QB Josh Allen praises Bills' revamped offensive approach after Week 1 win

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was complimentary of the team's 'everyone eats' offensive philosophy after their Week 1 win.

Kyle Silagyi | Sep 9, 2024

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The Buffalo Bills’ offense underwent significant schematic and personnel changes in the 2024 offseason, with the hiring of interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady as the full-time play-caller serving as the first of several notable alterations that ultimately included the departures of both perennial Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs and key complementary weapon Gabriel Davis.

The departures ultimately prompted Buffalo to pursue aerial production through egalitarian means, a Brady-dubbed ‘everyone eats’ approach that would ask quarterback Josh Allen to spread the ball out amongst a myriad of versatile receivers as opposed to funneling the offense through one or two targets. The Bills constructed their weapons corps of talented young players and overlooked veterans from other organizations, hoping that their approach would allow their offense—which has been one of the league’s best over the past several seasons—to continue humming.

And though we’re only through one game, the early signs are promising. Buffalo’s offense looked generally solid in the team’s Week 1 win over the Arizona Cardinals, scoring four touchdowns as it picked up 352 yards on 58 plays. Allen spread the rock out relatively evenly amongst his targets on his 23 passing attempts, targeting rookie Keon Coleman five times, Khalil Shakir and James Cook three times, Mack Hollins, Dawson Knox, Marquez Vales-Scantling, Curtis Samuel, and Dalton Kincaid twice, and both Ray Davis and Ty Johnson once. Ten different weapons were targeted and nine caught passes, showing that there may be something to the team’s ‘everyone eats’ philosophy.

Allen spoke about the team’s democratic approach after its 34-28 win, telling reporters that he was pleased with the initial results.

“It’s great,” Allen said. “Everybody’s going to find a way to get their touches. Again, I don’t know what the stats were and who caught how many and how many completions I had. It felt like every time I looked up, it was somebody new finding a way to get open and catch the ball. I thought Joe did a great job of calling the game. Obviously want to get some guys more touches to get them going, but it’s hard to argue with the results that we’ve got right now.”

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Two different receivers (Shakir and Hollins) caught touchdown passes in the game, with Allen picking up another two scores on the ground. Though Shakir and Hollins found paydirt, neither finished the contest as Buffalo’s leading target, as Coleman led the team in targets (five), receptions (four), and receiving yards (51).

Target leaders and touchdown scorers are ultimately futile in comparison to the general performance of the offense, however, which is exactly what the ‘everyone eats’ approach stresses. The continued success and movement of the offense take precedence over individual statistics; it seems as though the team’s offensive players have subscribed to this philosophy, and thus far, the returns are encouraging.

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