The Josh Allen Problem

[Governor]

1 hour ago, Italian Bills said:

Many times in the past I declared that we have to play more slant routes and jet sweep routes, using Bees and Knox for short passes. That because our bad OL that can’t give Allen the time to scan downfield for long gain passes. 

That appears to be the weakness in his game. He can’t throw slant routes, or is afraid to.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Governor

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

54 minutes ago, Ralonzo said:

Yahoo:

 

”Allen tried to create magic all night, but was his typical erratic, all-over-the-place self.”

 

Is this fair or just the continuing narrative?

He’s got some plays he’s like back 🙄 

[Motorin']

2 hours ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

Agreed.  

 

Given the current state of affairs - the Bills OL sucks and defenses know we have to pass to win - I think Allen needs to get better at quick hitting passes.

 

But it's easy and fun to imagine a different reality in the future.  We have a better OL and a good RB.  Defenses need to defend both the pass and the run, both the inside and outside of the field, both deep and short.  That automatically makes Josh more effective.  

 

Yeah, there's a difference between quick hitting short passes and taking the check down. 

 

Brady isn't the master of the check down, he's the master of seeing exactly what the defense is giving him and taking it immediately. 

 

It goes against Josh's gun slinger mentality. But he has to develop that tool as an extension of the run. And I'm not talking about calling Gold Rip when everyone and their mothers know a wr screen is coming. 

[mabden]

2 hours ago, hondo in seattle said:

Rocks-for-Hands Knox hasn't entirely gotten over the dropsies that plagued his rookie year.  He probably never will.  And that doesn't help Allen either.

 

To be fair, Knox is playing with a recently broken hand in freezing temperatures.  Not ideal for catching a football from Allen trying to compensate for the wind with higher velocity on the ball.  Before the break, Knox was playing well above his previous years.

[billieve420]

3 hours ago, HamptonBillsfan said:

Fix the O-line and see how he plays with a consiste

 

With how long Allen holds onto the ball. Putting together strong o-line up front is going to be key to long term success. I don't think he will ever become a dink and dunk passer. 

[HamptonBillsfan]

10 minutes ago, billieve420 said:

 

With how long Allen holds onto the ball. Putting together strong o-line up front is going to be key to long term success. I don't think he will ever become a dink and dunk passer. 

His ability to escape pressure, not just move in the pocket like Brady and Mahomes, but run towards the sidelines and become even more dangerous (especially to the right) allows him to hold the ball and let receivers get open. As he gets older and the O-line improves, he will become more like the classic great pocket passers. The O-line holds the key to getting where we want go. The roster could use minor tweaking but Beane knows what the weak link is.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

4 hours ago, Greg S said:

Brady is the GOAT and he always had a strong OL, a solid running game, weapons to throw to, and a solid defense on the other side of the ball. I would love to see Josh play with a strong team like that. The Bills are good and have come a long way from their losing ways but this team isn't a finished product. They have their issues and we all know what they are. When/If they get that fixed then I think you will see Allen's play go to another level. We have the QB in place to win us a Lombardi.

Ok except none of this is really true. He did have strong O-lines from time to time but no all time greats in front of him.  He had journeymen RB's for most of his career.  He made two midget WR's into stars in Edelman and Welker. It was not the other way around.  And outside of Randy Moss his WRs were forgettable.

Brady left New England for exactly all of the opposite reasons you posted. He was tired of carrying the entire load of the offense.

 

That said, that is what Buffalo needs to do. Stop takin g the ball out of Josh's hand. The entire offense needs to go through him.  If they want to get the RBs involved do it via the short pass and screen game.  The only way to win the SB this year is run everything through Allen. That does not mean you have to be in 5 WR sets.  You can play a ton of different formations and still keep the focus on Allen.  For the most part he makes good safe decisions.  Give him the chance to be special.  

[par73]

With a lousy line, quick hitters are part of the answer. Slants, crossing patterns, screens.

[Nextmanup]

The OP's comments echo what I have been saying here for the last couple of days now.

 

When Josh has time, he makes lots of completions, and we win big.

 

When Josh does not have time, it all goes pear shaped and we might very well lose.

 

GREATLY improving the pass protection of our OL should be MISSION NUMBER ONE for the off-season.

 

The ENTIRE LINE could stand to be changed IMO.  How far they go remains to be seen...

But we need to use the draft and free agency to make this line look a lot different next year.

 

An improved line = improved Josh Allen, and that's the most important off-season move this franchise can make.

 

 

[PatsFanNH]

4 hours ago, Greg S said:

Brady is the GOAT and he always had a strong OL, a solid running game, weapons to throw to, and a solid defense on the other side of the ball. I would love to see Josh play with a strong team like that. The Bills are good and have come a long way from their losing ways but this team isn't a finished product. They have their issues and we all know what they are. When/If they get that fixed then I think you will see Allen's play go to another level. We have the QB in place to win us a Lombardi.

Solid running game? That’s not true. He rarely had a run game the last 10 years on the Pats. He also made his Oline look good because he throws the ball in 2 seconds.

 

Allen is good enough win a SB I agree.

[Nextmanup]

4 hours ago, Italian Bills said:

Many times in the past I declared that we have to play more slant routes and jet sweep routes, using Bees and Knox for short passes. That because our bad OL that can’t give Allen the time to scan downfield for long gain passes. 

In one of our recent games, when Allen was getting mauled, I saw some "all 22" replays from way up over the field.  I was amazed at how all 3 or even 4 pass routes were really quite long.  Very slow to develop....and that was late in the game once we all knew Josh was getting killed.  Wish I could remember which game it was! LOL

 

But seriously, I wanted to kick Daboll in the nuts.  

 

This team has to have short and medium routes on every freaking pass play.  Rarely do we have the luxury of TIME for Josh to wait in that pocket for long routes to develop!

 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

 

Brady has not always had a strong OL.  I remember games when our guys were beating their blocks consistently but freaking Brady was getting the ball in 2.1, 2.2 seconds.   When he wants to, Brady can almost make the OL/DL battle almost irrelevant.  Allen can't. 

 

Or maybe he can, but he chooses differently.  I get the impression he just doesn't like dink-and-dunk.  

 

And, yes, I do believe Allen can lead us to a Lombardi.  I really hope Beane builds him a better OL next year.  But we'd be better this year if Allen was better with his presnap reads and faster with his throws.  

 

One of the big things that separates Brady from Josh is Bradys' ability to absorb information at the line, pre-snap, like a sponge.  It's a big advantage to know what's going to happen (sort of) before it does.

 

Josh struggles with this aspect of his game IMO.  It's improved, but it could be better.

 

He also has this tendency to turn around, point towards his own end zone, and run BACKWARDS away from the LOS to evade the first guy getting to him.  If it works, so be it...but this has ended up being a 15 yard sack many times, sometimes pulling us out of FG range.

 

Brady is great at knowing, right away, when a play is a bust, and he just throws the ball away.  Eat the play rather than have something really bad happen--or getting hit! 

 

Josh has gotten much better at this too, but can still improve.

 

 

 

 

[aristocrat]

The offense should be dictating the games. Throw more on first down and more often overall. We have two all pro wr's and two other very good wr's and a tight end having a career year. Get leads early and push the gas. Allen can make every throw in the book. Bease is on pace for 82 targets in a 17 game season when he had 107 each of the last two seasons...right there is why this offense is not clicking. Get bease involved.  He's a chain moving weapon that is always open. 

[Nextmanup]

5 minutes ago, aristocrat said:

The offense should be dictating the games. Throw more on first down and more often overall. We have two all pro wr's and two other very good wr's and a tight end having a career year. Get leads early and push the gas. Allen can make every throw in the book. Bease is on pace for 82 targets in a 17 game season when he had 107 each of the last two seasons...right there is why this offense is not clicking. Get bease involved.  He's a chain moving weapon that is always open. 

I agree with every word here.

 

For some reason, a lot of Bills fans react to our losses by saying "Stop throwing, run more."

 

The real answer is to throw more, and throw better.

 

I couldn't believe we were running the ball on our first possession against NE, with the wind!  Had we gotten a lead, they might have tried to come out of their shell and throw too...and that wouldn't have gone well for them.

 

We didn't push the gas; we tried to beat them at their own game.  I know ALL passing was not possible in that game, but we needed to throw more, even with 30 passes in the game.

 

 

[goldenboy81]

I never thought I say it after the last 20 years,but I wish Allen would check down more.