What’s next for the Bills after sacking offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey?

The Buffalo Bills fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey on Tuesday, following their meltdown defeat to the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.

Dorsey, who took over as offensive coordinator in 2022 after being the Bills’ quarterbacks coach since 2019, but a regression since taking charge has seen his demise. Buffalo quarterbacks coach Joe Brady, who was the Carolina Panthers OC between 2020 and 2021, takes over in an interim capacity.

With the shock of that loss to Denver still fresh, this decision may seem a tad rash, but there is more to this decision than an initial reaction.

The Bills are sliding; they’re 5-5 and have lost three of their last four games. They may rank a respectable eighth in the NFL in scoring averaging 26.2 points per game this year, and seventh in total offense averaging 370.1 yards per game, but this represents a big decrease for a team who have had arguably the most explosive offense in the league in recent years.

Head coach Sean McDermott has made the only move to try and spark the team that he could. Although it wasn’t entirely Dorsey’s fault, players have been poor and injuries across the roster have altered progress, ultimately, there wasn’t growth in the 28 games since Dorsey took over as offensive coordinator from Brian Daboll, who under the Bills offense really ticked.

Joe Brady has a point to prove at this level, having been a successful coach in college with LSU. It’s probably not an ideal situation for him to come in, but I’m not sure when he was next going to get a chance. He himself has got seven games to save his NFL coaching career.

If he can get Buffalo back to having a dynamic offensive game plan, where they can effectively run the football, something which Dorsey could never really achieve, then he’ll have a good chance of stopping the rot.

Can the Bills recover?

The Bills do have an incredibly difficult remaining schedule; after they host the Jets next week, they face the Chiefs, Eagles and Cowboys in the next three.

But as long as they have Josh Allen, I’m unwilling to disregard them just yet. Despite their record, the Bills are a win away from leading the AFC East. If they can win their divisional matchups, and sneak a couple of other victories down the stretch, then suddenly the team has 10 wins, which absolutely could be enough for them to snatch a playoff berth. That final regular season game against the Miami Dolphins could prove to be their grand final this year.

If they don’t make it to the postseason, with all of the talent they have across the board, it will be an colossal organisational failure from the front office down right down to the players, which could ensue major changes to the team. They have seven games to figure it out, otherwise it could cost them their careers.

It’s obviously been an off year for the Bills, and something needed to give. Let’s see whether getting rid of Dorsey will pay off for the team in the short term.