Could you imagine the 1998 Buffalo Bills with Josh Allen as their quarterback?
A common refrain among Bills Mafia during the 2023 NFL season and continuing now is the sentiment that Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott should be replaced. By whom? Many don’t seem to care — with the idea that Josh Allen is a generational talent who creates an “easy button” for a head coach.
Wait a minute? I thought you said this thought exercise was to plug Josh Allen into underachieving teams and see what might have been in a different universe. Didn’t the ‘98 Bills make the playoffs? They sure did. In Wade Phillips’ first year taking over after the departure of The Legend Marv Levy, the team did indeed make the playoffs.
Exiting in the first round with a Wild Card loss to the Miami Dolphins, the Bills were likely capable of quite a bit more that season — and that’s before we insert a time-traveling Josh Allen into the mix. With a roster carrying a good complement of stars, an inconsistent team couldn’t find its ceiling when it needed it. Sound familiar? Then there’s no better place to start than 1998.
Coaches and Stats
As noted above, this was the first year in Orchard Park, NY for the highly respected defensive mind, Wade Phillips. Note that Philips is still in football as the head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas. In the NFL, Phillips led three different teams including the Bills to the postseason, but only recorded one victory in five games. Phillips’ coordinators with Buffalo were Joe Pendry on offense, Ted Cottrell on defense, and Turk Schonert as quarterbacks coach.
The Bills had an efficient offense that season, with the fourth-best scoring percentage per drive (39.2%), sixth-highest points per drive (2.02), and seventh-best turnover percentage (10.8%). Buffalo’s overall efficiency masked a volatile set of performances. Seven games saw Buffalo score 17 or fewer points and eight games with 30 or more.
On defense, things were a bit mediocre with the 16th “best” scoring percentage per drive, 18th in points per drive and 13th in turnover percentage. You may be thinking that Phillips tinkered with defensive scheme that season, but us older fans remember that Wade was Marv Levy’s defensive coordinator and was able to keep his 3-4 defense alive.
The ‘98 Bills were third in the AFC East at 10-6, entering the playoffs as the five seed (of six).
Supporting Cast
We’ll start with the defense in honor of Phillips’ defensive legacy. Defensive end Bruce Smith and nose tackle Ted Washington both made the Pro Bowl that year on the back of a strong season. Smith had ten sacks in 15 games, with two forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries. Washington had 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles of his own.
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