The Bills knew they were drafting a gunslinger in quarterback Josh Allen in 2018. Many attribute that to the deep ball.
Allen has one of the stronger arms in the NFL, although, it’s not always accurate. But it appears that Allen’s decision making is part of the reason why he has this label as well.
Pro Football Focus recently stacked up each quarterback in terms of the number of times they check the ball down. Over the last two seasons, no one has checked the ball down less than Allen. Per PFF’s numbers, Allen has only checked down on 2.3 percent of his passes. In total, that accounts for 20 times.
That number is a full percentage higher than the next closest quarterback, a fellow strong-armed QB, the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes.
Of course not accounting here is Allen’s “other” check down. Along with his lack of throwing short in these circumstances, Allen also runs with the ball himself much more than other quarterbacks. Check downs often happen when a play is breaking down or no one is open, the same circumstances as when Allen rushes the ball himself.
But with these numbers in mind, it might not be the worst thing for Allen to take what the defense gives him. Not only does Allen have some good playmakers in the backfield with him in running backs Devin Singletary and Zack Moss, but checking it down shorter could open things up down the field for him, too.
But on Allen’s deep dive, PFF does note one other thing that could be viewed as both as positive and negative. In Allen’s career, he’s only checked it down one time on third down, also the least amount of check downs in the league:
On the low-end of the third-down list, Josh Allen once again has the lowest checkdown rate in the league. Over two seasons, he has thrown just one checkdown on third downs, maintaining a pathological determination not to let the play die. That checkdown didn’t come until 3.24 seconds into the play. About 63% of his throws on third down were past the first down marker, the fifth-highest rate in the league, but that aggressive nature has generated seven interceptions and one of the highest turnover-worthy play rates in the league (7.4%, seventh-highest).
[lawrence-related id=64171,64169,64155,64077]