Bills coach Sean McDermott said that there would be changes to the team after his team's Week 10 loss to the Broncos, 24-22, on "Monday Night Football."
It didn't take long for them to take effect.
The Bills on Tuesday fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, 42, in his second season as Buffalo's play-caller, a position he took over after Brian Daboll left to become the head coach of the Giants.
Dorsey previously had spent three seasons as the Bills' quarterbacks coach. It was believed that his relationship with Josh Allen would make him a suitable replacement for Daboll.
Instead, the Bills have endured a bumpy road on offense this season and saw inconsistent play from their star quarterback. That was enough to persuade McDermott to pivot to Joe Brady as the team's new play-caller.
IYER: Projecting Bills playoff chances after Week 10 loss to the Broncos
Here's what to know about Dorsey's firing and where the Bills will go from here.
Why did the Bills fire Ken Dorsey?
Sean McDermott addressed his decision to fire Dorsey during a media availability on Tuesday.
"Just felt like it was time for a change," he said. "We need to be a confident offensive football team and find consistent production, and that's really what it came down to."
Of course, there were more specific reasons that the team parted ways with Dorsey. Chief among them was the seeming regression of quarterback Josh Allen in his second season under Dorsey's tutelage.
While Allen has continued to be an explosive playmaker for the Bills — he is completing 70.3 percent of his passes with a league-high 19 touchdowns through the air — he has also had his share of issues with turnovers. Allen has thrown a league-worst 11 interceptions and simply doesn't appear to be reading the field as well as he has in previous seasons.
Take, for example, his throw to Deonte Harty in Buffalo's "Monday Night Football" loss to Denver. Allen stared down his receiver the whole way, and that allowed Fabian Moreau to intercept the pass easily.
Broncos intercept Josh Allen for the second time tonight
— NFL (@NFL) November 14, 2023
📺: #DENvsBUF on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/J3bHxYOoK2 pic.twitter.com/AXDlg7mUcA
In fairness to Dorsey, Allen has been known to take unnecessary chances downfield throughout his career. So, that tendency isn't new; the issue is more that Dorsey wasn't able to curb it in his season-and-a-half as Buffalo's offensive coordinator.
The loss to Denver didn't help Dorsey either. The offense was already under heavy scrutiny amid a 2-3 stretch during which it was averaging 20.2 points per game. The team lost outright to the Patriots (now 2-8) and nearly lost to the Giants (also 2-8) during that stretch. And even in the win over the Giants, the Bills mustered only 14 points as the offense couldn't figure out New York's defense.
Against the Broncos, the Bills posted just eight points in the first half and scored on just three of 11 possessions. They struggled to move the ball for the majority of the contest and continued to have issues with turnovers, committing four in the loss to bring their season total to 18; that is tied for the second-most in the NFL.
In a microcosm of what the game was for the Bills, James Cook fumbled on the first play from scrimmage after the opening kickoff. Buffalo had elected to receive the kick after a trying week for the offense during which Latavius Murray organized a players-only meeting to discuss the issues plaguing the team.
RIPPED AWAY ON THE FIRST PLAY.
— NFL (@NFL) November 14, 2023
📺: #DENvsBUF on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/J3bHxYOoK2 pic.twitter.com/7sNHJscUpo
So, with negative sentiments surrounding the offense — and recent film to back it up — the Bills were ready to move on from Dorsey. Now, they will hope that a midseason change to Joe Brady can spark them as they head toward one of their toughest schedule stretches of the season against the Jets, Eagles, Chiefs and Cowboys.
MORE: Breaking down Josh Allen's turnover woes and how they've impacted the Bills
Who is Joe Brady?
Brady is set to take over as the Bills' offensive coordinator after Dorsey's firing. He is in his second season as a member of Buffalo's organization and has served as the team's quarterbacks coach during that time.
That said, Brady, 34, has offensive coordinator experience at both the NFL and college levels. He spent time on Sean Payton's staff with the Saints from 2017-18 before becoming the offensive coordinator at LSU. There, he helped lead the Tigers to a national championship while Joe Burrow set FBS records for touchdowns and total yardage in a single season.
As encouraging as Brady's time was at LSU, his time as the Panthers offensive coordinator was less stellar. He joined Matt Rhule's staff for the 2020 season and spent a season-plus as the team's play-caller. Under his watch, the Panthers had middling-to-bad offensive rankings.
| Year | Total yardage rank | Scoring offense rank |
| 2020 | 21st | 24th |
| 2021 | 29th | 30th |
Of course, it should be noted that Brady was working primarily with Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold and Cam Newton at quarterback during those seasons. So, rushing to judgment on him would hardly be fair.
Still, Bills fans will be interested to see if Brady is closer to the coordinator who did little with the Panthers or the one who turned LSU into a juggernaut during just one season in Baton Rouge. If he can come close to the latter, he might have a chance to turn around the Bills' season and get them back into the playoff race.
But if the change proves futile? That will bring up questions about McDermott's future in Buffalo.
MORE: Sean McDermott blasts Bills for 'inexcusable' 12-men penalty, turnovers vs. Broncos
Will the Bills fire Sean McDermott?
There's no guarantee that the Bills will fire McDermott at the end of the season. However, it seems possible he might not be back if Buffalo fails to make the playoffs.
McDermott has been a solid coach for the Bills, posting 67-40 record (to date) during his time in Buffalo. He has led the team to winning seasons in five of his six full seasons to date and helped the Bills to win three consecutive AFC East titles.
That said, the Bills haven't yet won many meaningful postseason games under his leadership. They are of 4-5 under McDermott in five postseasons but have come up short of making it to the Super Bowl. In fact, they have made it to the AFC championship game only once in that span.
In the last two seasons, the Bills have suffered brutal losses to end the postseason. The first came during the 2022 playoffs against the Chiefs. Buffalo appeared to have a win in hand but ultimately blew a three-point lead despite giving Kansas City just 13 seconds to mount a game-tying field goal drive. The Chiefs were successful in doing so and would go on to win in overtime.
As painful as that loss was, the team's 27-10 loss to the Bengals in the 2023 NFL playoffs was humiliating. The Bills were favored to beat the Bengals at home but ultimately were blown out by Cincinnati. That marked a second consecutive divisional-round loss that saw the Bills fall short of their Super Bowl aspirations.
So, if McDermott can't right the Bills, who have the pieces needed to be competitive, then ownership might end up looking for a fresh face to come in and shake things up. Again, that's not guaranteed to happen; McDermott has a more-than-respectable record and may be given one more year to fix things.
But given Allen's performance and the money that Buffalo's ownership has invested in the quarterback, 27, they may look to find someone who can quickly turn that offense back into a juggernaut.
That could come at the expense of McDermott, and he knows it. That's part of why he is parting with Dorsey midseason as opposed to waiting to replace him after the season. McDermott is trying to save his job.
Soon enough, we'll see if his gamble works.
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