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As the story goes, the Bills replaced quarterback Tyrod Taylor with current second-year thrower Josh Allen.
Allen is now 20 starts into his NFL career, he’s 11-9 overall in those games. First compared by Jerry Sullivan from 1270: The Fan radio on Wednesday, the Bills have had strikingly similar numbers from one of their other most recent QBs.
That so happens to be Taylor.
Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott was asked to compare those two. He ushered in the exit of Taylor for Allen, after all.
McDermott declined to do so.
“I’m never going to compare or try to compare two players. I know they play the same position but both players are different players. A lot of respect for Tyrod. The player I’m most concerned with right now is Josh Allen, in terms of this question. Josh is focused on working and improving and it’s important that we keep improving around him as well. He takes great ownership and great accountability in that and as we go offensively, it’s important that we work on scoring points, that’s the name of the game. Score points and give yourself a chance to win,” McDermott said.
But here’s your big comparison. Both players have one excused outing in those last 20 games thanks to Nathan Peterman. He started the 2018 opener and then Allen jumped in. In 2017, he shockingly started over Taylor against the Chargers and Taylor replaced him. So in both of those outings, the outcome didn’t factor into the numbers for Allen and Taylor.
Having said that, Taylor was also 11-9 in his last 20 games as the Bills’ starting quarterback.
In addition, in that same time span, Allen has averaged 196 yards passing per game. Taylor lands at 195 in that same category.
In his last 20 starts as a Bill, Tyrod Taylor threw for 195 yards a game and the team went 11-9. In Josh Allen's first 20 starts, he's passed for 196 yards a game and gone 11-9
— Jerry Sullivan (@ByJerrySullivan) November 13, 2019
Looking deeper, as dual-threat QBs, Allen has 34 total touchdowns in that time frame to 18 interceptions. Taylor is at a 34-8 ratio. Taylor has also thrown for 4,652 passing yards with a completion rate of 62 percent. Allen clocks in at 3,919 and 56 percent.
Breaking down this comparison, there’s still two sides of the coin to consider. First, the last 20 starts for Allen are the first 20 of his career. While there are skeptics, Allen is still young and hopefully there’s room for growth.
Having said that, Taylor wasn’t 22 like Allen, he spent a few years on the bench as a backup with the Ravens. But he wasn’t getting any playing time then, either. He was so basically a rookie as well.
Plenty of variables here to compare as well. Talent around the QBs, etc.
So, make what you will with the comparisons, but those are hard numbers.
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