Ken Dorsey Begins Applying his Stamp on Buffalo Bills

The offensive coordinator's play-calling philosophy is much like his predecessor's: `Whatever it takes to win'

General manager Brandon Beane has spent a good portion of the offseason trying to build Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen's weapon base to create versatility and give him as much protection as possible.

New offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey's job is to sort of take it from here, make all the new pieces, including coaches, fit and help forge the team's 2022 identity.

As far as that goes, Dorsey's philosophy is not much different from that of his predecessor, Brian Daboll, who left to become head coach of the New York Giants and took offensive line coach Bobby Johnson and assistant quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney with him.

The Bills responded by rehiring their offensive line coach from the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Aaron Kromer, and brought in Joe Brady to take the quarterbacks coach job that was vacated when Dorsey was promoted. They also added Mike Shula as a senior offensive assistant.

• RELATED: Why the pressure is on for the Bills to win it all this season

All three have been offensive coordinators in the NFL and should be able to provide more than enough perspective for Dorsey, who's in charge of a pro offense for the first time.

We’re LIVE with OC Ken Dorsey before OTA practice at One Bills Drive.#GoBills | #BillsMafia https://t.co/2bX329uAZF

— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) May 31, 2022

"It kind of goes back to doing whatever we have to do to win," Dorsey said. You ... want to be able to maximize every tool in your tool belt. So when people ask, `like, what are the things you're working on this offseason?' Well, the view I take is, `OK, if you're focused on this one little thing here, you're forgetting about all these things over here.' So we're trying to focus on us as an offense right now and developing us as an offense right now, whether it's the run game, whether it's the pass game and continuing to grow like that.

"And I think having Coach Kromer here has been great in terms of the run game, but also pass blocking and play-actions and all the stuff that goes along with that."

• RELATED: Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer earning praise

One obvious goal for the Bills is to improve their yards after the catch (YAC). They ranked last in that statistic a year ago, despite being the third highest scoring team in the league.

How they go about trying to accomplish that will be most interesting.

Allen said last week that he has to do a better job delivering the football to receivers to give them more room to run. But it goes way beyond that. It has to do with play-calling, execution of blocking schemes, the ability of receivers to sometimes adjust their routes after the snap and the ability of Allen to recognize when they do.

Though Dorsey's general philsophy is the same as Daboll's, he will put enough of his stamp on the offense to call it his own.

For better or for worse, it will be different than the year before.

Dorsey also suggested he will lean on Allen, perhaps every bit as much as his more experienced assistants.

"we're both extremely competitive and both have kind of a similar philosophy in terms of we both want to do whatever it takes to help our team win, whatever role that is, whatever we have to do," Dorsey said. "And I think that's the thing I love about Josh is like he's got the mentality of ... he wants to do whatever he can for his team to be successful."

" ... I think I think you'd be crazy as a coordinator not to have the input of your quarterback or the guys on offense. Now ... there's going to be times where, you know, it's like, `well, no, Josh, we're going to do it this way, but here's why.' So  I think there's going to be a lot of that input back and forth with with me and him because he's got a great feel for the game and a great mind for the game."

Bills offseason schedule

OTAs

May 31-June 2

June 6-7

June 9-10

Mandatory minicamp

June 14-16

Training camp

TBA at St. John Fisher College and ADPRO Sports Training center

• RELATED: QB Josh Allen's leadership stronger than ever

• RELATED: Bills unveil revamped defensive line at OTAs

• RELATED: Von Miller's ridiculously low ranking by Pro Football Focus shouldn't be cause for alarm

BOOKMARK OUR SITE: For more Bills news and features, visit SI.com's Fan Nation regularly.

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.