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Weekend Look Ahead

5 things to watch for in Buffalo Bills at Seattle Seahawks | Week 8

Josh Allen (17), Tyler Kroft (81). Buffalo Bills vs Seattle Seahawks, November 8, 2020 at Bills Stadium.
  Photo by Bill Wippert
Josh Allen (17), Tyler Kroft (81). Buffalo Bills vs Seattle Seahawks, November 8, 2020 at Bills Stadium. Photo by Bill Wippert

🧱 1. Seattle adapting to new coaching regime

The Seahawks underwent a coaching staff overhaul in the offseason after Pete Carroll stepped down following a 14-year coaching tenure with the franchise.

Seattle went out and hired Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to be their head coach, then brought in Cowboys defensive line coach Aden Durde as the defensive coordinator and Washington Huskies offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to be the new OC.

At age 37, Macdonald is the youngest head coach in the NFL; the 72-year-old Carroll ranked as the oldest NFL coach in 2023.

Bills head coach Sean McDermott shared what has stood out to him about Macdonald's early influence in Seattle.

"I think coach Macdonald's done a great job," McDermott said. "Very impressed, he's done a great job with what seems like a new culture in his way, in doing things his way. I wasn't inside the building, but certainly knew and respected coach Carroll a ton in the way that he did things in terms of the culture he built."

Much like Macdonald's defenses he coached in Baltimore, Seattle has a knack for getting after the QB. The Seahawks pressure opponents on 40.4 pct of dropbacks in 2024, 4th-highest in the league, per NFL's Next Gen Stats.

That's something the Bills have been acutely aware of as they prepare for the matchup.

"They've got some guys that can flat-out rush the passer and I'm very impressed by the tape," McDermott said.

Bills safety and former Washington Huskies player Taylor Rapp faced Seattle quite a bit during his NFL career while playing for the Rams. Sunday will mark Rapp's 7th time facing the Seahawks.

Times have changed though, since Rapp last faced Seattle. In 2021, Rapp's last full season with the Rams, Seattle ranked 20th in passing rate (56.7%). This year, the Seahawks lead the league in passing rate (66.5%).

In studying film this week, Rapp shared that while his experience facing the Seahawks is beneficial, the change in offensive philosophy makes it a challenge to prepare for.

"They have a lot of similar players still there. More personnel wise pull from there, concept wise it is kind of tough to pull from my L.A. days," Rapp said.

⚠️ The Danger Zone

Keep your eye on how Josh Allen and Geno Smith attack defenses this week, as both Buffalo and Seattle boast a pair of talented perimeter cornerbacks.

Seattle CB Riq Woolen has allowed a 16.3 passer rating in coverage in 2024 (lowest among all CBs with 10+ targets, per Next Gen Stats). Woolen has missed the Seahawks last two games with an ankle injury but returned to practice earlier this week.

CB Devon Witherspoon, the 5th-overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has been among the league's top corners in man coverage. In 53 snaps playing man coverage this season, Witherspoon has allowed just three receptions for 12 yards.

Opponents have a 63.8 passer rating when targeting Woolen or Witherspoon in 2024 and a 97.1 passer rating when targeting all other Seahawks CBs.

The strong secondary play in the boundary could force the Bills to attack the middle of the field or throw more passes to their running backs, something which ESPN's Mina Kimes believes Buffalo is well-equipped to do.

Kimes shared on her podcast ‘The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny’, that the Bills can find success offensively running the ball and using that to set up play-action against the Seahawks defense which has given up an average of 186 rushing yards the last three weeks, second-most in the NFL during that span.

"The Bills are very capable of running play-action at a high level," Kimes said on her podcast.

On the other side, Buffalo's duo of Christian Benford and Rasul Douglas has been equally as impressive.

Benford has played the 3rd-most snaps (227) in coverage among all CBs in 2024, allowing just 0.5 yards/snap (lowest among 55 CBs with 150+ coverage snaps in 2024);

Douglas is 6th with 0.7 yds/snap allowed.

The tandem of Benford and Douglas on the outside has helped the Bills limit opponents to 5.9 yards per pass attempt (5th in the NFL).

