Consulting With The Coaches

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Bills OC Joe Brady on offense's 'selfless' mindset, HC Sean McDermott gives injury updates

Sep 24, 2024 at 07:32 PM

Alec White

Content Coordinator

News and notes from Tuesday's media availability with Buffalo's coaching staff:

Injury updates heading into Week 4

Outside of a groin/core injury to backup offensive lineman Tylan Grable, the Bills came out of Monday night's 47-10 victory with a clean bill of health elsewhere. Unfortunately for Grable, the team expects him to "more than likely be out for some time."

Additionally, Bills head coach Sean McDermott said while both CB Taron Johnson and LB Terrel Bernard are improving, they will miss Week 4's matchup against the Ravens.

"Both are improving and they'll do a little bit more this week, but they will not make it back for this game," McDermott said.

The Bills coach still remains confident that they won't have to place either player on the injured reserve.

"I think we're rather confident about their timeline, and it's going to probably bump up into that, you know, two and a half to four week area," McDermott added.

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Brady's Bunch

The Bills had 10 different players record a catch Monday night, marking just the 10th occurrence in a game in franchise history. Additionally, six players have now caught a touchdown from Josh Allen this season.

Buffalo's offensive coordinator Joe Brady pointed out what stood out to him from the performance.

"I think the character," Brady said. "I've been talking about the character of the men in the room on this offense basically since I've taken the job here. That selflessness mindset."

That high-character approach has been felt throughout the locker room this season, and specifically Monday with rookie WR Keon Coleman.

Coleman did not play a snap during the first quarter as part of a disciplinary measure by the coaching staff for an issue of not being on time. Sean McDermott said postgame that he was "very impressed with the way Keon handled" the situation.

So too was Brady, who commended Coleman's mindset to bounce back and run a great route in the second quarter to score his first NFL touchdown.

"I told him before the game. I said, 'Look, there's gonna be opportunities, right? … You're gonna get more than that quarter might not matter. You'll have three other quarters to be able to go play football. And he had the right mindset," Brady explained.

After scoring 34, 31 and 47 points, this year is the first time since 2011 the Bills have 3-straight 30-point games to open the season.

"It's just the guys that we have. And when you got Josh at quarterback, it makes life a lot easier, right? We've found different ways to win football games so far, and that's what I've been pleased about," Brady said.

Sizing up a Jackson & Henry led offense

Over the last four seasons, the Bills have faced the Titans three times and the Ravens twice, giving them plenty of exposure to two star players Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson.

Sunday night's contest against Baltimore will be an entirely new challenge with the offseason addition of Henry — the second leading rusher in 2023 — to the Ravens' backfield alongside dual-threat QB Lamar Jackson.

"It's an all day affair when you have the weapons that they have on offense," McDermott said.

One of the storylines coming into the 2024 NFL season was how the Ravens planned to mix and match the elusiveness of Jackson with the sheer force of Henry. While Baltimore is still working through a 1-2 start to the season, the early returns on their offensive attack is promising.

Through three weeks, the Ravens lead the league in yards per game (430.3), yards per play (6.6) and are second in rushing yards per game (203.3).

One thing the Bills will have to prepare for is Baltimore's running attack out of shotgun and pistol formations. Jackson ranks third in the league in yards gained on rushes out of shotgun and pistol with 222. Henry isn't far behind with 139 yards, good for seventh in the NFL.

"You got to account for a lot of things," Bills DC Bobby Babich said. "They really did a great job establishing the run this past weekend, but there's a lot you got to deal with, so you just have to come up with the best plan that you think can stop what they do or can at least limit what they do best. And that's what we're trying to do."

Henry earning more carries out of pistol/shotgun formations is a different facet to his game than what his workload was in Tennessee. According to TruMedia, Henry has just nine carries out of those formations in Weeks 1-3 last season.

Through his first three games as a Raven, Henry has 29 carries when Baltimore isn't under center. He's averaging 5.6 yards per carry on those attempts (10th in the NFL).

"He's been one of the faces of offensive NFL football for a long time, and got the utmost respect for him," Babich said. "And really their whole team, they do things the right way as an organization."