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

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 rightly) at the top of the list, followed by Shanahan acolytes like Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel.

What Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has done for Sam Darnold this season should elevate O’Connell to the highest level. But if you look at the offense he put on the field in 2023, O’Connell should already be on your list. list. Ben Johnson of the Detroit Lions has been turning down head coaching opportunities for a few years now because of the way he’s turned Detroit into the Motor City offensively.

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

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

Unfortunately, that opportunity lay with the woeful Carolina Panthers in the era of head coach Matt Rhule, who fired Brady in December 2021 — nearly two years after taking office — when Brady wouldn’t reach the predetermined number of runs Rhule wanted.

Ouch case.

Regardless, Brady’s next stop was as Josh Allen’s quarterbacks coach in 2022, and then the meteoric rise to his current status.

We couldn’t reveal much about Brady’s interim coaching job because it’s nearly impossible to overhaul an offense during the season with limited practice time. We wouldn’t know the extent of Brady’s effectiveness until next season. But when I spoke to Allen in May, he was already excited about the possibilities.

“I think the biggest thing he brings is strength 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 is in the facility all 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 make sure we’re on the same page. He brings a lot of different concepts to our offense, which is really fun for me.

“It’s not the same everyday stuff we’ve been doing for the past six years. They’re different things. My eyes need to be better, my footwork needs to be better, and ultimately the ball placement needs to be better. So it forces me to be a better quarterback and to learn different things, which is what I’m all about.”

Now that we’ve seen how aligned Allen and Brady are, the results should strike fear into the rest of the NFL.

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

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

When you have an epically gifted quarterback who is moving at a heretofore unseen pace, you’ll want to look at the trends and how Brady unlocks the best Josh Allen we’ve ever seen. Brady has proven to be a master of defensive moves in just about every way imaginable.

One of the best examples of Brady putting defenses in ties they really don’t want was Allen’s 27-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Keon Coleman against the Jaguars during 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 staff was signaling to run all the way. The Bills had six offensive linemen on the field, with Dawson Knox also 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 the Jags would likely be in man coverage here. Jacksonville defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen has scored the highest in the NFL this season, shooting an astounding 61.4% of the time. The Denver Broncos rank second in men’s coverage percentage 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 pick a side.

As ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky (who called the game) noted, Brady returned to that 6OL look again and again in the passing game, and the Jacksonville defense had no answers for that.

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 completely ridiculous from an efficiency perspective. Expect more things like this 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 earn the 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 from the same starting formation as Allen’s touchdown pass to Coleman the following week.

Before Hollins gestured to the same side as Coleman, there was one receiver on each side. Miami played Cover-3, and it makes you wonder if the Jaguars were thinking about this play when they were running in Brady’s 6OL battles against them.

Additionally, Allen’s ways of distributing the ball 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 all works so well. “I’ve actually been talking about the character of the guys in the room on this offense since I took the job here. That selfless mentality.”

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