How Bills can improve offense with Gabe Davis and wide receivers they already have
Here's a deep dive on where it went wrong, and more importantly, what can be done to make things better as they move into the season.
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Gabe Davis, hugging Josh Allen during a game in 2022, is already making an impact on the field despite his limited practice time, teammates say.
Bryan M. Bennett / Getty Images
After their most impressive victory of the season in Week 9 over the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills had their worst loss of the year in a blowout defeat by the clearly rebuilding Miami Dolphins. It’s put a lot of attention on the Bills this week, even though they remain 6-3 and have a playoff position.
The Bills have a big test at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but to come away successful, they have to find some answers to what went wrong against the Dolphins.
After a study of the All-22 from the Miami loss, here’s a deep dive on where it went wrong on offense, and more importantly, what can be done to quickly improve things as they move into the season.
Josh made mistakes, but the film shows more of the same at WR … so, what can they do?
As it should have been, the Bills’ overall inability to move the ball through the air consistently when the game still mattered has been the most alarming piece of their unexpected loss in Miami. The film shows the situation wasn’t good. Josh Allen made a lot more mistakes than he usually does, and by his lofty standards, this was a bad game for him, as is reflected in his lowest grade of the season. There were throws and open targets missed during the contest. However, it wasn’t all on Allen, and his lack of pushing the ball down the field, even when a receiver was available, might have more to do with a lack of confidence built up through the first two months of the season and being unable to convert on those chances.If Allen isn’t trusting what’s happening down the field, that’s losing more than half of the battle to begin with. For the offensive environment to improve, the Bills have to make tangible changes if they want different results. So that’s why, rather than pointing out the same problems we’ve seen for weeks from the passing offense, this space is reserved for potential solutions with the cards they have.
Of course, the Bills were unable to do anything at the trade deadline, leaving much of the group unchanged. And without a new piece, the Bills are left to figure things out with whom they have in-house. And judging by the player they reportedly targeted — Miami’s Jaylen Waddle, according to NFL Network — the Bills badly want to reintroduce a vertical element to their passing attack.
To do that could call for isolating specific skills to help them achieve those goals and moving away from others on offense who don’t help. Personnel-based decisions, and having that verticality as their direct goal, could — and probably should — have a direct impact on whom they choose to play to try to create different results.
As much of a lightning rod for criticism as Keon Coleman is, the Bills are unlikely to move away from him on the game day lineup anytime soon, especially after he came down with a touchdown pass last week. It’s been a frustrating second season for him, but he is one of their best five receivers and a lock to have a game day role. He and Khalil Shakir are two non-negotiables for the time being.
The Bills are likely to get Joshua Palmer back soon, possibly this weekend against the Buccaneers, and he will surely help by providing a more downfield threat and separating against man coverage in the intermediate areas. But merely getting Palmer back shouldn’t be their lone point to try to enhance the offensive picture, and, in turn, to build that downfield trust again with Allen. After all, the passing offense went through some similar problems with Palmer playing a healthy number of snaps.
Based on the film, Elijah Moore should get more playing time.Jeff Romance / Imagn Images
The player I think deserves some more run, based on what the film shows, is Elijah Moore. He’s the smallest receiver on their roster, but as a route runner, separator and someone who can eat up space in a hurry because of his speed, he’s the fastest option. Moore runs his routes hard and gets in and out of his breaks quickly. You can see defenders giving him a bit more cushion because of those routes, too. His speed, even for a clearout route, can help more than Curtis Samuel, who has been used in that function quite a bit.
Samuel gave the Bills some good snaps near the end of the season, but that same player just has not been there in 2025 despite being fully healthy. Inconsistency has followed his Bills career, and it’s gotten even worse this season. Over his five active games, Samuel has run a total of 73 routes, according to TruMedia and Pro Football Focus. He’s been targeted only six times. For wide receivers in 2025 who have run at least 50 routes, Samuel’s 8.2 percent target rate ranks 138th out of 144 qualifying players. He’s run mostly empty-calorie routes this season and has drawn little attention from defenders. He doesn’t provide the same cushion or verticality as Moore. Plus, Samuel’s routes don’t have the same precision as others on the team. Samuel’s lone target against the Dolphins came on a scramble drill when he just stopped and stood where he was while Allen bought more time for someone to get open. Taking Samuel’s snaps and putting them in the hands of receivers who can better threaten a defense can help maximize Allen’s opportunities.
Like Samuel, Tyrell Shavers could be a candidate to be a healthy scratch on game days, too. Although Shavers plays a weighty special teams role, he has a similarly low target rate of 12.2 percent and ranks 114th out of 144, and the game day spot would be more effectively used on a receiver who can better challenge a defense. The Bills can figure things out on special teams with a defender who might need to take a few more snaps if Shavers is inactive. Although that is a slight cost to their special teams game, the most important thing for the Bills is to fix this passing offense, and 12-18 special teams snaps should not get in the way of that. The same goes for Samuel, who had been returning kickoffs. The Bills can more than get by with the duo of Ty Johnson and Ray Davis on those reps, with essentially similar results to what they had been getting with Samuel.
