In two recent games, the Buffalo Bills struggled to stop the run en route to losses. Back in Week 11, the Indianapolis Colts put 41 points on the Bills, rushing for 264 yards and four touchdowns in the 41-15 victory. Then last week on Monday Night Football, the Bills lost to the New England Patriots on a night where rookie quarterback Mac Jones attempted just three passes as both teams struggled to handle the 50+ wind gusts. In that game, New England ran for 222 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown run from Damien Harris.
Their struggles stopping the run were on display early against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
LENNY. 47-yard TD run! #GoBucs
📺: #BUFvsTB on CBS
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/M3HD4LVkJB— NFL (@NFL) December 12, 2021
Leonard Fournette opens the scoring for Tampa Bay on this 47-yard run. The play is an outside run with a pin-and-pull element. The pullers on the play are the guards, left guard Ali Marpet and right guard Alex Cappa. They lead Fournette to the edge while center Ryan Jensen and right tackle Tristan Wirfs execute the “pin” aspects of the play, which are the down blocks to replace the pulling guards.
When Marpet and Cappa get to the edge, they are able to take on the two linebackers, Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano, who are trying to force the run back to the inside. Fournette cuts off their blocks to the inside where he picks up the fifth member of the offensive line, Donovan Smith. Smith has worked himself up to the third level, and he erases the safety, springing Fournette for the touchdown.
The Colts, the Patriots, and now perhaps the Buccaneers have shown an ability to run on Buffalo in recent weeks. Given that the Bills face the Patriots at least once more down the stretch, they will need to sort out these issues sooner rather than later.
For more on how the Patriots ran against the Bills, you can take in this video breakdown:
