Josh Allen’s bad two years

[billvernsays]

The media loves talking about how much better Josh Allen is now compared to his 1st 2 years, like it came outta nowhere and in my opinion that’s simply lazy on their part.
 

I went back and read the message board archives during Allens rookie season (I have too much time on my hands) and the sense most of us had was after Josh sat out a bit with his injury the game started to slow down for him and he was consistently showing us that he had the “it” factor to be what he’s become. 
 

His O-Line was terrible and his WRs helped him even less yet he was still out there running for 18 yards on a 3rd and 16. Or firing a ball on 3rd and 22 past the sticks hitting Kelvin Benjamin or Zay Jones in the hands who would constantly let him down. 
 

The point I’m trying to make is that is was clear to us that he was special early on regardless of the completion % because when you watched the games you knew he was giving you everything he’s got, every play. 

 

These NFL analysts should step their game up. 

Edited March 24, 2022 by billvernsays

[Warcodered]

Josh has been improving his entire career and you can see it pretty clearly in half season intervals.

[buffblue]

8 minutes ago, billvernsays said:

The media loves talking about how much better Josh Allen is now compared to his 1st 2 years, like it came outta nowhere and in my opinion that’s simply lazy on their part.
 

I went back and read the message board archives during Allens rookie season (I have too much time on my hands) and the sense most of us had was after Josh sat out a bit with his injury the game started to slow down for him and he was consistently showing us that he had the it factor to be what he’s become. 
 

His Online was terrible and his WRs helped him even less yet he was still out there running for 18 yards on a 3rd and 16. Or firing a ball on 3rd and 22 past the sticks hitting Kelvin Benjamin or Zay Jones in the hands who would consistently let him down. 
 

The point was it was clear to us that he was special early regardless of the completion %. 

 

These NFL analysts should set their game up. 

I love the narrative that Allen sucked before Diggs came along while not acknowledging that Stefon far exceeded career heights once coming to Buffalo

[billvernsays]

He’s always improving and getting better no doubt about it.
 

I guess I simply reject the notion that he was trash at 1st and then became amazing. 

[mrags]

I knew Josh was the QB I wanted before the draft. The only other QB I had any interest in, was Mayfield. Which I think got a crap deal in Cleveland. His coaching has been terrible. Story of Cleveland’s life. 
 

With all that said, the Minnesota game is what sealed it for me that he was going to be special. Not just the hurdle. But the scramble and dive to the corner of the end zone. At that point you could just see that he would do anything to win. Anything to carry the team on his back. And he hasn’t disappointed. I actually feel bad for him that he’s been let down by his defense at times and coaching at times. Josh will go down as one of the best to ever play this game when all is said and done. 

[Nelius]

I think you could tell by about his 3rd game or so that we might have drafted somebody special. Was that just his third game when he did the first hurdle against Minnesota?

 

I agree he wasn't trash and that a lot of it was just propped up by talking heads that wanted to be right about him being a reach, and they were able to cling to that through about the end of his 2nd season. Even casuals and pessimists knew he wasn't a bust well before the end of his 2nd season, so everybody but Nick Wright jumped on the bandwagon real quick when it was evident in season 3 that he was the real deal. 

[John from Riverside]

The funny thing is even at Josh Allen’s worst he was probably one of the best QBs we’ve ever had besides Jim Kelly

[Lieutenant Aldo Raine]

35 minutes ago, billvernsays said:

The media loves talking about how much better Josh Allen is now compared to his 1st 2 years, like it came outta nowhere and in my opinion that’s simply lazy on their part.
 

I went back and read the message board archives during Allens rookie season (I have too much time on my hands) and the sense most of us had was after Josh sat out a bit with his injury the game started to slow down for him and he was consistently showing us that he had the it factor to be what he’s become. 
 

His Online was terrible and his WRs helped him even less yet he was still out there running for 18 yards on a 3rd and 16. Or firing a ball on 3rd and 22 past the sticks hitting Kelvin Benjamin or Zay Jones in the hands who would consistently let him down. 
 

The point was it was clear to us that he was special early regardless of the completion %. 

 

These NFL analysts should set their game up. 

Should check out the archives the night he was drafted.  Pretty embarrassing stuff by some pretty popular posters .  

[Big Turk]

38 minutes ago, buffblue said:

I love the narrative that Allen sucked before Diggs came along while not acknowledging that Stefon far exceeded career heights once coming to Buffalo

 

He didn't suck but he took a massive leap forward once Diggs got here, which definitely played a part in his growth.

[uninja]

24 minutes ago, John from Riverside said:

The funny thing is even at Josh Allen’s worst he was probably one of the best QBs we’ve ever had besides Jim Kelly

Lord that’s hilariously depressing. The drought sucked. 

[Bookie Man]

It might be unpopular, but Beasley may have been almost as big a factor as Diggs to Josh’s development. 

Edited March 24, 2022 by ßookie_tech

[MJS]

If you go make a list right now of Josh Allen's best and most exciting performances, there would be at least one, maybe two, from his rookie year. That Vikings game is definitely up there, and the week 17 Dolphins game was great too. He scored 5 TD's that game.

 

And that was the down year for the Bills where they were trying to reset the cap, so the team was devoid of talent.

 

Then in Allen's 2nd season he helped take the team back to the playoffs and there has been a steady climb every year.

 

I agree. It is a lazy narrative that analysts use to save their ego (because they need to justify bashing him) and/or just plain ignorance from only looking at box scores and stats.

 

Josh Allen has shown flashes of his elite play every single year, and you could argue in every single game, he has ever played in. And he has had a steady, upward trajectory his entire career. He took a big step in 2020 for sure, but he certainly did not come out of nowhere.

 

I would argue he also took a big step forward at the end of 2021, particularly in the playoffs. He became unstoppable.

[hondo in seattle]

The media is, after all, about entertainment.  The story is more compelling this way:  Josh was an overlooked QB in high school; then a JUCO nobody; then an unimpressive starter at lowly Wyoming; and then an inaccurate, unpolished starter in Buffalo for a couple of years before making his unexpected/miraculous emergence as an NFL superstar.

 

But the truth isn't quite that dramatic.  His growing skillset was there to see at Wyoming and, even more so, his first two years with the Bills.  The OP is right when he points out the OL and WR corps Josh's first couple years with us didn't do him many favors.  His stats those years were deflated, Brady like, by the lack of talent around him.

[mannc]

17 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

He didn't suck but he took a massive leap forward once Diggs got here, which definitely played a part in his growth.

Nonsense.  Diggs certainly helped, but he’d been in the league 5 years and Josh Allen elevated him to elite receiver…in his first year with Josh Allen, over 400 yds more than he’d ever gained in his career.. same with Beasley.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Fair amount of revisionist history in this thread. There were a number of posters that had their doubts about Allen after year 2. You know who you are. That said there were legit concerns. His deep ball accuracy was still a major issue after year two.  And the stats don’t lie. 58.8% completion in year 2 is horrible. What was a sign of future success was his TD/INT ratio improvement in year 2.  Keep in mind Lamar Jackson is winning the MVP,Allen losing to Watson in the playoffs with worries about hero ball, and Mahommes is going to the SuperBowl at the same time. 
I believe we all saw glimpses of greatness from Allen. But to say it was obvious he was going to make the massive improvement from year 2 to year 3 is disingenuous.

[Alphadawg7]

1 hour ago, billvernsays said:

The media loves talking about how much better Josh Allen is now compared to his 1st 2 years, like it came outta nowhere and in my opinion that’s simply lazy on their part.
 

I went back and read the message board archives during Allens rookie season (I have too much time on my hands) and the sense most of us had was after Josh sat out a bit with his injury the game started to slow down for him and he was consistently showing us that he had the it factor to be what he’s become. 
 

His Online was terrible and his WRs helped him even less yet he was still out there running for 18 yards on a 3rd and 16. Or firing a ball on 3rd and 22 past the sticks hitting Kelvin Benjamin or Zay Jones in the hands who would consistently let him down. 
 

The point was it was clear to us that he was special early regardless of the completion %. 

 

These NFL analysts should set their game up. 

Anyone who says he was awful his rookie year or even both years is just announcing they are completely clueless and didn’t actually watch him play, so their opinion is not worth the time to read.

 

I mean Josh was a completely different player second half of his rookie year after returning from injury.  
 

In his second year, he was atrocious the first half the season on the deep ball which was the one throw keeping him out of the 60% club…but much improved the last half the season.  If you took his deep ball completion % the back half of the season and used it over the course of the season he was well into the 60% completion rate club.  
 

Huge leaps of improvement in-season, but you would only know that if you actually watched him play.  Not to mention the jaw dropping plays he was making every game.  
 

 

[Big Turk]

22 minutes ago, mannc said:

Nonsense.  Diggs certainly helped, but he’d been in the league 5 years and Josh Allen elevated him to elite receiver…in his first year with Josh Allen, over 400 yds more than he’d ever gained in his career.. same with Beasley.

 

Both helped each other equally. Diggs came from a run first system. There was no way he was ever putting up those numbers there. 

 

You need to have a better understanding that stats, by and in large, are a byproduct of the system you play in and some systems have ceilings on productivity at certain positions.

[BillsFanSD]

Allen's first year was pretty rough, but he showed flashes of legitimate talent throughout the season, starting in Minnesota in week 3.  He got markedly better as the season went along.  I remember feeling very good about his trajectory at the end of the year even though he was nowhere near a finished product by that point.  

 

Allen was legitimately good in year 2.  Not great, but solid.  They were winning games in his second year because of Allen, not in spite of Allen.  He still had too much "hero ball" and "sugar rush Josh" in his game, but he was an above-average QB who led his team to a playoff berth that they earned on their merits as opposed to just lucking their way into it like in 2017.  People who say Allen was "bad" in year 2 are just being obtuse IMO. 

 

And then of course he's been lights-out the past two seasons.  To be frank, Allen has exceeded my expectations, and my expectations were pretty high after his first two years.  

[GunnerBill]

Josh Allen was bad his rookie year but only in the way a lot of rookies are bad their rookie year. I actually thought it was a very encouraging season because all the playmaking ability was there to see. He struggled with the processing a bit and he took off to run too often but there was lots to like about his rookie year.

[Niagara Dude]

5 hours ago, buffblue said:

I love the narrative that Allen sucked before Diggs came along while not acknowledging that Stefon far exceeded career heights once coming to Buffalo

Was not just the media,  many fans on this site.  I personally was always excited top watch him his display his amazing arm and who did he have to throw the ball too his first two seasons? Since leaving Buffalo John Brown has not been able to stick with any team that he was our top option in Allen's second season