But as you can see, including Shakir, Coleman, Palmer and Moore, I’ve only brought up the idea of four receivers to try to improve the offensive environment. As the Bills generally have five active on game day, there is room for one other. And very soon, perhaps as soon as this weekend, it will be time for the Bills to turn back the clock.
Buzz for Gabe Davis is building in Orchard Park
As of late last week, the Bills had gone through almost two full weeks of practice with Gabe Davis, who is still somehow only 26 years old. Davis had to sit out the Friday practice before the Chiefs game because of inflammation of his knee, but that’s generally a lighter session. So, in his five other practices, how has he looked after almost a year-long layoff from football? And how close has he looked to the player he was during his first stint with the Bills?The Bills have some long-tenured defensive backs who have seen all of his Buffalo career, and The Athletic caught up with them about Davis on Friday, ahead of the Dolphins game. Each of them said many of the same things, most notably that Davis is already making an impact on the field despite his limited practice time.
“Once he got on the practice field that first day, he was making some insane catches. Like jumping up in the air, going to get it,” cornerback Tre’Davious White said. “He looked explosive. He looked fast. Catching great balls, great catch radius. He’s up there in the air getting the ball. He could definitely help us. He can help this team.”
“I feel like he’s close to the Gabe that you guys remember before he left,” defensive back Cam Lewis said. “He’s going out there and just being himself. The same player, the same Gabe that you remember, is what we’ve seen so far.”
Nickel corner Taron Johnson echoed those sentiments in practice as well, including that when Davis gets to play, he’s going to help the team tremendously. And again, this was all said before the Bills struggled to move the ball through the air in Miami.
“I feel like it’s a boost for our offense. … Just another attention grabber for defense,” Lewis said. “Who (defenses) need to pay attention to, keep a roof over. And when you do that, you expose a lot of other areas in your defense.”
“I mean, he’s got so much talent. But when you mix the talent with a guy that works extremely hard at what he does, the results are going to show,” White added. “I know what type of player he is. I played with him for three, four, five years, so I just know what he brings to the table. And then Josh trusts him, too. He knows the offense. They have a great relationship off the field, so that always helps.”
“I feel like that vertical threat is something that Gabe will help us a lot, too,” Lewis said. “I think he can help us in a lot of different ways. Whenever he gets that green light, I know he’s going to make a lot of plays for our football team.”
Trust from Allen and verticality — two things the Bills desperately need from their receivers group — are key reasons Davis could be up and active, possibly as soon as against the Buccaneers this weekend. Though coach Sean McDermott made a point of keeping expectations in check for Davis, it is worth noting he did the same for rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston. And in Hairston’s first game off a long-term injury, he was thrust into a significant role. When changes are needed, McDermott hasn’t been shy about mixing up personnel. With Davis, the Bills have a player they know fits what they like to do on offense.
Davis would be a seamless fit for the Bills, and it could enhance their receivers group’s overall versatility, which is something else the Bills should consider as they aim to improve the passing offense. What they lose in run blocking from Shavers’ potentially being inactive, Davis can assist there, too. Davis’ presence to take snaps at X receiver can help Coleman take some more snaps from the slot. Shakir, who has primarily played slot receiver, could move outside to Z receiver on some snaps. Palmer can give them reps at Z and at X while majoring at Z. And Moore showed well enough with his speed on the boundary to warrant time at either Z or X, despite his size, while being another option in the slot.
Even if they don’t mix and match roles, putting together the best five receivers who can make the Bills as vertically threatening as possible should be the overwhelming priority. And even though they don’t have a flashy new addition from the trade deadline to do it, the quintet of Davis, Shakir, Coleman, Palmer and Moore should be able to open things up a bit for Allen and offensive coordinator Joe Brady and instill more confidence within Allen in pushing the ball down the field. But if they choose to deploy the same personnel with the same offensive structure as in the first nine games, that would be a very curious choice. Once Davis is ready in their eyes, I’d expect him to be on the field for games and getting plenty of playing time to help get the passing offense out of their doldrums.
2025 Bills grades vs. Dolphins (Week 10)
Players with 15 or fewer snaps:
CB Ja’Marcus Ingram (11), S Jordan Hancock (10), RB Ray Davis (7), QB Mitchell Trubisky (3), LB Dorian Williams (3), CB Dane Jackson (3), DE Landon Jackson (2), IOL Alec Anderson (1), OL Ryan Van Demark (0), OL Sedrick Van Pran-Granger (0), LB Joe Andreessen (0), LB Baylon Spector (0), S Sam Franklin Jr. (0)
2025 Bills season grades through Week 10
*Minimum 135 snaps
How the standards work
When the All-22 film becomes available, we’ll go through and watch every player on every play as many times as necessary to assess letter grades. It is a subjective analysis, and it’s important to note we do not know the play calls and full responsibilities. The grades stem from technique, effort and presumed liability.
The study accounts only for players who take a snap on offense or defense. Players with fewer than 15 snaps — unless they significantly affect the game — will not factor into weekly rankings. The grades range from an A (a perfect 4.00 GPA) to an F (0.00 GPA). There is no such thing as an A+ in this grading system. Season-long grades will be tallied and documented, with a single game’s grade weighted based on how much the player was on the field in a given week.