We don’t know exactly what the Bills offense is going to look like under new head coach Doug Marrone and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, but we’ve gotten some ideas.
Quarterback Kevin Kolb has raved about the creativity of the two men and we’ve heard smatterings of talk about an offense reminiscent of the fast-paced K-Gun scheme that Jim Kelly operated when the Bills went to four straight Super Bowls in the 1990s. While talking to Bills fans this week, Marrone said that he was always going to look for ways to increase the team’s possessions to give them more chances to score points. He also said that the offense wasn’t going to keep the pedal to the metal all of the time.
“The thing I want to make sure everyone understands is we do have the ability to huddle and the ability to slow the game down if we wanted to. If we’re ahead on the scoreboard and we’re in a four-minute situation and you want to slow the game down, we have the ability to do that,” Marrone said, via the team’s website. “We practice both right now and that will continue in terms of tempo. I like playing fast. I think you have a great advantage with that.”
The problem for many teams that like to play fast is that they aren’t well-suited to a slower pace because of the makeup of their roster. With C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson running behind a good offensive line, the Bills should be able to move the ball whether or not they are huddling in between each play.
While that does make it easier for Marrone to shift things down when the circumstances call for it next season, the success of the Bills offense will have a lot to do with turning Kolb or E.J. Manuel into a strong quarterback after years of play from the position that has been unsafe at any speed.