The Bills introduced their new offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett on Thursday and, as you’d expect, he faced a lot of questions about what kind of offense the team would run with him at the controls.
There’s been talk about ratcheting things up in Buffalo, including the occasional mention of the old K-Gun offense from the days of Jim Kelly, Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas. Hackett didn’t delve into any specifics about schemes, but he did reveal what he thought was the most important thing he needs to do in Buffalo.
“You have got to make the quarterback successful,” Hackett said, via the team’s website. “He’s such a critical part in all games. He touches the ball every single time in the run game and the pass game. Anything you can do to help him feel more comfortable back there, because when you’ve got 11 guys coming after him and the crowd is screaming at him. He has to feel so comfortable out there and he has to be willing to take on the world at that moment. I think that the more comfortable you can make the quarterback feel the better he’s going to be out there.”
With a good running game and offensive line in place, the Bills need to work on receivers to up the comfort level for whoever they wind up picking at quarterback but that choice figures to be the one that determines how successful. Hackett evaded questions about Ryan Fitzpatrick and Ryan Nassib, who will be in the draft after playing for Hackett and head coach Doug Marrone at Syracuse, by talking about the need to evaluate everything on the team.
You wouldn’t expect anything different publicly at this point, but even vague answers say much about the biggest offseason need for the Bills.