Lockdown play on the outside could force Geno Smith to try and attack other areas of the field. Kimes thinks Seattle should shy away from a downfield passing attack and instead target Buffalo's linebacker group in the passing game.

"I do think that the tight ends, maybe a Tyler Lockett, maybe a Kenneth Walker III could actually give Seattle more advantageous matchups in the passing game," Kimes said.

💥 3. Opportunity for explosive plays?

After a come from behind victory last week against the Titans, the Bills want to focus on starting fast.

"Getting off to a fast start is our utmost important thing going forward," quarterback Josh Allen said. "It starts with having a good week of practice, then going out and executing the game plan. It feels like when we go back and watch the film…it's a lot of self-inflicted stuff…it's something we're looking to clean up."

The Bills are going up against a Seattle defense that's allowing 23.4 points per game (19th) and 346.1 total yards per game (21st). The Seahawks have two talented corners in Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen.

Even though they have a talented defense, ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky believes Allen and his offense will have the opportunity for some big plays on Sunday.

"I would be very aggressive throwing the ball down the field," Orlovsky said on One Bills Live of what he would do if he created the game plan. "I would live in a ton of play action. I don't think this front can get after Josh on a consistent basis nearly enough on those downs where they can minimize the big plays down field. I think it's a very aggressive starts for the Bills, if it was me."

The Seahawks have allowed the fifth most plays of at least 20 yards with 26. They're also allowing quarterbacks to complete 67% of their passes (22nd) and finish with a 94.8 passer rating (21st).

🎨 4. Geno's Renaissance

Seahawks QB Geno Smith enters Week 8 leading the NFL in pass yards (1,985) & pass YPG (283.6) so far this season and he'll be looking to add to that total against the Bills defense.

The Bills have yet to face Smith since he became Seattle's starting QB in 2022 but McDermott shared that he's noticed Smith's command of the offense.

"A ton of respect for his game and the way he's just developed over the years and the staying power that he's shown, it's very impressive," McDermott said. "Again, being out there the last few years, we haven't played them naturally yet over the last couple of years but very impressed by his level of play, by the way he has command of their offense, and they do what I would say is some high-level stuff on offense."

McDermott specifically praised Smith's tight-window touchdown pass to D.K. Metcalf at the end of the first half last week against the Falcons.

One favor the Bills could have working for them on Sunday is getting pressure on the quarterback. Smith has been the second-most sacked QB in the NFL (20 times).

PRACTICE PHOTOS

Scroll to see the best photos from Wednesday's practice as the Buffalo Bills prepare to face the Seattle Seahawks.

📊 5. Best turnover differential in the league

The Bills lead the NFL right now with a +10 turnover differential. This is thanks to an offense that's done an exceptional job of valuing the football and a defense that's been great at forcing turnovers.

Allen's 0 interceptions are the least in the NFL. In fact, Allen is the fifth quarterback in NFL history with at least 10 passing touchdowns and zero interceptions in the first seven games of a season.

Allen attributes this to better decision making and coaching.

"Understanding the game plan," Allen said of why he's played so clean. "Knowing where my answers are and utilizing my legs when I need to. But again, just better decision making I think that comes with the coaching with Joe (Brady) and RC (Ronald Curry) and the quarterback room we have. Just talking to those guys and relying on the information they're giving me.

"Just going out there with the mindset of trying to play smart and sound football and taking opportunities and shots when they're there."

QB1 said it's an area he takes a lot of pride in because he's been working on it for the past couple of seasons. Buffalo's defense has 12 takeaways so far this season – the seventh most in the league.

McDermott said taking care of the football and taking it away on defense and special teams have been a crucial component in their five wins.

"The job that Josh Allen has done on being smart with the ball, throwing the ball away when he needs to, sliding when he needs to as well," McDermott said. "Just, to me, his level of decision making has increased this season and been very important to our team, and the wins that we've had. And then the defense and special teams, working to get takeaways and feed the offense, it's been it's been good to see as well."

Seattle's quarterback Geno Smith has the third most interceptions in the league with six. Their defense has four interceptions (tied for 19th) and seven takeaways (tied for 17th) so far this season. Their turnover differential is -3 which ranks fifth worst.

Scroll to see the best photos from Thursday's practice as the Buffalo Bills prepare to face the Seattle Seahawks.

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