The NFL is a copycat league, and the Bills are copying the cats.
In case it wasn't already clear that Buffalo has been trying to become the AFC version of Carolina — with coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane having arrived from the 2015 NFC-champion Panthers — the Bills' second offseason with first-round quarterback Josh Allen is the confirmation.
This became more evident than ever when Buffalo's offense, which is set to have six new starters around its second-year quarterback in 2019, was juxtaposed with Cam Newton and Carolina during joint practices last week leading up to the teams' Week 2 preseason game.
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In Carolina, Newton had to grow over four seasons before the Panthers got him the support he needed to emerge as league MVP. The result was a trip to Super Bowl 50. With the Bills' brass having that run fresh in mind, they are doing their best to accelerate Allen's development in a similar way.
At wide receiver, the Bills now have a savvy, speedy field-stretcher in John Brown and an inside/possession option in Cole Beasley. At running back, they have LeSean McCoy in a committee that includes the ageless Frank Gore and rookie Devin Singletary. At tight end, they have multiple athletic targets. They also have a rebuilt offensive line, where left tackle Dion Dawkins in the only starting holdover.
As was the case with Newton early in his career, the biggest concerns with Allen are decision-making and accuracy. Like Newton did, Allen has made up for his passing errors with fast, physical running. The 6-5, 237-pounder rushed for 631 yards and eight touchdowns in 12 games as a rookie. Over a full season, that projects to 841 yards and 11 TDs — right on par with the best of Newton's ground game.
So as Allen develops, the first big step is embracing the paradigm.
Check.
"He’s a big, mobile, strong-armed quarterback who puts the ball where he wants to," Allen said of Newton last week after the first of two Bills-Panthers joint practices. "So I'm not mad at the comparisons at all. He’s been playing this game at a high level for a long time now.
"How he processes the game, how we went from a mobile quarterback to a quarterback who runs when necessary — I’m obviously going through that transition, so there are lot of lessons from early in his career."
Rushing was a big part of Newton's production in 2015. But the runs were calculated; he picked his spots, and he often served as the Panthers' best goal-line option. Newton's calling card that season was in the air, where his adjusted yards per attempt of 8.3 remains his career high. Hence the Bills' effort to improve that number for Allen, who managed a dismal 5.4 adjusted yards per attempt as a rookie.
Newton achieved that MVP level of passing with big help from Ted Ginn, who at age 30 posted 10 TDs on only 44 catches because he averaged 16.8 yards per catch. The Bills hope Brown, 29, can be that receiver for Allen a year after posting 17 yards per catch with the Ravens. That would allow Buffalo to slide its promising-but-still-developing deep threat, Robert Foster, down to Carolina's old Philly Brown role when spreading the field.
Beasley was a reliable short target — both in terms of stature and routes — for the Cowboys. With the Bills, he is a smaller (5-8, 174 pounds) version of what the Panthers had in Jerricho Cotchery. What brought Beasley to Buffalo, however, is the fact that the team plans to use him as much more than a stereotypical slot receiver.
"Cole's a good route runner. He can run short routes, intermediate routes, deep routes," Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said. "Usually those small guys are put into a box and only have a certain skill set, but he's Instinctive, smart, can run a variety of routes for us."
With Brown and Beasley, Allen has two guys who can separate from defenders in different areas of the field. They are good complements to third-year receiver Zay Jones, who at 6-2, 200 pounds remains the red zone-friendly catch radius guy, a smaller-but-more-skilled receiver and finisher than Devin Funchess was for Newton.
The Bills also have greater overall speed with Brown being able to track down Allen's deep shots, just as he did for Joe Flacco last season. The quickness of Beasley and Jones will help Allen in key third-down and scoring opportunities. And like Newton had in 2015, Allen has versatility around him with Buffalo's situational approach to its receiving.
"We’re working out a bunch of different things. We had our identity, but we’re working different versions of that, to manipulate defenses into seeing good matchups for us," Bills fullback Patrick DiMarco said. “These guys can run. I might get some catches this year with everyone hauling back to go guard these guys."
DiMarco has been a good blocker for the Bills ever since he arrived a couple years ago, and he will have more chances to be used as a receiver. The Bills are also looking to be more versatile out of increased two-back sets.
Beyond Newton, Johnathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert were the Panthers' top rushers in 2015, and they were barely peppered into the passing game. With McCoy, Gore and Singletary, the Bills can play off their consistent downfield passing with varied running styles and capable outlet receivers.
What Buffalo does not have yet is its answer to prime Greg Olsen, who was huge for Carolina four years ago. The Bills' tight end options are not where they thought they would be with rookie Dawson Knox (hamstring) and former Bengal Tyler Krfot (broken foot) on the mend. But they still carry high hopes having seen Knox's chemistry with Allen in the early part of the offseason.
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So all the Panthers-like ingredients, including upgraded blocking, are in place for the Bills. After Allen operated Daboll's offense like an Easy Bake Oven last season with personnel limitations, Buffalo can let the QB cook with gas.
Allen has been given more autonomy to call/change plays at the line take advantage of the offense's increased versatility and multiplicity.
"Josh is a smart player. He has a good grasp of what we want to do," Daboll said. "If I give him a bad call or there’s a bad look on defense, he has the freedom to get out of those things."
Also, to match the new tempo at which the Bills are aiming to play, Allen has the controls of a sped-up offense regardless of how the plays are being called.
"You can have tempo just by huddling, too, but being urgent out of the huddle with the linemen getting up, with the receivers getting set," Daboll said. "There’s different forms of tempo as you go, whether it’s a two-minute tempo, whether it’s a rapid-speed tempo, whether it’s up to the line of scrimmage, kind of see what the defense is doing.
"There are variety of different ways you can mess around with tempo. We try to do as many as we can.”
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The Bills don't want to take away the signature assets that are Allen's arm and athleticism. But instead of reckless abandon, there are expectations for Allen to streamline his strengths.
The signs suggest the Bills' Panthers-like upgrades have Allen trending toward a Newton-like trajectory. With the growing confidence in the QB from the coaches and teammates, old and new, it's easy to see a more confident Allen.
"It’s been a blast, and Josh has done an exceptional job," Beasley said. "You never know how a young quarterback is going to be when you get there, but I’m really impressed with his leadership and his poise in the huddle."
The Bills will hope Allen can become what Newton was in 2015, because every team should have the loftiest of expectations for a first-round QB with so much talent. That kind of ceiling likely won't be reached in 2019, but the process starts by getting Allen to his highest floor.
The Panthers started seeing a more complete Newton in Year 3, and they got the MVP in Year 5. With that blueprint in front of them, the Bills have done their best to push Allen ahead of the curve. The rest is up to him.
