What Phil Rauscher Would Bring to Bills as Offensive Line Coach

According to a report by ESPN's Courtney Cronin, the Buffalo Bills are expected to hire Minnesota Vikings offensive line coach Phil Rauscher for the same position in Buffalo.

Being able to get the 36-year-old Rauscher would represent a victory for the Bills because of his success implementing wide-zone blocking schemes that were first popularized by the Denver Broncos, who won back-to-back Super Bowls in the 1990s.

He is a disciple of Cleveland Browns offensive line coach Bill Callahan, the former head coach of the Raiders. As such, he should fit the vision of coach Sean McDermott and new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey just fine.

As we mentioned here at Bills Central following Bobby Johnson's decision to leave the Bills for the New York Giants, the Bills' next offensive line coach will be crucial in determining which direction this offense goes under emerging superstar quarterback Josh Allen.

RELATED: Bills desperately need to pick the right OL coach

Rauscher also believes in closing gaps quickly in pass protection rather than being locked into dangerous vertical sets that create more distance between the linemen and the pass rushers before initial contact, which sometimes allow the more athletic pass rushers to avoid contact altogether and wreck the quarterback.

Rauscher was elevated to offensive line coach of the Vikings last summer, following the refusal of Rick Dennison to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Dennison was not allowed to continue, per NFL rules, but was reassigned as a consultant who would be limited to virtual contact with the team.

"I've had great teachers, great coaches in Rico [Dennison] and Bill Callahan and Gary Kubiak," Rauscher said shortly after being promoted by the Vikings. "It's just been living the dream.

Rauscher described his system that day as "built around having the sameness and the likeness in the run game and the play-action game, and we do a really good job working together with the pass game guys to tie the two in together. So the system, although it's been used for many years, it's ever-evolving and always new.

"I mean, we live and die by the wide zone, I mean, that's what we love to do, and our back [Dalvin Cook] is very good at it. But it makes our protection scheme very easy in some sense because the runs and the passes are tied in together. So it makes it look like we're doing a whole bunch of stuff, but we're really not, but the defense — they see a bunch of different looks, a bunch of different things that all look the same but then there's a slight tweak here or there that makes it become an explosive play."

Check out this outstanding breakdown of the scheme by Derek Mountain written for Game Plan, a web page of the Northeastern University School of Journalism.

Rauscher would bring these concepts, which should help the Bills build on what they've already established.

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.