Henry McKenna
AFC East Reporter
If the Buffalo Bills are trying to prove they don’t need Stefon Diggs, they’re doing a good job. Since the promotion of interim offensive coordinator Joe Brady, the Bills have steadily cut their three-time Pro Bowl receiver out of the game plan and targeted him at a much lower clip.
Here’s the kicker: They’re winning with this strategy.
Brady has the offense playing at a higher level, coach Sean McDermott has the defense playing better and the Bills are likely going to make the playoffs.
Earlier this season, there were moments when things got a bit bleak. At 5-5, the Bills were fresh off losses to the Bengals and Broncos (back when they were the league’s whipping boy) and Buffalo was headed into the teeth of a brutal schedule to finish the year: at Eagles, at Chiefs, vs. Cowboys, at Dolphins).
There seemed like no shot the Bills would scrape together a winning streak.
But that’s what they’ve done. After winning five of their past six games, the Bills now have a 95% chance of making the postseason, per the New York Times simulator.
And somehow, Diggs, who is healthy (according to the injury report), has not been a central part of it. At least, his production hasn’t been. His coaches would contend his work “hasn’t necessarily showed up in the stat book.”
“Look, Stef’s been unbelievable. That C on his chest matters to him,” Brady said last week. “Stef Diggs does so much even when he doesn’t have the ball. Obviously, you want to get him as much touches and you want to get him every catch that you can. But there’s so many things that he’s opening up windows for Khalil Shakir, James Cook. [Diggs] is doing so much without the football.
“He hasn’t once blinked. He’s been great. All he cares about is winning football games, and I know he helps us win football games.”
That is, more or less, what his trainer, Myron Flowers, told FOX Sports at the outset of this season when Diggs reported…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/where-has-star-receiver-stefon-diggs-gone-from-bills-offense
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Publish date : 2024-01-02 16:43:53
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