Josh Allen is a vastly improved quarterback since his rookie year in 2018.
Allen made wild throws and wasn’t reliable as a rookie, but he had a much better year in 2019 and the 2020 season was when he officially arrived. Allen finished last year with 4,544 passing yards, 37 touchdowns and only ten interceptions — while bringing the Buffalo Bills to an AFC East-leading 13-3 record. He also tacked on 421 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns.
The New England Patriots, who finished the season with a 7-9 record, were swept by the Bills and stood no chance in the second matchup of the year. Bill Belichick’s team (8-4) will now face the Bills (7-4) on the road for the first time this season in a Monday night matchup.
Ahead of the game, Belichick spoke with reporters and had nothing but good things to say about the star quarterback.
“His improvement has just been tremendous from where it was three years ago,” Belichick said. “Completion percentage, passer rating, decision making, production, it’s just gone…it’s risen at a really remarkable rate.
“It’s just remarkable how good he has become. Last year, this year’s built on that. What it was when he came into the league. But he’s just made tremendous improvement. Has a lot of command of the offense. They audible a lot. They change things. They obviously have a lot of confidence in him. He handles it well at the line. Rarely run a bad play or where they run into a bad look or a blitz or something like that. He doesn’t get fooled much by anything. It’s really impressive to watch how he’s developed there.”
Not only do the Bills have Allen and the second-most points per game, they have the No. 2 scoring defense — behind only the Patriots, who have the No. 1 unit. This game will carry a playoff atmosphere and there’s a lot more at stake than just a regular season game.
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