Saturday’s wild-card games brought victories to the Bills and Rams, both of which are the teams to coordinators that the Chargers are expected to interview for their head coaching vacancy.
In the morning, Buffalo’s offensive coordinator Brian Daboll put together an offense that was able to overcome another candidate for Los Angeles’ job, Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
Eberflus’ led defense limited the Bills by keeping them off the field with long drives that ate up the clock and unfavorable field position right before the half, as they were up 10-7.
But it was then when Daboll made some adjustments to put Buffalo with a 14-10 lead going into halftime.
After running the ball a copious amount of times in the first half, Daboll resorted to the Bills’ top offensive threat, quarterback Josh Allen and his arm. Indianapolis had no answer for the passes to intermediate and deep parts of the field.
Daboll is one of the best play-callers in the NFL because he is quick to make adjustments and has a variety of options built in for different coverages.
Daboll is the current favorite because he has helped develop Buffalo QB Josh Allen into one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL and an MVP candidate in only Year 3 of his professional career.
Allen tallied 46 touchdowns this season and nearly 5,000 all purpose yards, setting franchise records for passing yards and touchdowns by a Bills quarterback in a single season.
The game right after featured Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley, who was the successor to legendary defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. Staley turned Los Angeles into one of the league’s best defenses and it carried over into the postseason.
We saw Brandon Staley’s defense use multiple fronts/alignments in the wild-card win over SEA.
Scheme the 1-on-1s for Donald — and use twists/stunts.
In the three games vs. Russell Wilson this season, L.A. produced 16 sacks. @NFLMatchup pic.twitter.com/fs1bBFCdE6
— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) January 10, 2021
Staley orchestrated a suffocating defense that forced the Seahawks to average only -0.31 expected points added (EPA) per play on the afternoon and hindered them from moving the ball until a late score in garbage time.
The Rams sacked Seattle QB Russell Wilson five times, limited him to only 11 competitions and picked him off once, and this was a defense that was without All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald for the majority of the second half.
Staley shows multiple looks and has various adjustments that cause problems on opposing offenses.
At only 38 years of age, Staley has quickly risen up the ranks. He should be high on the Chargers’ list, especially with the amount of talent that’s on defense and he is familiar with the offensive side on the ball having played quarterback in college.
Daboll and Staley are expected to interview with the Bolts later today.
