Bills running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley knows a thing or two about being a role player in a running game. His biggest job in Buffalo will be to ensure that running backs Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller know -- and embrace -- their roles.
“At the end of the day we want to win,” Wheatley tells Chris Brown of the team’s official website. “We want the Lombardi trophy. If you’re a guy that’s happy with being a team player and a role player and you get rings instead of individual accolades then you’ll be happy with your role. . . . Do you want to rush for 2,000 yards and be home for the playoffs. Or do you want to rush for 500 yards and get a Super Bowl ring?”
With two highly-talented backs, Wheatley has plenty to work with.
“The options become limitless,” Wheatley said. “The more you can do the better for you. That’s my saying and these guys can do it all. They both have distinct skill sets, but they also present a different type of threat towards defenses.”
One option that apparently won’t be used extensively, if at all, is the presence of both players on the field at the same time.
“I would just say multiple,” Wheatley said when describing the running attack. “I know that’s kind of vague and it doesn’t really clear things up, but we’re a multiple set. We could do two-back, we could be one back. We could be single back, we could be shotgun. It’s a multiple set.”
The best news for the Bills is that, if one of the two backs is injured, the other can carry the load. And the one thing anyone who follows the NFL knows about the running back position is that running backs eventually will be injured.