One of the more surprising developments early in the season has been the improvement and impressive play from Bills quarterback Josh Allen. Not only does he lead the league in passing, but he has a 122.8 passer rating and no interceptions.
He showed signs of development last year and really got better after a shaky rookie season, but his play through two weeks this year has been stellar. He’ll now face his toughest test against the Rams defense on Sunday, and L.A. is excited for the challenge.
Allen’s play has caught the eye of Sean McVay, who has been impressed with not only the quarterback’s play, but with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll’s work, too.
“I think Coach Daboll has done an excellent job and you can really see there’s a connection between those two and a rapport. It’s a mixture of they get the runs, these RPOs (run-pass option) going, and then they do a great job with their play-actions. They can spread you out in their empty (set) and I think he’s just got a good feel for what they’re trying to get done,” McVay said Thursday. “Coach Daboll is putting their good players in the right positions and then those players ultimately are the ones that have to execute and that’s what they’re doing. Then when things go off-schedule, his ability to be able to make plays out of rhythm where he’s breaking contain, eyes down the field, whether it’s as a runner or as a passer, is really impressive. You see some of the throws that he’s able to make and the accuracy that he’s throwing the football consistently with throughout the course of these first two games. You see why he’s putting up the numbers that he is and why their offense is as productive as it’s been. So, our guys have their work cut out for them, but we’re excited about the challenge.”
Allen was frequently compared to Ben Roethlisberger coming out of college, possessing a huge arm, good mobility and a big frame. Rams safety John Johnson sees those comparisons as accurate, saying Allen is the second-coming of Big Ben.
He knows the strength of Allen’s arm and how difficult he is to tackle in the open field, so he and the Rams will have a plan for getting him on the ground.
“He’s like the rebirth of Ben Roethlisberger,” Johnson told reporters Thursday. “Huge arm, huge body. I remember just watching him take off and run and I’m like, ‘OK, you’ve really got to have a tackling plan for him.’ He’s not going to go down easy, he’s not going to slide, he’s not going to run out of bounds, so you really have to have a plan. He just has a powerful arm, sometimes to a fault. So you’ve just got to make sure we stay deeper than the deepest and go from there. We can’t let any balls go over our heads.”
Allen has led the Bills to a 2-0 record behind his 727 yards and six touchdowns, but the Rams hope to put the first blemish on Buffalo’s record Sunday.
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