Buffalo Bills offense makes history

NFL fans can feel it in their bones: This is the Buffalo Bills’ best chance to win the Super Bowl in more than 30 years. After beating the high-flying Detroit Lions in Michigan, the Bills should (famous last words) make a run for the playoffs.

This week, the Bills have a chance to make history against the New England Patriots. Anyone who watches game scores or watches the games — while perhaps shouting at the TV screen like I do — knows how dominant the offense has been.

It turns out the Bills offense was big to a historic degree. The Buffalo team, led by superstar quarterback Josh Allen, is just the fifth team to score 30 or more points in eight consecutive games in the same season.

This weekend, the Bills could become the first team in NFL history to score 30 or more points in nine consecutive games in the same season.

What makes the Bills unique among this group is who they score 30 or more points against. They’ve beaten three teams that are at least tied for the lead in their division at this point. Even more astonishing, they beat two teams – the Lions and the Kansas City Chiefs – who already have 12 wins this year.

Indeed, the quality of opponents the bills defeated means they have already made history. None of the other teams that scored 30 or more points in eight straight games faced two teams during their streaks that won at least 12 games that season.

The Bills’ dominance over two very good teams isn’t the only thing that made this streak different. This is how Buffalo scores all these points.

When you look at other teams with 30+ consecutive points as long as the Bills, some teams stand out, like the 2000 St. Louis Rams. This offense – aptly called “The Greatest Show on Turf” – threw the ball down the field with authority. The Rams averaged 10 yards per pass attempt during their streak.

The Bills are averaging 8.2 yards per pass attempt, which isn’t even tops in the NFL over the last eight games. It ranks last among teams that have scored 30-plus points in eight straight games and well below the 9.0 yards per pass attempt average of the other four teams on the list.

Even in their last four games, when the offense was really progressing, the Bills averaged 8.7 yards per pass attempt. It’s certainly very good, but it’s not the best in the league or even close to being historic to any degree.

If anything, the Bills are doing something really different in terms of mistakes: They rarely make them. You can see it in their best player. Allen makes his share of incredible passes, but this year’s Allen differs from other years in that he doesn’t make many mistakes.

Allen is rarely sacked. The Bills have allowed just five sacks in the eight straight games they’ve scored 30 or more points. That’s both the lowest in the league over the last eight games and the lowest of any team scoring 30 or more points in eight consecutive games in history.

The Bills only turned the ball over five times during the same stretch. That’s the second-lowest in the league and the first of any team to score 30-plus points in eight straight games.

When you don’t get behind the chains (i.e. go long distances to get first downs) and turn the ball over, good offenses will win football games.

Consider Buffalo’s two biggest wins against the Chiefs and Lions during their scoring streak. The Bills offense received the ball with about eight minutes left in both cases.

In the Chiefs game, the Bills fell behind about six minutes and scored a touchdown to go up two scores and win the game.

In the Lions game, Buffalo fell behind about six minutes and scored a field goal, forcing the Lions to score two touchdowns to come back. Once again, they won the match.

What I call “championship campaigns” are a big reason why the Bills remain the team to beat in the AFC, according to The New York Times playoff tracker.

If they can make more history against the Patriots this week, their chances will likely increase even further.

Favorite piece from last week

I mean, I could just highlight the entire game as a highlight, but I’m going to go with an underrated play that speaks to the Bills’ ability to score points reliably.

This three-yard shovel pass for a touchdown from Allen to Khalil Shakir illustrates Buffalo so well.

It’s not a big yardage play, but it’s worth six points. Allen’s number one target is Shakir, who has lost one pass all year – yes, one. No one with as many receptions as Shakir has dropped fewer passes. This is another example of error-free football.

An unhappy memory

One of the things that makes the Bills so enjoyable over the last few seasons is how bad they’ve been for much of the early 21st century. Had they lost to the Lions last weekend after leading by 21 points, it would have tied the franchise’s record for largest blown lead.

Two of those losses occurred in the early 2000s. The most recent of them was a 21-point lead in a January 2012 game against the Patriots. The Bills led by 21 after the first quarter and then gave up 49 unanswered points.

Buffalo started this season 3-0, 4-1 and 5-2. The team finished 6-10.

This year we hope the Bills beat the Patriots twice and will definitely go better than 6-10. Things are getting better!

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