Bills hope to channel 2012 Ravens with move at offensive coordinator

Buffalo's playoff hopes are drifting following its error-filled performance in a 24-22 home loss to the Broncos on a Wil Lutz field goal as time expired. This explains why they fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey on Tuesday and promoted quarterbacks coach and former LSU passing game coordinator Joe Brady to the position.

Buffalo (5-5) began the season with Super Bowl aspirations but is on the outside looking in at the current playoff picture. Firing Dorsey, while the right move, might not result in the Bills partying like the Ravens in February 2013.

During the 2012 regular season, at 9-4, the Ravens fired offensive coordinator Cam Cameron following a 31-28 overtime loss to Washington on a walk-off field goal. The team promoted quarterbacks coach and former Colts head coach Jim Caldwell, and Baltimore went on to win the Super Bowl as the No. 4 seed, leaving everyone to wonder whether Joe Flacco was elite.

Is this Bills team capable of playing four mistake-free games in a row in the playoffs? No change at coordinator can fix that.

Buffalo averaged 7.1 yards per play against the Broncos, which is more than enough to win. The four turnovers, more due to poor execution than Dorsey's play calling, cost them the game.

Allen leads the league in interceptions (11), including two against Denver. Despite those errors, the team was still in a position to win on Monday night until a special teams penalty for too many men on the field allowed the Broncos to escape with a narrow victory.

Was that Dorsey's fault, too?

As Conor Orr wrote for Sports Illustrated in 2018, mid-season firings are generally a sign of panic and don't always work out for the best.

In the SI article, a retired NFL coach and coordinator told Orr, "With the pressure on these head coaches, it's a way to turn down the heat and make it appear that you're doing something... Sometimes I understand the temptation... But far more often than not, it's going to get worse." 

Buffalo's problems run deeper than at offensive coordinator. The rush defense has taken a step back after ranking fifth against the run in 2022. This year, it ranks 19th and allows 4.6 yards per attempt, 29th in the league.

The team is also dealing with a potentially combustible situation with wide receiver Stefon Diggs, whose brother, Cowboys defensive back Trevon Diggs, said he needed to "get up out of there" following the team's Monday night loss.

Earlier this offseason, Stefon Diggs' relationship with the organization became a topic of discussion after the wideout left a mandatory minicamp practice, prompting head coach Sean McDermott to say he was "very concerned." 

Against Denver, Diggs finished third on the team with 34 receiving yards and was only targeted five times.

At LSU, Brady put himself on the map as passing game coordinator to one of the best offenses in college football history. 

It certainly helped that Brady had elite talent including quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase to work with. Still, we've seen enough coaches squander talent to know Brady is at least competent at what he does. Whether he's able to rein in Allen and eliminate his turnovers might be his most difficult job yet, even tougher than trying to run a functional offense under Matt Rhule in Carolina.

Brady must also figure out how to re-establish the connection between Stefon Diggs and Allen before the situation reaches a point of no return. If he does all that, maybe he can teach special teams how to count to 11, too.

The Bills have much to figure out and may have just done Dorsey a huge favor. They let him off the ship before it sinks.