The Bills have their new offensive play caller. After reportedly interviewing a few outside candidates in the last several days, Buffalo came back to the man who has coached the team's quarterbacks for the last three seasons naming Ken Dorsey their new offensive coordinator.
Dorsey, who also served as the team's passing game coordinator since 2019, has been instrumental in Josh Allen's development in a Bills uniform. Coming off Allen's breakout 2020 season in which he finished second in league MVP voting, Dorsey capably assisted Allen in taking another step in his development.
Buffalo's franchise quarterback put up comparable production in 2021 to that of a season ago. Allen also demonstrated better control of his emotions allowing him to operate like a cold-blooded assassin in the playoffs.
Through the first two weeks of the postseason, Allen had a league-leading completion rate of 77.4 percent. He was tops in the league in passer rating (149), number one in touchdown percentage (14.5%), first in touchdown passes (9) and had no interceptions.
Allen clearly recognizes and respects the impact that Dorsey has had on his development as an NFL signal caller.
"I think when he got here three years ago, my career definitely changed in terms of how I viewed the game of football," said Allen of Dorsey. "Just having a guy in the quarterback room that played the game, was the winningest college quarterback of all time. He was 38-2. He'll never let me forget that. He says it all the time, but just the way he approaches the game. He's competitive. He's smart. He works his a** off. I appreciate what he's done for me over the course of my career so far."
In his first year with Allen, Dorsey helped the quarterback improve his passer rating by more than 17 points (17.4), the biggest improvement in the league in 2019.
Buffalo's offense each of the last two seasons has finished in the top three in scoring, top 10 in passing, top three in third down conversion rate and top five in total offense. It's widely anticipated that Dorsey will keep the vast majority of Buffalo's offensive scheme intact going forward.
Prior to a brief stint as Assistant Athletic Director at Florida International and offensive assistant at Appalachian State (2018), Dorsey served five seasons as quarterbacks coach with the Carolina Panthers (2013-17).
There he helped QB Cam Newton lift his game to league MVP and Offensive Player of the Year heights in 2015 as the Panthers won the NFC title.
Former Bills QB Derek Anderson (2018), who was a teammate of Dorsey's in Cleveland and played under him in Carolina when Dorsey was the Panthers' quarterbacks coach, is confident in how Dorsey will be able to push Buffalo's offense forward.
"He's very detail-oriented," said Anderson of Dorsey. "He understands the game at an elite level. He relates well with players in the room. He helped Cam (Newton) a ton. That's where I saw him grow as a coach. He came in Cam's third year and the way he ran our meetings and the way we learned in our room, that was cool for me to watch."
With Dorsey's promotion, Buffalo now has a vacancy at their quarterbacks coach position.
