Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen earned a mediocre grade for his 2019 season compared to his contemporaries, as highlighted by Pro Football Focus. Allen slotted in as the 26th-best quarterback based on the outlet’s grading system.
Here’s what the football analytics group had to say about Allen:
Allen made strides in key areas, as he graded among the league’s best on passes up to 19 yards downfield, but he still had issues with 20-plus yard throws and avoiding turnover-worthy plays. The Bills did a fine job of passing on early downs and finding short-area playmakers to get open for Allen, and that led to his improved completion percentage. The deep ball was an issue for Allen, though, and he had the highest percentage of uncatchable passes on 20-plus yard throws. And even though he cut down on his interceptions, Allen was still among the league’s worst in turnover-worthy play rate, in large part due to fumbles. The good news for Allen is that the short and intermediate passing game is more stable from year to year, while deep passing is often wide-receiver dependent, so the 2019 season was a step in the right direction in his development.
Coming out of college, Allen was viewed as a developmental project. His improvement this year is a credit to Sean McDermott’s staff, as they have found ways for the second-year professional to gradually make positive strides.
His completion percentage improved by six-percent from his rookie season. While it’s still lagging behind the league average, it is the improvement that needs to be the focus. In addition, he doubled the number of touchdowns thrown in year two (10-to-20) while throwing fewer interceptions (12-to-9).
Allen’s average yards per game also moved in the right directions, improving from 172.8 yards per game to 191.8 passing yards per game.
He also led the team in fourth-quarter comebacks.
While these are positive steps for Allen, he was the lowest-rated playoff quarterback on the list. of qualified signal callers, Allen was only ahead of Mitchell Trubisky, Sam Darnold, Jacoby Brissett, Case Keenum, Mason Rudolph, and Kyle Allen.
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