For Bills' Josh Allen, Historic Performance Started With Unprecedented Protection
Look no further than the sack statistics and the rushing totals for the main reason behind the Buffalo Bills' five-game winning streak that on Saturday night was punctuated by a 47-17 romp over the New England Patriots.
Then look at the position group that has been most responsible.
The offensive line, revamped during the season with two new starters (right tackle Spencer Brown and left guard Ryan Bates) and a position switch from right tackle to right guard by Daryl Williams, is playing at a previously unseen level for quarterback Josh Allen and everyone else.
Allen, for the first time in his career, has played four games in a row without absorbing a sack. Before this streak, he had never gone two straight games without a sack, much less four.
On Saturday night, he achieved a personal-best passer rating of 157.6 as the Bills scored touchdowns on every possession in which he took a snap.
The running game, keyed by Devin Singletary and Allen, has become more efficient than ever this season during that span too, providing production that had been missing for large portions of the season until December.
"I think you're going to have to go through that adversity throughout the season," center Mitch Morse said. "I mean, you can go one of two ways. You can fold or kind of figure it out on the fly. We understand every week is different, it's nothing we're going to hang our hat on. We're very proud to keep Josh upright, because when we give him opportunities to make plays, he will make plays.
"So it comes down to communication. ... I think that plays a big role. Keep no secrets out there, and then when it comes to just one-on-ones, do the best you can with the techniques you're taught and go from there."
The adjustment period was more difficult for the line because of numerous COVID-19-related absences and a few injuries. That every member of the line except valuable backup guard Ike Boettger is healthy and at full strength now has everything to do with the 33.4 points they've averaged over the last five games and why they have twice in a period of four weeks became the only opponent New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick ever faced never to punt in a game.
"every week is different," Morse said. "Every game plan is different. ... In the playoffs, it's easy to say it's a one-week season, but I think we've kind of adopted that mindset the last half of the season, especially the last quarter of it. And when you don't look too far ahead and you learn from your mistakes from the past but you don't linger on them, you put yourself in a position to learn and keep getting better."
Added left tackle Dion Dawkins: "It is an extremely special unit, man. It sucks that the world can't feel what we feel, but it's a special unit."
The world doesn't need to share the feelings of the offensive line. Just being able to watch it function at such a high level now is more than good enough for all those who care.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
