Stefon Diggs' impact has been minimal lately, but Bills need to get him the ball vs Dolphins

ORCHARD PARK - The last time Stefon Diggs spoke to reporters was on the Thursday before the Buffalo Bills played the Dallas Cowboys, and he acknowledged that, yes, his receiving numbers are down and that it had been a difficult month or so for him.

“It’s rough, man,” he said, hinting that opposing defenses, specifically defensive backs, have done a great job of watching tape, understanding why Diggs had five 100-yard games in the first six weeks, and coming up with game plans to make sure that doesn’t happen against them.

Clearly, it has worked because Diggs’ best game in the last nine was 86 yards against the Bengals on Nov. 5, and in the seven games since that loss in Cincinnati, his production has submarined as he has just 30 catches for 262 yards.

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“For me personally, I’ve been trying, bro, I promise you I’ve been trying,” Diggs continued. “Teams have been doing a good job. In a perfect world, you know I want the ball, I want to have success. At the end of the day, we’re winning games. That’s what I’ve got to tip my hat to. I’m still chasing greatness each and every day.”

Stefon Diggs' production had dipped in last three games

Again, he made these comments on Dec. 14, and things have only gotten worse. In the victories over the Cowboys, Chargers and Patriots, Diggs caught only 13 passes for 103 yards combined.

Offensive coordinator Joe Brady is already finding out how polarizing his job title is because after the offense showed signs of improvement in the first two games he was calling plays - 32 points against the Jets, 34 against the Eagles - it has reverted back to how it was operating when Ken Dorsey was still wearing the OC headset and fans are growing impatient.

In particular, the passing game has really struggled, and Diggs’ inability to win on his routes, other players not doing enough to compensate, protection issues, dropped passes, and Josh Allen occasionally being inaccurate or not making the proper read in his progression have all played a role in the downturn.

Why is Stefon Diggs struggling?

“I don’t think it’s any one thing,” Brady said when asked about Diggs’ part of the equation. “I think it’s a combination of we have been trying to run the ball a little more, I think other guys are continuing to step up, and naturally the focus is always going to be on Stefon Diggs. When you play teams, that’s where the focus is going to be. I have to continue working through just finding ways to get him the ball regardless of that.

“It’s nothing Stef isn’t doing. Then when we have those opportunities, us making sure we connect on those. We’ve got to get him going, I’ve got to get him going. But I understand it also can’t be something where we’re forcing him, or Josh is forcing a ball and making bad decisions.”

Snap counts have been down for Stefon Diggs

OK, all of that makes sense. But what hasn’t made sense lately is that across the last three games, Diggs has played 50 fewer snaps than Gabe Davis and 11 fewer than Khalil Shakir. Sunday it was particularly noticeable as Diggs played a season-low 65% of the time including zero during Buffalo’s eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to open the third quarter which ended with an Allen QB sneak.

Is Diggs hurt, coach Sean McDermott was asked Monday?

“Medically there’s nothing big that’s been, to my knowledge, ailing him,” McDermott said, based on his communication with trainer Nate Breske. “It’s just Josh going through his reads and making sure that we’re going through the progressions properly. And getting Stef involved … he hasn’t been as involved maybe as much as we would have liked the last couple of games.”

Brady explained that there are certain personnel groupings where Diggs isn’t involved. Still, there’s no way Diggs should have been standing on the sidelines so much against New England.

“There’s times where we definitely tag him out of plays,” Brady said. “So there’s plays where we go into the week and we purposely have him out of the game. There’s never a third down we have him out of the game. It’s just the reality of there’s certain times of the game where a receiver is going to need a blow.”

For the season, Diggs’ snap count is at 81% which is actually more than his 2022 final number of 77% but is way down from the 89% total he had in 2020.

Bills will need Stefon Diggs to step up in showdown vs Dolphins

As the Bills try to win the AFC East when they meet the Dolphins in Miami Sunday night, they are going to need Diggs to get dangerous again, and it won’t be easy because you can bet that he’s going to see plenty of All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

It’s a huge challenge for Diggs, just as it will be a huge challenge for Brady to scheme ways to get him open and available for Allen in a game where the Bills are definitely going to need to be sharp on offense and scoring points.

McDermott was asked after the Patriots game if Diggs’ production drop was a concern and he admitted, “It is. He’s our No. 1 receiver. Whether teams are trying to take him away or they’re getting the ball spread around and things, we can do better offensively.”

Three weeks ago, Diggs admitted he was frustrated by how things had been going

“I got to do a lot of things to get open and then a lot of things got to go right for me to get the ball.” he said. “Of course I can be frustrated. You all know how much of a competitor I am and I like to play at a high level and I always want it to happen. And even if it doesn’t, when it doesn’t materialize, I definitely get a little discouraged.”

We can only assume that since he said those things, he has grown more frustrated and more discouraged, at least on a personal level.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Stefon Diggs has had frustrating two months, needs to step up vs Dolphins