Bills OC Joe Brady has proven to be one of the NFL’s best play callers

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Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay … and Joe Brady?

When we talk about the NFL’s greatest offensive minds, the same names usually come up. San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is often (and justifiably) at the top of the list, and then Shanahan acolytes like Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel.

This season, what Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has done for Sam Darnold should elevate O’Connell to that top tier – though if you watch the offense he put on the field in 2023, O’Connell should have already been on your list. Ben Johnson of the Detroit Lions has been turning down head coaching opportunities for a couple years now because of how he’s turned Detroit into the Motor City in an offensive sense.

Then there’s Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who is in his first full season running Buffalo’s offense after being elevated from quarterbacks coach to that interim position last season following the firing of former OC Ken Dorsey on Nov. 14. Brady came to Buffalo on a circuitous route. He started his coaching career with linebackers at William & Mary in 2013, then was a graduate assistant at Penn State in 2015 and 2016, then became an offensive assistant in the NFL for the Saints in 2017 and 2018.

Brady stayed in Louisiana for his next job, which was as LSU’s offensive coordinator in 2019. This is where Brady’s name became a real thing, as he directed a Fighting Tigers offense that saw Joe Burrow throw 60 touchdown passes, and receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson presage their dominant NFL careers. LSU won the College Football Playoff National Championship over Clemson, and that allowed Brady to get his first NFL offensive coordinator opportunity.

Unfortunately, that opportunity was with the woebegone Carolina Panthers in the era of head coach Matt Rhule, who fired Brady in December, 2021 – nearly two years into the job – when Brady wouldn’t call the preordained number of run plays Rhule wanted.

Oy gevalt.

In any event, Brady’s next stop was as Josh Allen’s quarterbacks coach in 2022, and then the quick rise up to his current status.

We couldn’t tell much from Brady’s interim coaching job, because it’s nearly impossible to overhaul an offense in-season with limited practice time. We would only know the extent of Brady’s effectiveness in the new season. But when I spoke with Allen in May, he was already excited about the possibilities.

“I think the No. 1 thing he brings is juice and energy to our offense,” Allen told me in May, when I asked him how Brady had already made the offense different and better, and what he was looking forward to in 2024.

“Guys can feel how much he loves the game and how much he cares about it. We see how much work he puts into it — he’s in the facility all frickin’ day. And then, I’m actually so excited to make this his offense. I’m just an extension of what he’s trying to call, so I’m making sure we’re on the same page. He brings a lot of different concepts to our offense, which is a lot of fun for me.

“It’s not the same mundane things we’ve been doing for the last six years. It’s different stuff. My eyes have got to be better, my footwork has to be better, and ultimately, the ball placement has got to be better. So, it’s forcing me to be a better quarterback, and to learn different things, which I’m all about.”

Now that we’ve seen the extent to which Allen and Brady are on the same page, the results should terrify the rest of the NFL.

Brady is calling plays with some kind of pre-snap motion on 66% of Buffalo’s offensive snaps as opposed to 44% last season, and let’s just say that it’s about time someone realized that Josh Allen with pre-snap motion is a weapon that is further weaponized.

And against the blitz this season, Allen has been just as on point.

When you have an epically gifted quarterback who is dealing at a heretofore unseen rate, you want to look at the trends and how Brady is unlocking the best Josh Allen we’ve seen. Brady has proven to be a master of defensive displacement in just about every possible way.

One of the best examples of Brady putting defenses in binds they really don’t want was Allen’s 27-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Keon Coleman against the Jaguars in last Monday night’s beatdown. Buffalo had first-and-10 from the Jacksonville 24-yard line (obviously), the Bills were already up 13-3, and the personnel indicated run all the way. The Bills had six offensive linemen on the field, with tight end Dawson Knox also aligned in the formation.

But it wasn’t a run play. Coleman and fellow receiver Mack Hollins ran intermediate crossers against Jacksonville’s Cover-1, and they knew that the Jags would probably be in man coverage here. Jacksonville defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen has called man at the NFL’s highest rate this season – an astonishing 61.4% of the time. The Denver Broncos rank second in man coverage rate at 47.9%. Those extra bodies up front gave Allen the time he needed against a blitz in an eight-man stacked box, and all Allen had to do was to pick a side.

As ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky (who was calling the game) pointed out, Brady went back to that 6OL look over and over in the passing game, and Jacksonville’s defense had no answers for it.

In 2024, Allen has already completed three of four passes with six offensive linemen for 60 yards, 34 air yards, that touchdown, no interceptions, a passer rating of 156.3, and a Passing EPA of +3.42, which is utterly ridiculous from an efficiency perspective. You can expect more of that to come down the pike as the Bills continue their season.

Allen won the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Week award after the Jaguars game, but he wasn’t the first Bills player to capture that honor this season. Running back James Cook got it for Week 2 after Cook totaled 95 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns in the Bills’ 31-10 win over the Dolphins. Cook’s 49-yard rushing touchdown against Miami came out of the same base formation as did Allen’s touchdown pass to Coleman the week after.

Before Hollins motioned to the same side as Coleman, there was a single receiver on each side. Miami was playing Cover-3, and one wonders if the Jaguars were thinking of this play when they bit on the run in Brady’s 6OL looks against them.

On top of all that, the ways in which Allen is spreading the ball around create additional danger, and that’s part of the deal for Brady. Ten different players caught passes from Allen against Jacksonville, and Allen has thrown touchdown passes to six different targets.

“I think the character,” Brady said this week about why it’s all working so well. “I’ve been talking about the character of the men in the room on this offense basically since I’ve taken the job here. That selflessness mindset.”

That may be true, but the real story here is how Joe Brady has become one in a very small group – offensive masterminds whose playbooks have defenses on edge in every scheme, position group, and play call. It’s possible that the Bills shouldn’t get too used to Brady’s expertise before he becomes an NFL head coach in the near future.