultimately took two defenders with him. Allen walked into the end zone untouched:
Take one more look from the end zone angle. The back and tight end went left, taking two defenders with them. Gilliam (#41) went right, taking two with him. The most dangerous player on the field then sauntered into the end zone with no defender anywhere near him:
No one was more surprised than left tackle Dion Dawkins (the puller). He had no one to block.
A key point to add here is that those two defenders who went with Gilliam were not regulars for the Lions. Zeke Turner (#47) started the season with the Texans and then the Lions elevated him from their practice squad in November. Ben Niemann (#51) has only played 13% of Detroit’s defensive snaps this season. This type of misdirection is hard enough to defend on it’s own. For players who either aren’t starter-caliber or haven’t been on the field much, it’s even more difficult.
Needless to say, the level of misdirection Brady deployed in this one was not an accident.
On Buffalo’s next drive, you can see the other way this play is designed to work. The Bills dressed it up a bit differently, motioning to a 2x2 and aligning in a slightly different formation, but this was the same play: