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Alaina Getzenberg, ESPN
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Bills have promoted interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady to the full-time offensive coordinator position, keeping a key component to the team’s turnaround in 2023 that led to a playoff push and the AFC East title.
The team announced the move Sunday, a week after the Bills’ season came to an end with a 27-24 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round. Brady was named interim offensive coordinator on Nov. 14 when Ken Dorsey was fired.
During the team’s locker room cleanouts Monday, quarterback Josh Allen endorsed Brady for the role.
“I would fully embrace it. I love Joe,” Allen said. “I love what he brings to this team, to our offense, the juice that he has, the passion he has for football. How much preparation he’s put into a tough situation these last seven to eight weeks. Yeah, I would fully embrace that. And obviously there’s stuff that needs to go on before that. I understand there’s probably an interview process and all that, but he’s got my vote.”
Brady, 34, became the third offensive coordinator that Allen, 27, has worked with as a professional in his six-year career. He was initially hired by the Bills to be quarterbacks coach in 2022 when Dorsey was hired as offensive coordinator. Those moves were made due to Brian Daboll leaving the coordinator position to become head coach of the New York Giants. Allen spent his first four NFL seasons with Daboll calling plays.
After Brady took over playcalling in Week 11, the Bills had the second-highest designed rush percentage in the NFL (46.5%) compared to 26th from Weeks 1-10 (35.5%). Allen’s rushing also increased, with 48 carries through the first 10 games and 83 in the nine games that followed.
In addition to the increases in the ground game, Allen’s interceptions per attempt went down from 3.1% to 2.3%, and corresponding with the running game, the time of possession average increased from 29:50 to 34:38. The offense showed improvements as Brady spent more time in the role.
The team went 7-2 during that stretch, including playoffs, with a six-game winning streak to end the regular season, a key to the Bills winning the AFC East and making the playoffs.
This is Brady’s second full-time job as an NFL offensive coordinator after serving in the role with the Carolina Panthers from 2020 until being fired during the 2021 season. Before that, he spent the 2019 season as the LSU passing game coordinator with quarterback Joe Burrow winning the Heisman Trophy that year and the team winning the national championship. Both Brady and coach Sean McDermott played football at William & Mary.
“I thought Joe did a really nice job coming in and building great communication, collaboration, a vibe with Josh,” McDermott said last week. “And then I think you saw the results of that through the course of, I believe it was six games, and so I thought he did a very nice job in that regard.”
Players throughout the locker room referenced the energy Brady brings as part of what stood out about him upon taking over, in addition to his communication.
With Brady taking over midseason, he did not have the opportunity to fully implement his system or make significant changes to the offense, time that this offseason presents.
“We ran the ball extremely well, stuck to that,” Allen said of the offense under Brady. “I think [we] got back to some simpler concepts. Did simple better with him. … I know if that’s the route that we went, there’d be a little bit of change in terms of systematically what we would be doing, which I’m hoping for, and having some good talks with him. And just seeing what could be, it does get me excited.”
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