Bills GM Brandon Beane and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll honored by PFWA
Brandon Beane put the thing together and Brian Daboll was instrumental in making it work.
On Thursday, the Buffalo Bills general manager along with the offensive coordinator received some well-deserved recognition for those accomplishments by the Pro Football Writers of America.
Beane, who assembled the team that will play Kansas City for the AFC title on Sunday night, was named Executive of the Year. Daboll, who helped transform quarterback Josh Allen from a raw rookie into an elite player within a span of three seasons, was named Assistant Coach of the Year.
The Bills are 15-3 with a roster that set a franchise record for points scored in the regular season (501).
Of course, Daboll had a lot to do with that. He helped increase the team's scoring average of 19.6 points per game in 2019 to 31.3 in 2020 -- the largest increase of any team this season.
The Bills qualified for the AFC playoffs in three of Beane's first four years as GM, including the club’s first AFC East title in 25 years in 2020 as the team posted a 13-3 record for the AFC’s No. 2 seed. Beane put together several trades that resulted in the club selecting Allen with the seventh overall selection and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds 16th overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.
During the 2020 offseason, he made a trade with Minnesota to acquire wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who earned PFWA All-NFL and All-AFC honors, and added several free agents to fortify Buffalo’s defense and special teams. The Bills put together win streaks of six, four and three games to win the division by three games.
Including the playoffs, they are riding an eight-game winning streak.
Daboll's work with Allen helped transform the quarterback into a bona fide MVP candidate. He became the first NFL quarterback with at least 4,500 passing yards, 35 TD passes and five rushing TDs in a season.
Meanwhile, Diggs flourished like never before in his new environment, setting franchise records with a league-leading 1,535 yards and 127 receptions on the way to PFWA All-NFL and All-AFC honors.
He and fellow wide receiver Cole Beasley were each named All-Pro selections by the Associated Press.
The Bills averaged 31.3 points per game, tops in the AFC and second only to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL.
What's more, the Bills became just the second team in NFL history to punt 41 times or less and score at least 60 touchdowns in the regular season.
