ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — Since 2019, Ken Dorsey has been leading the Bills quarterback room and helping to grow Josh Allen into the player he is today. This season, Dorsey will step out of that quarterback room and into a new role as the team's offensive coordinator.
"I love coaching football, I love the game planning, coaching guys and being out on the field, and putting a plan together and all that stuff," Dorsey said. "So I love what I do and I feel like this has been a great blessing for me to be able to be here and have this opportunity to lead the offense."
This is Dorsey's first offensive coordinator job in the NFL, but his transition will be a little smoother after spending a few seasons watching this team practice and play day in and day out. For the players, that continuity is huge.
"It just makes our life a little easier. We have a similar offense, we're tweaking some things here and there, but it's nothing too crazy of a change," wide receiver Gabriel Davis said. "He played the quarterback position. He's been back there. He's been through the fire. He's been on great teams with great people. He understands what people want and what us players want and that's a lot of fun to have a guy like that back there."
"Coach Ken still has that dog mentality, but it's been smooth," running back Devin Singletary added. "We know him already so that makes it easier."
While the familiarity is there, Dorsey is a different coach than his predecessor Brian Daboll. Does he know what this offense does and doesn't do well? Yes. But he also is a coach and wants to explore the options he has in front of him, now that he's in charge of more than just one unit.
"Whenever you come in you always have your spin on things. Are there going to be some different things? Probably. Are there going to be a lot of things that are the same? Probably," Dorsey said. "What I think the most successful coaches do, they have that vision, but they do a little adjusting and do some different things as the season unfolds."
"He's done a great job of merging what we've done before and what his vision is, and right now we're trying to marry those two," center Mitch Morse added. "It's kind of a fun thing to do."
Dorsey takes over an offense that has been one of the league's most efficient passing units over the last few years. On the other side of the coin, the team's run game hasn't gotten into that much of a rhythm. The Bills front office did their due diligence this offseason by adding more weapons at the running back and tight end position, and while fans are used to seeing that pass-heavy mentality, Dorsey isn't committing to any one thing and is instead, focused on the bigger picture.
"The philosophy comes down to what do we have to do to win the game? Whether it's run, whether it's pass, whether it's a field position game, whether it's an outscore them game," he said. "All that matters is trying to figure out ways to score at least one more point than your opponent and that's what we're gonna do."
In years past, Daboll has been calling plays from the booth. Dorsey says he hasn't made a decision yet as to where he'll be making those calls, but the players seem to have already decided for him.
"Dorsey has a huge personality. He gets fired up quick so he's gonna have to be in the box," laughed Davis. "We can't have him out on the field."
