Bills in a hurry to learn no-huddle offense
The Buffalo Bills are doing their best this spring to make the no-huddle a viable part of their offensive arsenal this season.
The Bills have run the no-huddle exclusively the last two days of minicamp and much of the time the past several weeks of spring practice.
The jury is out on how much they will use it during the upcoming season. It's unlikely at this point it will be their main mode of operation.
Nevertheless, it requires such precise communication, the Bills have quarterback Trent Edwards running it a lot so that they can use it as an effective weapon.
"I think Trent has done a good job with it," said Alex Van Pelt, Bills quarterbacks coach. "It's an aspect we targeted that we want to improve on. How much we'll be in that situation, I don't know. But it's great practice, because it makes everyone communicate quickly."
The Bills believe the no-huddle plays to one of Edwards' strengths … his intelligence.
"We've given him a lot more leeway now to change plays at the line of scrimmage now that he's in his third year," Van Pelt said. "He did a great job of getting us out of bad passes and into good runs and vice versa."
"I like it a lot," Edwards said. "I like the system that we have in place right now, and it's a matter of whether or not we'll use it. I'm not exactly sure, but we have practiced it a lot, so we have that in our back pocket."
Edwards said he welcomes the increased demands it puts on the quarterback.
"As a quarterback, it puts a lot of pressure on you," he said. "It puts a lot of responsibility in terms of getting your offense in the right play and the right call. And that's enjoyable as a quarterback. You want the ball in your hands, and you want the ball in your hands late in the game when the game is on the line, and every play on this field is like that.
"We have a repertoire of plays in my back pocket that I can go to that I have the freedom to do that. It does come with a lot of responsibility, but it's a matter of getting the mistakes out here in practice and making sure we're all on the same page. It's nice that the coaches are doing that for me."
The Bills practiced the no-huddle a fair amount in training camp last year. Circumstances, starting with the holdout of tackle Jason Peters and including the injuries to both Josh Reed and Edwards, conspired to severely limit how much offensive coordinator Turk Schonert used the no-huddle last season. The Bills also weren't efficient enough in communicating it last year.
So they are drilling it. Even if they don't use it a lot, they're still practicing the same plays they would be drilling if they were huddling.
"We feel it's easy to huddle," Van Pelt said. "The hard part is getting it communicated at the line of scrimmage, getting everybody on the same page, with the crowd noise. It just makes it more difficult for us offensively to execute things we would normally run from a huddle. It's good practice for us."
The downside of the no-huddle is the offense hurries off the field more quickly if it does not move the ball. It generally puts more pressure on your defense, which is on the field for more plays. It's not the ideal offense to run when protecting a lead, unless your offensive talent is overwhelming. No team has run the no-huddle as its exclusive offense since the Jim Kelly-era Bills.
"If we can run some plays while they're not properly aligned, I feel like we can catch them at a bad spot and really take advantage of that," Edwards said. "That's kind of what Turk's looking for and that's something we need to do."
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments