Bills Ex Coach Ken Dorsey Lands Interview with Browns

The Buffalo Bills turned their season around after firing Ken Dorsey.

As it turns out, the Buffalo Bills did not sacrifice former offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey to “the pit” ahead of their Divisional Round matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Instead, Dorsey spent his time interviewing for the vacant offensive coordinator gig for the Cleveland Browns, who exceeded expectations given the long list of injuries they suffered at the quarterback position, but with meat left on the bone, head coach Kevin Stefanski has looked to improve his coaching staff from the outside.

Dorsey was fired by head coach Sean McDermott after Week 10’s chaotic loss to the Denver Broncos. Since, Buffalo finished its regular season 6-1, won the AFC East, and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wild Card Round, 31-17.

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That doesn’t mean the Bills were right to fire Dorsey. They may have been legitimately wrong to do so.

The lone argument for Dorsey’s firing being the right choice for Buffalo is that it gave the team a sense of urgency that it hadn’t already had. Frankly, that’s anecdotal at best, and urgency doesn’t help limit fluky turnovers.

In firing Dorsey, the Bills promoted quarterbacks coach Joe Brady, who was recently interviewed to be the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons. He hasn’t done a bad job by any means, but this offense is worse than it was pre-firing.

In the first 10 weeks of the season, Buffalo ranked third in expected points added per play and first in success rate. No team was moving the ball more efficiently, and by all marks except for points and wins – it was an elite offense. Poorly timed turnovers had cost the Bills significantly, but given the nature of fumble luck and the fate of tipped passes, those plays aren’t necessarily emblematic of things to come.

They weren’t. Allen didn’t play mistake-free ball – Buffalo had 10 turnovers after Dorsey’s firing – but compared to the 18 through Week 10, it was certainly an improvement. As such, the offense looked better and the wins followed.

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However, the analytics tell a different story. The Bills ranked sixth in expected points added per play and ninth in success rate during Brady’s reign. That’s still great, but it’s clear the truest improvement Buffalo made was in the turnover department. Brady didn’t just call the “no interception” play; regression swung back in their favor.

The difference between the two coordinators may not make a difference when Buffalo plays host to Kansas City on Sunday, even with the margins so thin. But it wouldn’t be surprising to see Dorsey land an offensive coordinator job this offseason and thrive in it. He was already doing so in Western New York.