Why was the Bills' offense so conservative?

The Bills' close 27-25 win over the Ravens Sunday vaulted the team into an AFC championship game showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs, but some felt Buffalo left some meat on the bone with their conservative offensive approach.

Overall, the Bills showed that the play calling focused more on running the football, as Buffalo hit it hard on the ground 36 times. Josh Allen had 22 pass attempts, as the game plan appeared to be to hand the ball off.

Bills Offense vs Ravens

1st half Success % - Rushing 65% , Passing 50%
2nd half Success % - Rushing 57.1%, Passing 46.7%

(Trumedia)
— Erik Turner Cover 1 (@ErikJTurner) January 21, 2025

When the Bills did pass the ball, Allen was targeting short and intermediate throws. He only completed three passes that were over 10 yards, with his longest pass being a 34-yard completion to Khalil Shakir early in the first half. The rest of Allen's throws were short passes or screen plays, as his average completion in the game was just 5.8 yards. For comparison, it was 10.5 yards against Denver last week and 7.7 yards in the 2024 regular season.

One issue with offensive coordinator Joe Brady's game calls seemed to a lack of getting the BIlls wide receivers involved. Keon Coleman and Amari Cooper combined for just two targets, with Coleman catching one for five yards.

There was plenty of running the football for Buffalo, with James Cook leading the way with 67 yards on 17 carries. Cook's backups Ray Davis and Ty Johnson had more success per carry, on just nine total carries between them they each averaged at least six yards a carry. 147 yards on the ground helped make the decision to repeatdly run the ball easier. That led to Buffalo winning the time of possession with over 31 minutes to Baltimore's over 28 minutes of offensive possession time.

Overall, the offensive lacked big plays and the ability to stretch the field against the Ravens

Sean McDermott also had some conservative moments involving situational decisions. The most significant decision came late in the game on whether to kick or go for it on fourth down at the two yard line with 3:29 to go and the Bills up by five.

McDermott took the points to go up by 8, but that provided the opportunity for the Ravens to tie the game. If it hadn't been for a Mark Andrews drop on the two-point conversion at the end, many in the media would be criticizing McDermott for playing it safe.

These conservative plays and moments made some wonder why Buffalo's game was such a safe one. The weather played a part, with snow and cold weather games being more favorable for the team that can run the ball. Buffalo's established running game made it easy to keep control of the clock but gave Baltimore chances to tie or win without aggressive play calling.

Their entire gameplan was to shorten the game, secure the ball and play low variance overall. They didn't want a shootout with that offense. At home, in the cold vs that opponent - it worked. https://t.co/GNmXDx9dBx
— Erik Turner Cover 1 (@ErikJTurner) January 21, 2025

Buffalo only went for it on fourth down once in the game, and the Bills converted on it. It will take more of those types of aggressive calls to help them upset the number-one seed Chiefs next week if Buffalo wants to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time in three decades.

Jan 19, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Ed Oliver (91). | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

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