dakrider

Allen extended plays by running outside the pocket, he bought himself time but it didn't help his accuracy at all, but it did help reduce the number of sacks. Early in the year he jumped out of the pocket too quickly, but became more comfortable in the pocket later in the year. Also, in those first 5 games your right, Allen was not seeing the field well. He was not ready to take the field as a starter in game 2. Allen didn't even know how to adequately prepare for those first several games and there wasn't really anyone there to help him do that. After that his progress became noticeable. Many of those short passes, such as the quick slants require working on timing more than accuracy. That is something practice will improve. But as far as next year, I think the Bills can easily average over 24 points a game. Defensively, I don't know exactly where they'll end up. The 2 big things that need to improve imo are the running game overall, JA can't be the top rusher every other game and special teams also need to improve. Field position is a very underrated stat.

The Bills, and Allen, aren't going to be on anyone's radar next year. This should help them quite a bit for at least the first half of the season.

I wouldn't read to much into any stats for rookie QB's. But for Josh especially - I would completely disregard any stats those first 5 games. Allen wasn't ready for the NFL in week 2. He was thrown out there prematurely and struggled. The whole team struggled though with or without Allen in there. Allen last 6 games Yrd TD Int JAX 8/19 160 1 0 Mia 18/33 231 2 2 NY 18/36 206 0 2 Det 13/26 204 1 0 NE 20/41 217 1 2 Mia 17/26 224 3 1 Tot 94/181 1242 8 7 52% comp. Worse game was Jax but was a win Also 5 rushing TD's gives him 13 Next year Allen could easily get his comp. pct. to 56%, avg yrds 240 and change those 1 TD pass games to 2 TD's and the 2 int games to 1 int. Just that much improvement, and a decent Bills running game would be very significant. Bills only avg. 193 passing ypg in 2017 with 16 TD and 10 Int.

I don't think there were very many passes over 20 yards thrown in middle of field. But the right side less than avg. is certainly a trend.

to quote someone -

I hate turning on sports and getting politics!

My thoughts are from the other side of the table. I initially thought that Buffalo would be the perfect spot for Josh Allen to land. But I also knew he would need some time to learn the NFL game. However I was disappointed and very concerned due to the fact Josh would not have a seasoned QB to learn the game from. Peterman and McCarron together hardly had any NFL starting experience and I'm sure they weren't too happy with all the attention Allen was getting. But I also knew that Allen wasn't NFL ready, I wanted him to be able to sit thru at least the first 8-10 games and learn how how a QB prepares for games in the NFL, and of course just be able to learn the offense. And then after watching several of the games this year I also was concerned Allen may never get a chance to really succeed because so many issues on the Bills offense from the O-line to penalties to poor running game and very average and lazy (Benjamin) receivers. So many of the Bills first 9 games they weren't even competitive. But then these 6 games got to see Allen improve his play and Bills actually become competitive again. So I'm much more optimistic now, but Bills definitely have to get a much better WR out there and a good possession type tight end. The interesting thing here as most of you can now see, its tough to simply tell someone how good Josh Allen may be. You have to watch him play to understand what he brings to the game.

After the first two games, 6-10 doesn't seem to bad. But don't forget there was 3 close losses that the Bills could have very well won. So next year 9-11 wins should be a real possibility.

Bills should take the best defensive end or else offensive lineman in first round. Need to draft the best WR available in the 2nd round. Also grab a late round RB. And then sign a good possession tight end and best offensive lineman available in free agency.

can always find a good running back in the later draft rounds or even undrafted free agents. Broncos got a good RB last year that way - Lindsay

I've tried to give Rosen the benefit of the doubt but like you, whenever I've watched him I haven't seen him do anything special. He may improve quite a bit next year with new coach etc. Still to soon to say.

There is simply no way to predict the the Year 2 vs Year 1 improvement in Quarterbacks. Going back and looking at some QBs year 2 improvements/game (not including guys like Mahomes or Brady who didn't play much their rookie year). Passing yards only. Elway 151 / 173 yrds/gm, 48% to 56% Comp. and 7/14 to 18/15 TD/Int (ypg went up to 243 his 3rd year though) Kelly 224 / 233 ypg, 59% to 60% Comp. and 22/17 to 19/11 TD/Int Marino 201 / 318 ypg, 58% to 64% Comp. and 20/6 to 48/17 TD/Int (his stats went down his 3rd year though) Goff 156 / 254 ypg, 55% to 62% Comp. and /7 to 28/7 TD/Int Wentz 236 / 254 ypg, 62% to 60% Comp. and 16/14 to 33/7 TD/Int Some QB's make significant improvements while others marginally. Allen 173 ypg, 53%, 10/12 TD/Int (Avg. 216 ypg in last 5 games) - I project 240 ypg, 58% Comp. and 28/14 TD/Int (plus 40 ypg rushing and 8 rushing TD's) Darnold 220 ypg, 58% 17/15 TD/Int - I project 265 ypg, 62% Comp. and 32/14 TD/Int Mayfield 266 ypg, 64% 27/14 TD/Int - I project 290 ypg, 65% Comp. and 38/12 TD/Int my projections are simply semi-educated guesses.

