The 2024 Buffalo Bills improved in a ton of areas and took massive steps towards reaching their goals despite entering the seasons with outside expectations labeling them more as a retooling team than a serious contender. A ton of the focus was on the steps that Josh Allen took, protecting the ball while making smarter choices on his way to winning his first MVP, but the improvements that the coaches made need to be discussed as well.
Sean McDermott, who has drawn a fair amount of criticism in the past for his decision making, was absolutely nails this year on his fourth down aggressiveness. Looking at how the Bills fared compared to the rest of the league, it's clearly an area that led to the success of the best teams in the NFL this season.
Ass Field Vision's Scott Bouska points out in the chart above, the four teams that finished the season with the four highest conversion percentages on fourth down in the NFL this season were the last four teams standing. Apparently, being able to convert on fourth down matters.
It's deeper than that, though. This isn't directly causal — you can't say "because they were good on fourth down, they were the final four teams standing," but what you can say is there appears to be a correlation. Why might that be?
It has more to do with philosophy than anything. Especially when you think about how the Bills operated this season, they were rarely playing with the mindset that they had to pick up a first down when it was third and short, knowing that if they were able to get it within half a yard to a yard, they had an ace up their sleeve in Josh Allen's ability on the quarterback sneak.
This knowledge, from the coaches down to the players, likely took some of the pressure off Allen to make the perfect play at all times, knowing that if they got it close, they were going to go for it.
Buffalo's new mindset in their attack, knowing that they can play to pick up a first down with four downs instead of three, is a major shift in their ability to stay patient. It worked at such a high level that it likely cemented itself as a part of the Buffalo identity going forward.
