The following is an excerpt from Warren Sharp's 2025 Football Preview book. In addition to Warren's deep, detailed write-up on all 32 NFL teams, each chapter features page after page of full-color charts, stats, and heatmaps as well as penalty analysis from Joe Gibbs. Click here for a full FREE chapter from the 2025 Football Preview.
Penalties are an under-discussed aspect of NFL success and failure. Average teams can become playoff contenders with good discipline, and good teams can become great simply by winning the penalty battle.
Let's look at how the Buffalo Bills performed from a penalty perspective in 2024 and where they can improve in 2025.
How Did Penalties Impact the Buffalo Bills?
The Good
- The Bills offense was a top-three beneficiary of roughing the passer and unnecessary roughness penalties in 2024, a continuation of the 2023 season when they ranked as a top-five beneficiary in both categories.
- The Bills defense surrendered an average of just seven yards per defensive pass interference infraction, significantly lower than the NFL average of 15.2 yards per penalty in this category.
- The defense conceded just 6.6 yards per automatic first down penalty surrendered. The league average is 11.01 yards in this category.
- An above average 39.5% of Bills' penalties were committed on less impactful first down plays. The league average is 33.4% on first downs.
- The special teams unit was excellent, ranking as a bottom-five penalized unit in 2024.
The Bad
- The Bills offense accounted for 57% of the team's overall penalties. Anything in the 50% range is manageable with a quarterback of Allen’s caliber, but there is room for improvement, particularly on the road.
- The Bills ended the season ranked as a top-five penalized team for false starts.
- The combination of offensive holding and false start accounted for 45% of the team’s overall penalties last season. The Bills ranked third overall for offensive holding penalties per game on the road.
- The Bills ranked as a top-three penalized team for unnecessary roughness penalties per game in 2024, the second straight season this has occurred.
Grade: A
The 2024 regular season was another successful campaign for the Buffalo Bills, culminating in Allen's first MVP award.
Along the way, Buffalo recorded a dominant regular season win over the Chiefs, which led to them securing another AFC East title.
Despite those accomplishments, their season ended in typical fashion at the hands of their playoff nemesis: the Kansas City Chiefs.
Buffalo invested heavily on defense in the draft, and these players will be leaned on to pay immediate dividends in 2025.
However, the same question remains with this franchise: Can Buffalo get over the hump in the playoffs, particularly if they have to face off against the Chiefs once again in January?
The 2025 schedule is favorable for the Bills, and a No. 1 seed in the AFC is a realistic possibility.
It's simplistic analysis, but success for this franchise will be measured by Super Bowl appearances.
If Buffalo falls short yet again in 2025, the season will be labeled as a failure.
This analysis continues in the 2025 Football Preview
Order Warren Sharp's 2025 Football Preview to get penalty analysis for all 32 NFL teams.
Warren Sharp’s 550+ page full-color PDF, the 2025 Football Preview, is unlike anything you have previously read. Stunning visualizations, including new heat maps, are built with the reader in mind. Innovative, next-level thought process abounds in every team chapter and article.
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Warren Sharp's book shares insights into the players, coaches, teams, and philosophies with one goal: to prepare you for the 2025 NFL season with the smartest information delivered in the fastest, most direct way possible for optimal reviewing and retention.
- Team Chapters previews are in-depth, data driven & full of actionable info
- Fantasy Football player profiles, predictions, and ranks
- Vegas Odds forecast team wins, division rankings, lines for all 2025 games
- Coaching strategic advice for teams, play calling analysis & team tendencies
- Front Office Analysis positional spending, roster construction & cap analysis
- Reasons to bet over/under win totals & analysis of futures betting market
- Rookie draft class deep dive into impact for every team
- Rankings for every positional unit on every team with analysis