I hear Tannehill might be available in the off season....

Tannehill has a 65% completion pct. coming into this game so he should win this game shouldn't he?

the Allen run was to help setup a FG, which is obviously much better than a sack there.

Bills players are playing like their jobs are on the line!

Receivers are helping their Quarterback today!

so bad thing about that TD is it counts as a rushing TD when it pretty much was a touchdown pass.

Did Josh make the right play that time???? ?

Allen has been the only thing the Bills have had on offense for the most part of these last 5 games. Can't expect any rookie QB to carry a team like that and succeed. Even great QB's can't carry their team week after week. Having the coaching staff tell Allen to do less, don't run and don't try so hard and just take the 3 yard dink pass is not the strategy thats going to win games.

Its a complete waste of time to put any emphasis into an NFL rookie quarterback statistics period. Several great NFL quarterbacks did not look very good at all their first year, and many others didn't play much their first year because they weren't good enough to be on the field. Rookie QB stats, and their overall play in general is just not indicative of how well their NFL career will end up. There's been many quarterbacks come into the league who looked good their 1st or 2nd year and then never improved beyond that and became backups or got shuffled out of the league. And many have looked poor or average at best and then a few years later look like all pro NFL QB's. Just like college success does not translate into NFL success for Quarterbacks, rookie QB success or failure does not translate into how their careers will end up. All this analyses should be saved for next year at this time.

Some guys are putting way to much emphasis on statistics. Looking at QB Comp. Pct., Matt Stafford 66%, Matt Ryan 69%, Eli Manning 66%, Ryan Fitzpatrick 67%, Blake Bortles 61%, Marcus Mariota 69% Ryan Tannehill 65%, and Deshaun Watson 68%. Several of these QB's are on teams that aren't any better than the Bills. You got to see Stafford, Mariota, Bortles, Watson and Tannehill. Did any of these guys really look better in those games than Allen? No, they didn't really look better than Allen to me in those 4 games. Bills beat Detroit and Tenn, they very well could have beat Houston had Allen not got hurt (Peterman pick-6 ended game). They also very well could have beat Miami. These were all games with the Rookie Josh Allen. Several of these QB's have stats that compare well with the top QB's in the league but thats not winning games for them. The only other thing that I want to bring up is go look at how uncompetitive the Bills were in their first 9 games (Allen played in about half those games). 2-7 record and many lopsided losses. The last 5 games the Bills have been much more competitive and very well could be 4-1 in those games. Even the NE game the Bills had their chances but mostly just made to many big mistakes on offense. This shows me that stats are just that - stats. Many of them do not correspond to winning and losing. Most of the top QB's on the best teams do have good stats too. But most of those teams also have the necessary ingredients to enable those QB's to win. Being able to make big plays is a very important aspect that the stats don't show. And that's something Allen has shown he can do. All Allen needs to succeed and win is 1-2 good receivers and TE, and an improved Bills running game.

Steve Young walked into the starting role on a Super Bowl winning team, he had the best receiver in the history of the NFL, had good running backs and a great O line and had one of the most brilliant NFL coaches ever. Other than that, pretty much the same! ?

For Allen to be more successful statistically - he has to settle down into the more traditional QB role. And by that I mean making more of the quick plays for 5 yard gains. One of his weaknesses (to some) is he doesn't seem to like throwing the ball on those type of plays and as noted, likes to try and extend plays and go for receivers more downfield. Part of that is learning to accept the play that is there, but on 3rd down and long, I would rather go for the first down than get 5 yards and punt. The other part of this is go look at the Bills running game at least these last 5 games has been mostly terrible. The receivers have done very little to help as well. Its been all Allen or nothing. Earlier in the year the Bills were getting killed on penalties, Allen had several good pass plays that were called back and they had a lot of 3rd and longs. Now its been lack of running game and just overall poor team play such as dropped balls or turnovers, missed field goals and poor special teams play that is keeping them down. All of this has made Allen try to do to much on some plays. Sometimes that has been running more than he should be, and sometimes that is him making those desperate throws that end up being intercepted. And as we all also know, Allen did enter the NFL as a fairly raw rookie QB, by NFL standards. So you have an inexperienced QB who is trying to do more than he can, and one guy can't beat a team. I watched some great QB's in the past who could propel their teams but only if the rest of the team did their part as well. When breakdowns occur those great QB's would look terrible at times. If the offense can improve then so will Allens stats as well. But after seeing all the weaknesses in the Bills offense this year, next year is going to take a lot more than Allen having good stats.

The first game with Pats - Anderson and Peterman combined for 313 yards with about a 59% completion %, 0 touchdowns and 1 Pick-6 int. but only managed 2 field goals. A good example of how passing yards and comp. % don't mean squat. And that was in the middle of the Bills 6 game streak where they went 1-5 and scored a total of 46 points (7.6 pts per game) Allen played in the first 2 1/2 of those games.